I need ideas for crafts and activities for a one handed lady that lives at home.
Finger painting, chalk art, paint stamping !
Adult coloring books have great pictures that a person with one hand could color. The pictures could then be framed. You might also consider needlework using a hoop or frame. Paint by number is also a craft idea they could do. Jigsaw puzzles and word puzzles are activities they might enjoy.
Have you ever thought about doing plastic canvas. Normally you can hold this between your knees and it makes it easy to work on.
She can make cards! A craft store punch of many designs pushed with palm of her hand to cut colored paper etc. Glue pieces +flat gems etc. to white paper folded or card stock&stamp a message.
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I need help. I work at a brain injury rehab facility. Most of our clients have use of only one hand and I would like to know if you have some ideas for activities we could do.
Most activities can be adapted for one-handed individuals. Occupational Therapists are adept at adapting activities for people with different abilities. If your facility has one on site, ask her/him. Otherwise, post some specific questions on thrifty-fun and I and others will do what we can to help you.
There are commercially available holders for playing cards, but you can use a clean hairbrush to hold the cards. Most other games are fine one-handed.
Crafts are generally pretty easy to adapt. The hardest are knitting and crocheting, but they, too can be done if the individual is well-motivated.
There is non-stick sheeting that can be placed on a table to keep objects from sliding around while they're "worked on" (Dycem), and if you can't get Dycem, you can use the mesh-like material used to line shelves and keep area rugs from slipping around.
What kind of activities were you thinking about? Hopefully you'll get lots of input on here!
The nursing home where I used to work had great success with bins of scraps of colored paper. The residents would arrange and glue them, and they looked good. They were labeled with the new resident's names, and taped on their door as a welcome gesture.
My favorite activity was memorizing tin pan alley songs. I played the ukulele (only cost $30), and sang songs I got for free from the library. Don't worry if your voice and playing are not great (mine aren't). The residents did not care one bit, they just loved old songs they remembered.
They also ADORED it when I read Shakespear plays to them, acted out the different parts, and explained what the plays ment.
Best of luck,
Londa
Fourth of July sparklers? those are good year-round and handy when the days are shorter...lame-o, maybe so...
Could they play dominoes? They can be handled with just one hand. Also, there's a new game called "Triominoes" that's fun. Good luck and God bless you.
When my dad had a bad fall and fractured his skull, he ended up in a nursing home for a short period of time. He acted a lot like a stroke patient. I went to visit him one day when they were playing bingo.
I spent a couple of months in a nursing home after a car wreck. The Activities people regularly read articles from the newspaper out loud to us, a time they called "News Break." Except for the designated reader, this is hands-free and I remember it as being very interesting. It made all of us feel a little less isolated, too.
Something else that could be done one-handed is jigsaw puzzles. You can get most kinds, from beginner to advanced, at garage sales or dollar stores, for little money. Finishing a puzzle is also a great morale booster, no matter what the level.
After my mom's stroke, I bought her kids' puzzles and the large crayons & simple coloring books. How about stamping art projects; you can usually find stampers in the dollar stores, and sometimes craft stores have a clearance bin full of them.
I found that many nursing home/rehab center residents still want to be useful. I ask that they help by making cat toys. pipe cleaners with bells and then wrapped around a pencil to make a coil.
My mum had a stroke 10 weeks ago. Yesterday she made cards. We used silk flower petals. I drew a circle where she wanted the flower. Using 4 petals around the circle. Pointy part facing in and somd glue, mum reated a flower, she used a 2nd co,lour to build up tne flower. In the centre she glued a small artificial flower. She was proud as punch. So was i hope this
helps
Margie,
I've done this craft before and I had a stroke when I was 11, so I have little to no use of my left hand currently. However, I love crafting, and am able to do this craft:
Bottlecap magnets:
1. Glue, (tacky glue or glue sticks),
2. Scrapbook paper,
3. Stickers or things to decorate the magnet (stickers, sequins, beads)
4. Small scissors, (which Im sure you probably have)
5. Stick on magnets
6. pencils (again, which Im sure you have)
7. bottlecaps (old-fasioned/beer or soda caps, or Snapple caps
1. Use the quarter to trace a circle on the back of the scrapbook paper with a pencil
2. Cut the circle youve traced out with scissors
3. With the cap faced down, put a dot of glue into the bottle cap
4. Press your circle into the glue
5. Once youve finished this, you can use anything you like to decorate the paper on inside the cap. Ive used sequins, beads, gems, and stickers, to decorate mine. (Keep in mind whatever you use must be small enough to fit into the cap)
6. Once youve finished decorating the inside of your magnet, you can peel off the backing of your magnet, and stick it onto the back of your cap.
7. Let your magnet dry for a few minutes
**Tracing might be difficult, but generally I can get the shape of the quarter by having it next to the circle I'm drawing, or am able to hold it with my left hand (while in a fist), to trace it. I hold the paper with my left hand(normally in a fist), and use my right hand to hold the scissors to cut out the circle.
Generally though, it's an easy craft for me to do; even with one hand
Something my mother can do not to be bored while she is alone and can't work. She only has use of one arm.
