There are so many small craft projects, with assistance that the elderly, handicapped and disabled can do! My most important suggestion is not to involve them in a lengthy project, but one they can accomplish in a short time frame.
Here are a few ideas, but use your imagination as there are a lot of brilliant members on Thrifty Fun!
I guarantee these projects will be a hit and very rewarding, both ways! Their motor skills and abilities may be impaired but, with your help, the possibilities are limitless! Please add your own creative ideas to this! Thank you!
By Missy MM from OH
I like these ideas and I intend trying them with the special Needs group I help at. A couple of weeks ago we had a "pottery painting evening". I cast models using rubber moulds and plaster of paris. We had dogs, cats, owls, (soccer) footballers, (British) policemen, lions, rabbits and crinoline ladies.
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Make hoops of color hung on fish line in groups by the craft room, in the windows like stained glass windows, or in the hallway to the day room.
Looking for craft ideas to engage retirement home residents. Here are a few suggestions to engage them in conversation whilst doing crafts.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I work at a nursing home as an activities director. I need ideas for new and exciting things I can do with them. Please keep in mind, that not many of them can do anything. Many only have the use of one hand.
I have been volunteering for over ten years with my children at the local nursing home. We call it Moms, Tots & Pops. My five children range in age from 14 to 4. I set up a date once a month and we have about 20 - 30 people who participate. They love the kids being there and sometimes other moms and kids join in. The following are examples of things we do throughout the year. I try to tie it in with the season. We make suncatchers sometimes out of tissue paper and contact paper, we have also used beads and string, We have made sand designs, painted eggs for Easter, made picture frames, bookmarks, painted small pumpkins, marble painting on card stock to make cards, streamer windsocks in red/white/blue, memory cards, potpouri sachets, yarn dolls, pine cone turkeys, paper airplanes along with making magnet fish to have a game day.
Have fun and bring your kids/grandkids, neighborhood kids they make it that much more fun for the residents.
Bless you for your work and for reminding people to get involved as a volunteer at nursing homes!
A couple of decades ago I had a really large, mellow, declawed, twenty-four toed cat that I would take to the senior center a couple times a month and, man, did it ever feel good to see all those faces light up being able to see, pet and hold a pussy cat!
When my time comes to be in a nursing home or retirement community I think it would simply be fun to be a kid again with things like crayons and a coloring books :-) And maybe at Christmas time to even string popcorn garland for the community tree :-) Even those who only have use of one hand can team with someone else and feel job well done :-)
What about having them do some actual art activities? I am thinking of watercolor painting. If you do not know anything about watercolor, perhaps you could contact an art teacher or artist in the community to show you how to do some projects, or better yet, to volunteer to come into the home. I think this would be a very good activity. Those who are artistic can paint. Those who are less capable can do something abstract that may still turn out very nice. If you want to do something other than make paintings to hang on the wall, you could do small ones and turn them into greeting cards. I would use fairly good quality materials -- the paper is the most important thing. One of the homes that I know of had a professional artist in residence that facilitated art activities rather than crafty things.
One thing that would be nice for people who do like crafty things is to paint on precut wooden ornaments. I do a lot of this stuff with my middle years students at school. They make particularly nice wooden Xmas ornaments. You can use acrylic paints, but even easier is colored markers. We used white out pens to put "snow" on the houses, and you could use actual glitter and glue, or glitter pens to put shiny things on these if you liked that effect. Depends what you are making. I prefer them without the glitter. Coloring with markers -- fine tipped if you are making small things -- is much easier than painting, and much less messy. Even someone who has only one hand could do this. One kid picked a duckling cutout and just colored it over and over to get a glowing yellow duckling. It was very effective.
Another craft that is quite easy is to cover a bottle or a juice can (cardboard) with ripped up pieces of masking tape. Then this is polished with a medium brown shoe polish, and buffed to a shine. It makes a mock leather bottle or pencil holder if you are doing the can thing. They could make it for their grandchildren!!! Turn the tables on them!!! Even those with only one hand could do the tape and the buffing.
Well I am planning to visit someone at a nursing home soon. I want to do something nice this year even if it's just one person picked at a nursing home, it just feels like it's time to help someone out and make them feel like they have people around them who really do care.
I am thinking about buying a small stocking and filling it with stuff like pens wrapped in ribbon making them colorful, a Christmas poem, a nice book, and some candles, I am going to buy small candle holders and decorate them then put green and red candles inside. I also want to make decorations or take stuff and have them help me make their room look more colorful and seem a lot nicer to be in, make streamers, things to brighten the window.
It'll be a lot of fun and I'm writing this because if you're thinking of doing something for someone, don't change your mind, it will make them happy and you will know that you made someone feel hopeful.
Draw a simple large butterfly shape and photocopy as many as needed. Scrunch up 1inch or 2inch squares of tissue paper and decorate the butterfly. Cut out and hang up with invisible thread. Works of art on display and also the residents who cannot communicate can see them hanging. Very colourful
Make a mood chart. This is good for those who cannot communicate well. Can be made from felt or something that can have velcro attached to make it stick and removeable.
