Arts and Crafts for the elderly..

[Scattymum]

Not sure if this is the right forum

My SIL foster Mum works part time in a nursing home, she visited me today and she wants me to organise ( and get paid!) some Arts and Crafts sessions. The elderly that are in the home vary from able bodied, wheelchair bound, Altzheimers etc.

I am trying to get a proposal sorted out and need to outline the various sessions that I will do.

I have a few ideas but was wondering if anyone could come up with things to do - initially we would have 6-8 in a session - time frame for a session would be about an hour.

thanks for any help!!

[staceyy]

Maybe make greeting cards and wreaths

[AmyMCGS]

I'm the Activity Director in a nursing home (eleven years now) and I have my BS in Art Therapy.

For the confused or disabled, you want to stick with simple things, but do not insult them with children's crafts. For example, some of my ladies with Alzheimer's like to color, but I don't bring them cartoon character coloring books... they color adult clip art images of scenery or people or whatever (blown up on the copier). There are also adult coloring books that you can purchase if you have funds. I know it doesn't sound like much of a difference, but it's a dignity issue.

A few ideas that have worked well for me:
-- collages that are later laminated and turned into placemats
-- painting those clear plastic Christmas ornaments that pop open-- you paint the inside and dry it with a hairdryer
-- anything they can hang on the door to their room (this can be varied for each person's abilities)
-- decorating picture frames with flowers, beads, etc.
-- clear vases, decopaged with tissue paper pieces on the inside to resemble stained glass

[jmulcahy]

These are great ideas. How did you laminate the placemats?

[zakity]

Dover has some really nice coloring books. I know a lot of homeschoolers with artsy kids use them. They also have mosaic coloring books that are really super cool.