There is a useful equipment for handicrafts, called ApuSylvi. With ApuSylvi one can make different handicrafts even with only one hand. It is mainly in use in Finland with disabled and occupational therapists, but they do ship internationally.
www.apusylvi.fi/en
My formerly active friend suffered a stroke and is now paralyzed on one side, and bedridden in a nursing home. Her dominant hand is unaffected, the other one has very little strength or movement. She found a crochet project too difficult to hold. Bead and paper crafts could be too messy or too hard to manage.
I would appreciate knowing how other people have been creative in similar circumstances. I could buy her a spiral notebook and suggest she write short stories about all sorts of memories from different stages of her life, even about her present situation. This could eventually go to her children and grandchildren so they could get to know her background.
By Endee Mac
If she is artistic, you can suggest she paints or draws. She might also read books for the blind. If she loves books and her voice isn't affected too much, that is a grand way to give back. I hope these ideas helped.
I understand my students have different kinds of diabilties and yes I do have to modify their crafts. Here is one I think you will enjoy. You will need a new roll of toilet paper, one fat quarter of material (any color or print), some rafti, a 12" rectagle of some type of green fabric printed or not, one brown lunch sack.
OK here it is. Open the fat quarter and set the tp in the middle. Then take one corner and stuff into the tp roll. do it again until u get all corners in. Now take your green and lay it across the top of tp but use one finger and push in just a bit. Now put a bit of rafi on top of the green, do the same like the green one.
Now for the last thing take the lunch sack fold in half (hotdog style) fold again. Now put one end in your mouth and bite down while the other end is in your hand and twist and twist. When you get it twisted fold in half and put the open end into the tp roll just like you did before.
Dada you now have a pumpkin. You can make one for any holiday as decorations or as a holder for a spare roll of tp. After you make them they are to cute to tear apart. One student took his home (who has cp). He told his mom look what I made. Mom wasn't sure that he did it, so he took it apart and put it all back together. Lets just say it was a magic moment she will never forget. Enjoy.
Would you please post a photo of the completed project? It would be especially helpful for visual learners. Thanks
I was incredibly crafty but also lost the use of one half of my body. I found that I could use knitting looms like the kniffty knitter and the like, they make all kinds even ones specifically for socks. But I will advise that the bigger "heavier"ones are the easiest to work with because they will stay on my lap better (even without holding it) which is important because obviously ,I can only use one hand and I need it to hold the tool.
The knitting looms can make all kinds of things and you aren't limited to scarves and tubes
I have the same problem is y doing sequin art but be a bit difficult for her and good luck I hope you find something
Can scrapbooking be done with one hand?
On TV I have seen people with no hands doing just about anything anyone else can do, but they use their feet. I'm not suggesting that one-handed people do things with their feet, but I feel like if a person wants to do something bad enough, they will work and work at it until they figure out ways to accomplish what they want to do.
One thing that would probably help is a paper cutter. I am hoping that other, more inventive people can come up with lots of good suggestions that will help.
I have much confidence in the human spirit, where there's a will, a person can figure out a way.
I don't see why not! My cousin lost his Arm in a car accident & he wired his whole house by himself! He still does everything he used to, sometimes it takes him a bit longer, but he gets it done!
* I think the one thing that would help is to have a non-slip surface to work on, so things (like the book) don't slip... I believe they sell stuff like this for quilters at fabric stores, but I bet you could also use fun-foam. Also, buy a tape dispenser that you don't need 2 hands to operate, they have some that work by just pressing down on them & pulling, then giving it a little push or twist & the tape cuts by itself. (It's double-sided tape)
---> Just go to any Scrapbooking store & ask the salesperson what will work best with one hand. They know their products well. They also have glue that has a roller tip or you can use a glue stick. & don't forget you can make your own cool-tools. For example you could glue an eraser to each end of a 10 or 12 inch long dowel (or use a pencil) & put it in your mouth to use your mouth as an extra arm. HAVE FUN & think outside the box! Maybe you'll invent some new tools for crafters with disabilities!
I remember when I broke my wrist how I had a hard time even writing a check myself. But I have a wonderful older customer that has only one arm that works & she beads the most beautiful bracelets. She had to give up her knitting, but she picked up beading & she does it well. She's one of those people who brings a pocket full of sunshine with her wherever she goes!
Depending on what part of the limb you have left to use ( no fingers> some fingers>risk heal only) I have seen people on TV attach helping items like tongs etc to there limb with velcro bands and do lots of things as there second hand. My dad is 70 years old and has had 3 of his fingers off on one hand and the rest of that hand stiffen with no feeling and use since he was in his early 20"s and he uses it just as though the hand was still there like it was before it happened. You will find that if you want to do something bad enough your mind will find a way to accomplish it.
No reason why not, with adaptations or using tools like Xacto knives instead of scissors. I agree that things moving or slipping might be one of the biggest problems. I would try those non slip mats they sell for under rugs. They can be cut up to any size. Also I can't believe there isn't a website for disabled crafters, I'd google it. Have fun whatever you do.
Where there's a will, there's a way :-)
I remember as a little girl a lady who worked the register as a cashier at our local Seven Eleven ... When she was a child she had lost both of her arms well above the elbow when they were caught in one of the old fashioned ringer washers ... She could take and give both paper and silver change faster and more accurately than those of us with both limbs :-)
Please let us know what ends up working for you :-)
Here's human spirit inspiration and is not meant as a religious sell ... Please turn volume off if that subject is something that might be offending:
www.youtube.com/
All you can do is a small experiment, and go from there. You may find parts of it not doable, but mostly you will succeed.