Make faces happy, sad, confused etc and head the chart I AM FEELING. The resident can help make the chart and this is a form of communication. So may times each day a resident is asked 'how are you feeling' Now they can tell you.
I volunteer at a local nursing home and do crafts several times a month.
Ideas that have worked well:
Rubber stamping -- I ink the stamps and place them on the paper where the resident wants it. The resident pushes down on the stamp to make the imprint. Most residents have the strength to push down on the stamp. We have made pictures and greeting cards from the stamps.
Stickers -- we have made pictures and cards using stickers. The helper removes the sticker from the sticker sheet and the resident places it where she wants.
Last week we made foam door hangers for the residents' rooms. The kits had self-adhesive letters and stamps. I brought my digital camera and printer to the nursing home and took pictures of the residents which they added to the foam hanger. I bought the kits from the Oriental Trading Company craft catalogue -- about $5 for a set of 12.
Read simple poetry to them leaving off the last word, only works if it rhymes. They can usually figure it out. Go on line and find a site aout Wise Old Sayings, like easy come easy ... go) they finish the saying. Go to thrift store and buy inexpensive games like Blurt, Password and donate them to the activity staff. Look up trivia on the internet for the residents, but make it fairly easy.
I am looking for an Easter craft for girl scouts to do for nursing home residents. Any help would be appreciated.
-Penny
It depends on the age and abilities of your girls. A really simple one is to take a paper plate and a piece of construction paper. Cut two "ears" out of the construction paper. Glue the ears to the back side of the plate and use a pink pom pom for the nose. Draw on the eyes.
For older girls, go to craft store and buy small flower pots. Have the girls paint them or cut flowers out of magazines to glue on the pots. Add some grass and a few jelly beans. If you want to get really fancy, you could tie a ribbon around the rim of the flower pot. Hope this helps!
Hi, hope you are getting some good ideas. One activity I did with my patrol was for them to trace and cut their hands out (which will be the wings). (Some of the older people wanted to do it, so the girls traced around their hand.) Then you draw an egg shape on another piece of paper (which will be the body). then you make beek and two legs. attach the hands onto eiter side of the egg. Attach the legs and beek then draw eyes. And you will have a chicken. It was a very easy and fun activity for both the older people and my patrol of 7 year olds.
Happy Easter
Panther
One that I plan on doing with my daughter's first grade class is a Easy basket. You will need styrofoam cups. Poke a pipe cleaner into the sides for the handle, add grass (I'm going to use the different color grass) and add candy inside the cup. You can also use stickers to decorate the basket.
My Venture Crew went to the local nursing home last year when I really felt a tug on my heart to hold an Easter service in addition to our usual Christmas service there. Our first year we got the pastel colored Construction paper (cutting it into an egg shape pattern we found online) and used the foam stickers and regular stickers in addition to crayons, markers, and glitter glue pens and gave each person their own Egg to decorate. The majority of the patients loved it. I think it went well.
I am the activities director at a memorial home and last year a group of cub scouts made our residents sun catcher crosses. Just use clear contact paper and colorful tissue. Cut the crosses out of white paper and stick to the contact paper and then fill in the space with the tissue paper. Our residents loved them.
Wish I had seen this sooner. I am an Activities Director and for Easter I made all of them these darling bunny cups from styrofoam cups. They were easy to make and were just so cute. I will leave a pic so maybe next yr you'll have a good gift for them. I also made home made eggs to go in them and wrapped them so they'd stay fresh.
Be sure not to put in plastic grass. Mine was paper. They tend to eat everything.
I am looking for some easy and cheap crafty ideas for Father's day for disabled, elderly residents at an independent living facility.
By KATHY BELK from Bowling Green, KY
Make a checker board and checkers. Instead of using a pizza box for the checker board as per the instructions, you could have them use whatever you can think of like cardboard or foam core.
home.howstuffworks.com/
Another suggestion is those little 6-packs of plants, some potting soil, spoons to dip the soil, some cheap little plastic pots. Have them transplant a plant into a pot. Tell them to water as soon as they get them home. They can keep their plants in a window. If this isn't 'crafty' enough, they could paint designs on the rim of the pot, but not the pot itself so they will be able to carry it home without having to touch the paint.
Is this for the seniors to make? Or as gifts to give them? If it is for gifts for them, I would suggest getting some fabric and making small "pouches" for eyeglasses, remotes, etc. I made one for my grandfather from some denim. 3 feet long by 1 foot wide. Put right sides together. Fold over about 1/3, so you have a pouch with one longer side. Sew up the two sides of the pouch. Flip right side out. Tuck the long end under the sofa cushion? Under the mattress? Under their bottom on their wheel chair? Wherever, holds those things that are always getting put down and misplaced. He kept his glasses, remotes, and cordless phone in his...you can make hems, decorate, etc..or leave them really simple. If not hemming, use pinking shears to cut the edges and use non-raveling material.
