Face-Cloth Easter Bunny!

Sue made these Easter Bunnies for us today, at our Day Centre and immediately had orders for 8 more!!

So we decided, that this was a good way to make funds for buying craft supplies - for future crafting projects...

To make the Easter Bunny you will need...

A Face-cloth

Ribbon

Eyes

Double-sided sticky pads

A small Easter Egg

To make... 

Fold the face-cloth in half forming a triangle. 

Roll the face-cloth from the points towards the long edge. 

Then fold this in half and place the Easter Egg in the centre of the fold. 

Tie the ribbon around the "neck" of the bunny. 

Tie another bow higher up, to create the bunny "face" and the "ears" above. 

Using the double sided sticky pads, attach the eyes.

A lovely Easter Gift - for any age group! 

See another Easter posting with new ideas!

Our Easter Ladder is Up!

 We had such fun putting this up this morning!

We ended up with so many eggs and bunnies to put on the ladder, made during the week by our members at the Day Centre, plus the fluffy chicks, silk flowers (someone asked if they were double daffodils?? Could be...) and little chocolate eggs - thus the ladder has rather disappeared, but it is there, I promise! 

(Scroll down to last two previous Posts to see the "ladder" if you haven't been following this project so far)

Because we attached the card eggs and bunnies to flat wooden spatulas (lolly sticks) they were easy to tuck into, or stick onto, the ladder, using double-sided adhesive pads.

The four large card/foil eggs and the yellow flowers were attached to the wall with Blu Tack, separate to the ladder.

I have continued down with close-ups so you can see the details of the Easter decorations - made with such enthusiasm and with great results!

Easter Ladder - Work in Progress

After lots of cutting, sticking and painting (the lolly sticks!) we are ready to assemble the Easter Ladder! 

Tomorrow (Friday) it will be put together and displayed at our Day Centre...

Have no idea what it will look like, but we will soon find out!

Starting the Easter Ladder!

This week at the Day Centre we are going to make

an Easter Ladder...   

To make the ladder I nicked one of my husband's runner bean canes and he cut it in half for me - each piece is about 1m long. Using a hot glue gun we stuck on the rungs, using large-size, flat, wooden spatulas or lolly sticks as they are known!

So this week during our craft sessions we will be making up some Easter Eggs - cut from card or foam and decorated - which will go on the ladder. 

Also have 24 little fluffy yellow chicks to add to the ladder as well! So do pop back later in the week and see how we get on - have no definite idea of what it will look like - will just develop as we go along...!

Look at our Day Centre Greeting Cards!

        

           

We had a lovely morning making up greetings cards at our Day Centre. 

We were fortunate enough to have had donations of blank cards, envelopes and embellishments, which gave us lots of choice... 

We also cut bits off  "used" cards and with a bit of glue or a sticky pad a new card was made! 

Most of the members of our group are over 80 (and over 90) but all joined in with great enthusiasm and produced some lovely cards! 

So please enjoy sharing them with us all... 

March Calendar 2011 - A Mosaic Flower!

2011 Calendar

March

with Printable Template

March coming up...so do print out your March calendar template, all ready to paint or colour-in!

Mosaics are such a delight and have very satisfying results - choose your colours and get going - easy for elderly hands and fun for everyone!


You Will Need
Printed copies (I used A4 White Cartridge 140gsm)

of the March Calendar -  Click here for the Template

 
Paints or any other colouring-in medium.

My Simple Version of a Beetle Drive...for All Ages and Abilities!

I have made our own version of the age-old game, so that everyone, young or whatever ability, can join in..........as to play, all they have to do, is shake the dice!

This is how it works...on each table of 4 to 5 players, place a dice in a shaker (we just use a plastic cup)

One of the players has sheet of A4 copy paper divided into 4 "boxes" by drawing a line across the middle of the page across and down. He will be the Beetle Drawer - A helper can do this if necessary. This will be for four games - so more games, will need more paper!

The dice is thrown in turn by the players (clockwise) and when a 6 is thrown the "body" is drawn. Legs (2 for each leg) and tail (1) can be added, but only when a 5 is thrown and the head added, can the eyes (3 each) and feelers (4 each) be drawn.

Click on the the link to the

 Beetle Drawing Number Codes 

with details of Beetle Parts / Numbers - put a copy on each table. 

When the beetle drawing is complete the table calls out **BEETLE** and the table is awarded a Red Ladybird.

When everyone has had enough (or it is dinner time!) the table with the most Red Ladybirds, gets stickers all round (we use Smiley Faces!)

Have fun...!

Today We Made Collages!

