| Silvana Clark's Insights by Silvana Clark, Professional speaker, presenting keynotes and workshops on humor in the workplace as well as ideas on creative activities. www.silvanaclark.com silvanac@msn.com |
| About Slivana Clark Silvana Clark began her activity/recreation career 20 years ago as a spotter for kids on a trampoline. Every Saturday, for four hours, she'd watch kids bounce up and down, up and down, up and...you get the idea. Since then she's written eleven books and is a popular speaker at conferences around the country. She was a keynoter at the British Columbia Activity Professionals conference and recently gave a keynote for the Wisconsin Activity Professionals Conference. Her sessions are filled with humor, practical information and small group activities. She is recovering from her appearance on the Fox reality show, Trading Spaces, where she spent a week living with a family that saw no need for any kind of fun activities. Contact her at www.panicbuttons.com or www.silvanaclark.com |
| SILVANA CLARK |
| THE ACTIVITY DIRECTOR'S OFFICE Providing Internet Resources for Activity Professionals in Long Term Care Settings admin@theactivitydirectorsoffice.com Copyright 2004-Present The Activity Director's Office All Rights Reserved Disclaimer |
| BOB'S Novelty Store is back with all new original designs. Visit Activity Director Novelties by clicking on the "Smiley Face" |
| LINDA'S Amazon.com Store for Activity Directors Serious Products for Serious Minded Activity Professionals |
| The Activity Director Community is a gathering place for LTC Activity Professionals. Feel free to express yourself and respond to submissions from other AD's. This is an important community and you need to be part of it. Membership is FREE so Join Today This site is moderated by Robert & Linda Lucas, Owners of The Activity Director website. |
| ACTIVITY DIRECTOR TODAY |
Celebrate some fun July activities with these ideas.
July is National Recreation and Parks Month
Most communities have a local Parks and Recreation program. Get a copy of their activity schedule and
check out the programs. You’ll find a variety of activities to keep your residents busy all month with free
concerts, fireworks displays and special events. Many parks and recreation departments have dance classes
or musical groups that would love to perform at your facility. One department had a club for kids who liked
tarantulas! Yes, the group visited an assisted living center and displayed their hairy, crawly “pets”!
Visit a new park in your community. Many parks are now wheel chair accessible.
Perhaps your more active residents would like to do volunteer work. Call your local Parks and Recreation
department to see if they need volunteers. Some departments look for help planting trees or doing
registration for a special event. Other times they need volunteers to help with a Special Olympic track meet
and pass out ribbons. These opportunities provide your residents with a chance to give back to your
community.
Many of your residents probably remember pressing flowers in books. Bring back those memories by
collecting an assortment of flowers and leaves. Place them between the pages of a little-used book. Put a
weight on the book for several days. Gently remove the flat flowers and use to decorate note cards or
stationery.
Celebrate the Dog Days of Summer
July 3 – August 15
This 40-day period is traditionally the hottest time of the summer. Find ways to celebrate by keeping cool.
Sing a few “cold” songs such as Frosty the Snowman or Walking in a Winter Wonderland.
Cool down by making some paper snowflakes. Fold a paper coffee filter in half – then in ¼’s and then in 1/8’
s. Have residents cut out small shapes and make slits in the paper. Unfold for a frosty snowflake.
Have residents help make frozen pudding cups to cool down in the heat. Mix up a package of instant or
cooked pudding, any flavor. Pour pudding into small plastic cups. Stick a plastic spoon or wooden craft
sticks in the center of the pudding. Make a small slit in the center of a paper cupcake liner. Slide paper over
spoon until it touches the cup. The liner will help catch drips as people eat their pudding pops. Chill
overnight. To unmold, just peel paper from frozen pudding.
If young children are visiting your residents, let them cool off by painting your building. Don’t worry! It’s safe.
Hand children a bucket of water and paint brushes. Let them paint the sides of your building or a wooden
fence. The water darkens the surface and then quickly dries in the sun. They can paint the same area over
and over. Residents enjoy watching their building get painted by these young painters.
See if your local police department will bring their police dogs for a demonstration at your facility. It’s
fascinating to watch these highly trained dogs follow scent trails and obey complex commands.
Put up a bulletin board and ask residents to display pictures of their dogs or their grandchildren’s dogs.
Anniversary of the Pied Piper of Hamlin
July 22
Refresh your resident’s memory by reading the story again. Most libraries have several versions of the story.
