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.
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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!
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
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
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.
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. They loved seeing pictures of shelter cats playing with they labors of love. and great hand rehab work!
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
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