 

   An hour and a half of tearing, cutting and glueing and these are six of the collages, our folk at the Day Centre made - just from magazines, newspapers, craft papers and a few cut-outs and mounted on an A4 black card 

After a hesitant start, the craft session took off with a great buzz of enthusiasm and with great results!

Have a look at our collages!

Easy Craft - Make a Card Door-Hanger!

Door-hangers are such a lot of fun to make!

You will Need:

Card - coloured or white

Fibre tip Pens

Stickers or other embellishments
Glue sticks
Acrylic paint, shapes and sponge (optional)

Here is the template for the Door-Hanger and the Come In! Stay Out! and My Room! prints.



Print out the template 

Trace the door-hanger onto card, or cut out a template and draw around it, onto the card.

If you want - cut out and stick on one side "Come In!" and on the other "Stay Out!" or stick on "My Room!"

The lettering can be coloured-in, either before or after it has been stuck onto the card door-hanger.

Finish off by adding stickers or any other embellishments.

Another version we made was using reverse stencilling.

Use White Tack to temporarily hold down the shapes and then sponge acrylic paint over and around the shape. Leave to dry and then remove the shape.

Stickers can then be used to finish it off. 

If the door knob or handle will not fit into the "hole" then just cut a slit across the left side, about half way down the "hole".

All these Door-Hangers were made by our group

 at the Day Centre for the Elderly.

Restore Self-Esteem to the Elderly With Craft

Working with elderly folk, as the voluntary craft lady at a Day Centre over the last year, has made me realize, more and more, that the folk I'm with, are capable of much more than they think.

When I push my craft trolley into the Lounge, I see a range of facial expressions. Some are delighted to see me. Mostly those who have had some months of my craft sessions.

Others look apprehensive and of course you do get the "I'd rather not do craft" faces...

No pressure, I leave those who are adamant - some come around to joining in, but others never do. Not everyone, amazingly enough, enjoys painting, gluing and the rest!!

The apprehensive ones, give me the most pleasure. When they grow to realize that nothing we do is too difficult and if they do have any physical impairments, lots of help is on hand.

Being part of the group is what counts. The pride I see in their faces, as they hold up their finished work - "I made it myself" sort of look.

I think, that as you age, and you no longer work, either at a job or as a meaningful part of a family, you miss having the challenge of achieving new goals.

So even making a felt butterfly, becomes important and restores the feelings of self esteem and confidence.

Play "Give and Take" with your Group!

We have a favourite , fun game which we play at the Day Centre called Give and Take...

You Will Need (for two groups of 4 players)

An old pack of playing cards (does not matter if incomplete) As you will be writing on these cards, with your marker pen, only use cards you won't need to use again!

A black marker pen

2 dice

Plastic cup - dice shaker

Counters or some form of "money" for players

Preparation

Remove 4 x Aces and 1 Black "2" and 1 Red "2"

On these 6 cards take your marker and write in large lettering across them -DO NOTHING

On all the remaining RED cards in the pack, write GIVE in large lettering.

On all the remaining BLACK cards in the pack, write TAKE in large lettering.

Make up two packs by taking half of each of the cards above and put 3 x DO NOTHING cards into each pack.

Shuffle each pack.

Rules of Play

Make up two tables of four players per table.

Place the pack of cards you have prepared in the centre of each table, face down.

Give each player 7 counters.

The game starts with the first player shaking the dice.

That player then takes a card from the top of the pack and looks at it.

She then either GIVE's to the player or TAKE's from the player on her right the number of counters according to her dice throw.

If she draws a DO NOTHING card she does not GIVE or TAKE counters

The dice is passed to the player on her left (clockwise) after she has completed her turn and the next player shakes the dice etc

When a player has no more counters she is out and the game continues with the remaining players.

The player may not have enough counters left, to pay, when asked. If so, she just hands over what she has and is out of the game.

The Winner is the one who gains all the counters.

We reward the winners with a sticker (Super Star etc) and the player with the most stickers at the end of the session is the Champion Taker!!

(I have called the player "she" but this game appeals to the men-folk as well!)

Freddie Finds a Frog! ... Calendar Feb 2011

2011 Calendar

February

with Printable Template

Second month of the year coming up...so do print out your February calendar template!

You Will Need
Printed copies (I used A4 White Cartridge 140gsm)
of the February Calendar - here is the Template

Paints or any other colouring-in medium.

Have a Fabulous February!

Puppy Fun!

Wrigley

We all know how much fun and pleasure, a puppy can bring into our lives.

At our Day Centre we have a lady, who comes in regularly, to visit our elderly folk, bringing with her, the most sociable dog I have ever met!

Megan is a Labrador and just loves to be patted and petted and talked to...so therapeutic for those folks who can't keep a pet themselves.