I am starting my summer clinicals shortly with elders from a local retirement home. I will have a mix of men and women with varying degrees of ability. Anyone have any ideas for "therapy inspired" craft projects? I need something different. The elderly at the retirement home get to see groups like us every semester. I want to really engage them cognitively, socially, and physically (fine motor mostly). But here is the kicker - it MUST be fun! I don't want to bore them with "oh, this again".
By KisanOTA from Appleton, WI
You could have them make "fascinators". They are the pretty little "hats" that are so popular now. Check them out on line...a lot of the British royal family started wearing them and now a lot of people make them and wear them. They are just a piece of netting with hand made flowers or bows (or use your imagination) glued or sewn on to them.
For the ladies: glue or sew a small hair clip to the back, so they can wear it in their hair. For the men, glue or sew a safety pin on the back, so they can wear it as a "boutinere". (Sorry about the spelling!!) Then they can make fancy finger sandwiches and dainties and cold lemonade and have a garden party (which can be indoors or out). Have them make simple decorations: table centerpieces, paper flowers, etc. and play some soft background music.
This could be a "progressive craft" that would take a few sessions to put everything together, with the garden party as a fun goal to look forward to.
I work volunteer hours working an assisted living home trying to earn my silver award for Girl Scouts. We do crafts every other week or so and we do a craft usually for each holiday. We have done a Halloween craft but now I need ideas for a Thanksgiving craft that the residents could hang on their door. These crafts need to be not very complicated and not use expensive supplies. These people's hands are shaky and have trouble with gluing many parts together. They love to paint (they use the foam brushes for sponge painting) so painting is okay.
my grandsons class made the cutest wreath. they took a thin white paper plate and cut out the inside circle which left a round circle about 3-4 wide to use as the wreaths base for building.Then they cut out the same shape of a maple leaf using construction paper in fall colors like red, orange, yellow green, and glued those on in a clockwise circle slightly over lapping each leaf on the one before it until the wreath was full one layer around. Then a ribbon piece tied into a bow was attached (the wide 2 inch wire tulle ribbon0 it was attached to the top with glue. simple yet so pretty. It can hang anywhere because the inside circle was open. Hang on there doors, bedpost, in the window. Even add a picture of the person on the wreath.
Supplies used were:
1 white thin cheap paper plate
various colors of paper construction paper
elmers glue or glue stick
scissors
wire tulle ribbon
you could even cut out the leafs prior to the day of fun for them.
Can anyone help me with clay pot crafts or any other easy craft ideas for a nursing home residents' craft day.
By margieT from Australia
Read Archives, also here are a few websites.
www.ehow.com/
This website gives some craft ideas that have been made by the Girl Scouts. You might be able to find some fun crafts for the residents to do.
forums.gardenweb.com/
I am looking for some simple craft ideas for colorful Bedford bendable ribbon. I bought it at a garage sale so have no patterns or ideas.
I have 1/8, 1/4, 3/4, and 1 inch wide metallic bendable ribbon in red, white, pink, blue, and green. I want to use it for a craft project for my resident's in a nursing home. I need simple and easy ideas for a fun project. Can anyone help me?
By Karen K.
Hi. I bought a magazine from a garage sale with an idea using the bendable ribbon, but I'm having trouble finding the ribbon. One of the easy ideas is to take 18 inches of 1/4" red and 18 inches of 1/4" silver (or white) and wrap them diagonally around a pencil. Bend them into a candy cane shape, then use 9 inches of 1/4" green to make a bow and attach it.
Another idea is to make a wreath using a 24 inch piece of the 3/4" green ribbon. Wrap it around a pencil to make a spiral, then grab each end and turn one clockwise while turning the other counter-clockwise to make a larger spiral. Make a small cut 1/2way through each end, then interlock them to form a circle. Make a bow using the red ribbon and attach it to the wreath.
Both ideas look really easy and really cute to use as an ornament or just a decoration. Hope this helps and is easy to understand :)
I would like ideas (and pictures) of easy crafts using recycled items that nursing home residents would enjoy making.
By sandi from Brookville, IN
I need a January craft to make decorations for the inside doors at a nursing home.
By Kim
I am trying to find online craft ideas, with directions, for elderly people in a nursing home. I have found a few things on creatingtogetherjournal.com, but it only gave me two sample ideas because it is a craft magazine. I volunteer and don't have the money to buy a craft book. If anyone has suggestions, as to where online to find ideas, please respond. Thanks.
By Cora
This is a page about crafts for visually impaired nursing home patients. Visual impairment can affect the type of crafts a person can do enjoyably and successfully.
ThriftyFun is one of the longest running frugal living communities on the Internet. These are archives of older discussions.
I volunteer at a local nursing home and do crafts with the residents a couple times a month.
I work in the activities department of a busy nursing home. It is a challenge finding craft ideas that are enjoyable to MEN.
