Ice Skating Rink (Residents Love To Watch Skaters)
Mall To Watch The Christmas Shoppers
Craft Mall
Bowling
Dinner Theater
Basketball Game
Ride To See Christmas Lights
To The Movies
Cafe for Cocoa & Donuts
School Christmas Program
Church Christmas Program
Tree Lighting Ceremony
Facility Ideas
Cookie Cutter Painting
Put a small amount of blue tempera paint in
a large shallow container. (A pie tin works well)
Show your residents how to dip the cookie cutter in
the paint and press onto a piece of paper to create a print.
Great for those who can't attend cooking group.
Christmas Ornaments
Decorate canning and jar lids with string, ribbon, sequins,
lace, and odds and ends. Glue a pipe cleaner to
the back and hang on your tree.You Can also cut
pictures from greeting card and glue in center of lid.
A great way to personalize and decorate your facility tree.
Creative Cards & Placemats
Fold a piece of construction paper in half.
Provide residents with a variety of materials,
wrapping paper, paper, glitter, ribbons, bows,
and let them make a holiday card for someone special.
you can also cut pictures from old Christmas Card to use.
Give residents a full piece of construction paper &
let them use above items to make placemats. Cover
with clear contact paper. Stick a bow to one top side.
Christmas Stockings
Check out Goodwill, Salvation Army,
or Department Store for childrens socks red & green. Have residents decorate
them with ribbons, bows, lace and whatever else you can think of.
Use Paint Pen To write residents first name. Staple or glue on a ribbon
hanger. Hang on hall wall or residents door or beside residents bed.
Where Is Your Gift
Wrap as many small gifts as you want.
Have residents sit in a circle. Choose which resident will go first at guessing then go
counter clockwise around the circle. Have all the residents close
their eyes and place their hands behind their backs. Place the small gift in one of the residents hands.
Have everyone open their eyes leaving their hands behind their backs except the chooser. The chooser gets 3 guesses to find the gift. Continue playing
till the gifts are gone. Have Fun !
Popcorn Garland
Make popcorn. Let it cool.
Supply the residents with a piece of yarn and a safe needle (plastic and big)
Also a great 1 0n 1
Have the residents thread the popcorn onto the yarn to make garland.
Fingerprint Trees
Fingerprint Tree
Either have the residents cut out their own tree or make one for them.
Then let them use a non-toxic stamp pad to put fingerprints
(Christmas Ornaments and lights) on the tree.
Holiday Story Book Read
Invite children from 2-4pm on Saturdays to enjoy stories
read by your residents. Serve refreshmets.
Out & About
Have a best decorated house contest.
Take residents around town to see the Christmas lights.
Let them vote on the best decorated.
Have a "Best Decorated House" certificate with you
that your resident council officers have already signed
with your facility name on it.
Knock on the door and present it to the owners.
Take pictures of the presentation if possible
You could even have a bag of goodies as a prize.
Or mail the certificate to them
Don't forget to write down the address.
Food Donations
Be a drop off center for food donations
before Thanksgiving & Christmas for your local churches, schools, or senior center.
Crafts
Coffee Filter Snowflakes
Need:
Coffee Filter
Scissors
Blue Tempera paint
water and a paint brush.
Directions:
Take some blue paint and water it down.
Then paint a coffee filter with the paint.
Once it dries fold it in half, then in half again,
and then in half one more time. Cut it like you would
a snowflake. When you open it will look like a blue
tie dyed snowflake. Looks great in a window.
Glistening Snowflake
Need: tape
doily
paper plate
paint brush
paint
silver glitter
Directions:
Lightly tape a doily to a paper plate. Use a paintbrush
to gently dab blue tempera all over the doily. While paint
is still wet, remove the doily. Sprinkle silver glitter on
the wet paint. Shake off excess glitter and cut around the pattern.
Snowflake Art
Need:
Paper
black or dark blue paper
cotton balls
white paint
Directions:
Cut out a snowflake from paper. Then, lay the snowflake
on top of a black or dark blue piece of construction paper.
Dip a cotton ball in white paint and "dab" all over the snowflake
with the paint. The paint will go through the spaces in the
snowflake and onto the paper. Then, remove the snowflake. There
will be a beautiful snowflake painted onto the paper
Games
We Can Build A Snowman Game
Materials Needed:
white Felt
orange Felt
black Felt
brown felt
Felt - other colors as desired
Shoe Box Wrapped as a present for storage Of Game & die
A Die
Instructions:
Cut a large, medium & small circle out of white felt.
This will be your "snowman". Cut 2 black coals eyes & top hat out
of the back felt. Cut a carrot nose out of orange felt
Cut 2 arms shaped as twigs out of brown felt
using any color felt cut out a scarf to fit on your snowman
You will
need 1 set of everything above per player
On the lid of the box, or another convenient spot write down each
number on the die and a snowman part that goes with it. Like this:
1 = Large White Circle
2= Medium White Circle
3= Small White Circle
4= eyes or arms
5= scarf
6= Top Hat
This game is played like 'Cootie'
You must get Numbers 1 thru 3 on die (all 3 white circles)
before you can obtain the other parts to build your snowman.
Once you have your snowman snowballs built
you can roll the die to obtain any of the other parts to build your snowman.
First resident to finish building their snowman wins.
Have Fun !!
Snowball Toss
Have residents toss white
styrofoam balls into a waste basket.
Pin The Carrot Nose On The Snowman
Make a snowman face or full snow man out of paper plates.
Have the residents take turns trying to pin the
orange construction paper nose on the snowman.
The nose will last longer if you cover it with clear contact paper.
1 0N 1 Ideas
Sensory Stimulation
Christmas Scents
pine
cinnamon
peppermint
cookies
Candy Canes
yams
Oh Christmas Tree (low cognitive level)
Cut out several different sizes of Christmas trees
Have resident arrange them small to large.
You can also use Christmas Stockings,Snowmen,Reindeer, Ornament etc.
We Can Build A Snowman
Take the game above on room visits and let your resident build a snowman. If time allows play the game with them 1 0n 1.
Trimming The Tree
Cut out a large green felt Christmas Tree
using assorted colors of felt cutout ornaments for the tree.
cut out a yellow or gold felt star for topper.
Purchase some mini garland.
Take on room visits and let residents decorate the tree.
Great time to reminisce with your resident about Christmas memories.
Decorate A Christmas Tree
Cut A tree out Of Green Construction paper
Purchase Christmas Stickers and stars and have resident decorate the tree.
What Song Is This ?
Record the beginning of popular Holiday songs.
Let resident try to name that tune. Have a cassette or Cd handy of full length songs.
Leave it in residents room to play.
Ask & Ye Shall Receive
This is a great time of year to ask for donations of Cassette or CD players.
You will find that even bedridden residents who do not respond other wise will respond to music.
The thing that bothered me most in the facilities I worked for was my bedridden residents.
And the fact that when no one was there they had nothing.
Churches and other organizations usually came around during the holidays for a list
of residents with no family or who would receive little.
We would compile a list of residents along with clothes & slipper sizes.
The Administrator at one facility just kind of raised her eyebrows when she saw on my list
I had cassette players, radios,plus the kind of music I knew my residents liked & much more on it.
She said, "Well the organizations and churches usually just purchase clothes."
She saw the determined look on my face and said,"Well we'll just leave them
on the list and see what happens."
Every resident got what we ask for.
So Don't ever be afraid to ask
I will do everything I can to better the last days of my seniors.
They have given so much to me.
But the best part was everytime a CNA went to a residents room
they would turned the music back on and I began seeing responses
from residents I hadn't seen before.
It's A Marshmallow World In The Winter