This is such a wonderful service - this lady and her dog, visit, not only the older people, but also children in hospital and at special schools.

So our activity this week, is a picture to print out and colour in - it is a Labrador puppy with some cuddly toys! Enjoy...!

An Easy Felt Flower to Make

These felt flowers are so easy to make. No sewing or gluing involved...!

You Will Need (For each flower)

two pieces of coloured felt (largest template is 9cms wide)

one button with a shank (see photo)

one pipe cleaner

two Pony Beads (optional)

Print out the two flower templates  and cut them out as your patterns.

Pin pattern onto your felt and cut out your felt flowers - one of each size.

Fold each felt flower in four and nip off the point to make a small hole in the centre of the flower.

If you have a suitable punch, you can use that instead, to make the hole.

Lay your felt flowers on top of each other, the small one on top.

Take your button and push it through both holes, from the front.



Shank Button - this is a brass one, but any kind will do, as long as it has a shank.

Turn your flower over and then take your pipe cleaner and push it through the shank of the button, so about 2.5 cm is through.

Bend the short piece of the pipe cleaner over and twist it around the long piece.

Take your Pony Beads and thread them onto the pipe cleaner.

Finished Felt Flower!

Make a bunch of these Felt Flowers and put them in a jam jar. We used coloured cotton wool balls to pack around the stems.

Two Picture Quizzes to Download and Print

Famous Landmarks

Kings and Queens

of England

The Picture Quiz is a firm favourite with the older generation, especially if content is something they know about, from their era, or of general interest to them. 

It not only will stimulate conversation as they relate to the pictures, either through reminiscing or to air their knowledge, but will help with memory function as this area of the brain is exercised.

There are two for you to Download and print today. They do contain some colour images, but if you have only a black and white printer, they can still be used, as colour is not essential to identifying the pictures.

Click here download Famous Landmarks and Kings and Queens of England  

The Answers are included!

Launching the Monthly 2011 Calendar Project

 2011 Calendar

January

with Printable Templates

This is such a popular project...making a calendar a month at a time.
Preparing the Calendar in the second half of the previous month, will make sure it is up on the wall by the 1st !

You Will Need
Printed copies (I used A4 White Cartridge 140gsm)

of the January Calendar - here is Template 1  and   Template 2

Paints or any other colouring-in medium

Have fun painting!

Look out each month of 2011, for the next month's calendar templates...

Card Bunting

We have just had our Christmas party at the Day Centre. A lovely day enjoyed by all, with lots of delicious food and grape juice...

The entertainment was a variety of songs from the 1940's, sung by a duet. The whole party joined in with the very familiar tunes and this was followed by a dance routine by six of the staff. 

Not quite up to "Strictly" but great fun!

The tables were decorated with Card Bunting made by the members of the Day Centre. It was very effective and so easy to do...and most importantly, made them feel involved in the preparations of the Big Day!

You Will Need

Coloured card (or white - what ever colour scheme you want to use)

Self-adhesive stickers (we used Christmas themed stickers but there are many others easily available so again choose what suits you)

String

Cellotape

Cut  the card (either straight cut or use pinking shears) into a triangular shape.

Here is a Template. 

Stick on the stickers - we used one per flag but again up to you.

Line the flags up on a table, face down, and then using Cellotape, stick the string about 1cm from the top edge, leaving a space between the flags of about 4cm.

Make strings to desired length, leaving a tail on each end for attaching to table - or to a wall - also look great on a wall!

Enjoy your party!

A Simple Quiz for the Elderly

A Quiz is always popular with any age group and especially with the elderly. Apart from the fun of doing a quiz in a group, there are the obvious benefits of mental stimulation and the chance to reminisce - and with lives rich with experience, we are always ready to listen to our senior citizens.

One quiz, which is always enjoyed, involves a list of items - eg Movies (make sure they are from a suitable era - mine are all 1940's and 50's) and then split them into two columns as below, thus mixing up the second half of each title. They then have to find the ten films, by matching the halves.

Be sure to make a few notes about each movie - date, actors/actresses etc (Google it!) as the quiz will expand into a full discussion amongst the group - you will be amazed at what stories will come out! - and with your notes on hand, you can fill in all the missing bits of film data etc., they can't quite remember...

The High                                                          in the Rain
National                                                           Queen
Ben                                                                  Velvet
From Here                                                        Get Your Gun
A Town                                                             Busters
High                                                                 to Eternity
Singing in                                                          Hur
Annie                                                                Called Alice
The Dam                                                           and the Mighty
African                                                              Noon

This format has endless opportunities - will give you more later - watch this Blog!