Read them to your residents and compare which version they like best.
Select a musical staff member or resident to play an instrument or whistle. Let them lead you in a parade
throughout the building – or if you are really brave, through the neighborhood. Follow wherever they go, just
like the rats in the story of the Pied Piper.
Sit down as a group and write your own version of the story. What problem could happen in your community?
How could the problem be solved? What type of music could be incorporated into the story?
The Pied Piper used music to lead the rats out of town. Make your own music! Set out an assortment of
empty tin cans, bottles, cardboard tubes and other odds and ends. See how creative everyone can be making
their own musical instruments.
Since rats like cheese, you have two options. Number 1: serve a delicious cheesecake for dessert or number
2: cut up cheese and dig out your old fondue pot. Have a snack of cheese fondue with bread cubes.
July is National Recreation and Parks Month
Most communities have a local Parks and Recreation program. Get a copy of their activity schedule and
check out the programs. You’ll find a variety of activities to keep your residents busy all month with free
concerts, fireworks displays and special events. Many parks and recreation departments have dance classes
or musical groups that would love to perform at your facility. One department had a club for kids who liked
tarantulas! Yes, the group visited an assisted living center and displayed their hairy, crawly “pets”!
Visit a new park in your community. Many parks are now wheel chair accessible.
Perhaps your more active residents would like to do volunteer work. Call your local Parks and Recreation
department to see if they need volunteers. Some departments look for help planting trees or doing
registration for a special event. Other times they need volunteers to help with a Special Olympic track meet
and pass out ribbons. These opportunities provide your residents with a chance to give back to your
community.
Many of your residents probably remember pressing flowers in books. Bring back those memories by
collecting an assortment of flowers and leaves. Place them between the pages of a little-used book. Put a
weight on the book for several days. Gently remove the flat flowers and use to decorate note cards or
stationery.
Celebrate the Dog Days of Summer
July 3 – August 15
This 40-day period is traditionally the hottest time of the summer. Find ways to celebrate by keeping cool.
Sing a few “cold” songs such as Frosty the Snowman or Walking in a Winter Wonderland.
Cool down by making some paper snowflakes. Fold a paper coffee filter in half – then in ¼’s and then in 1/8’
s. Have residents cut out small shapes and make slits in the paper. Unfold for a frosty snowflake.
Have residents help make frozen pudding cups to cool down in the heat. Mix up a package of instant or
cooked pudding, any flavor. Pour pudding into small plastic cups. Stick a plastic spoon or wooden craft
sticks in the center of the pudding. Make a small slit in the center of a paper cupcake liner. Slide paper over
spoon until it touches the cup. The liner will help catch drips as people eat their pudding pops. Chill
overnight. To unmold, just peel paper from frozen pudding.
If young children are visiting your residents, let them cool off by painting your building. Don’t worry! It’s safe.
Hand children a bucket of water and paint brushes. Let them paint the sides of your building or a wooden
fence. The water darkens the surface and then quickly dries in the sun. They can paint the same area over
and over. Residents enjoy watching their building get painted by these young painters.
See if your local police department will bring their police dogs for a demonstration at your facility. It’s
fascinating to watch these highly trained dogs follow scent trails and obey complex commands.
Put up a bulletin board and ask residents to display pictures of their dogs or their grandchildren’s dogs.
Anniversary of the Pied Piper of Hamlin
July 22
Refresh your resident’s memory by reading the story again. Most libraries have several versions of the story.
Read them to your residents and compare which version they like best.
Select a musical staff member or resident to play an instrument or whistle. Let them lead you in a parade
throughout the building – or if you are really brave, through the neighborhood. Follow wherever they go, just
like the rats in the story of the Pied Piper.
Sit down as a group and write your own version of the story. What problem could happen in your community?
How could the problem be solved? What type of music could be incorporated into the story?
The Pied Piper used music to lead the rats out of town. Make your own music! Set out an assortment of
empty tin cans, bottles, cardboard tubes and other odds and ends. See how creative everyone can be making
their own musical instruments.
Since rats like cheese, you have two options. Number 1: serve a delicious cheesecake for dessert or number
2: cut up cheese and dig out your old fondue pot. Have a snack of cheese fondue with bread cubes.
| ACTIVITY DIRECTOR TODAY E-MAGAZINE Subscribe Today (Just $24 per year) |
| BACK HOME |
