Contemplate & Create

A small, but very interested, and talented group of residents went to the museum recently. This trip was different from any other outing to the museum because the residents went to "Contemplate and Create." That was the name of the program at our local museum, and that is exactly what they did. 

The program was basically a tour of specific items in the museum, with narration by the docent highlighting the concepts that we would later put into practice in our own work. There were a few different topics to select from. I choose "assemblage" thinking that it would be the least intimidating.  

After the tour, we went to a classroom area in the museum that I never even knew existed. The teachers for this portion of our outing had everything ready for us. They had a plain white box that would become our work area, along with magazines pre-clipped and organized by subjects, pipe cleaners, buttons, corks, straws, small plastic animals, beads, scissors glue, etc., etc.  They showed examples and guided us through our own very personal process. 

What was neat about this was the bonding that took place with the residents who attended. As some of you know from reading this blog frequently, the community where I work also has two other communities in the area and we run trips together. This trip had about 11 people, but they were from three different locations.  While on the bus waiting for the museum to open, I discussed what we were going to do that morning, and asked the group if they had ever done any type of assemblage project. A few had, and they shared that with  the group. A few had other artistic interests, but had not worked with assemblage. At the end of the morning, when it was time to put away the glue and the beads, it was another great opportunity to interact. It was like  Show and Tell. Everyone took great pride in showing their box and explaining their process and/or subject. 

At our museum, this was a free program and is done with students also. It might be worth a phone call or a look on-line to see if any of your local museum's programs could be presented to your group of senior adults. Some museums have outreach programs where they will come to your retirement community. contact their education department. The museum's slow time for having patrons in the museum is usually a good time for our population, so get busy and see how you can enrich your resident's world with art appreciation.

Safari Theme Party: A Roaring Good Time!

Animal print is the rage right now! You can find it in stores in the clothing department, shoe department, housewares and just about anywhere else you look, and it is the perfect time to have a Safari theme party in your retirement community! 

For my special event, I rented a large tent and had it put up outside. I decorated the tent with the cuttings from the plants that were around the area by placing them on the legs of the tent and up in the apexes of the tent. For the tent I had, there were three specific points to decorate from. I found pinata monkeys and hung them from those points and used the plant cuttings to cover the place where they were hanging. I also used a course rope to hang the monkeys so that it looked more genuine for the theme. (I did have to use multiple pieces for the rope in order for it to be thick enough to be seen.) Make sure if you hang something from the tent that you bring it down low enough to be seen, but keep it high enough for tall guys to work under.

We closed our casual dining area on this night, and encouraged casual dinners to come outside. Our main dining room was open for those who did not want to sit outside or who did not want to navigate a buffet line. The dining room tables had animal print shelf paper in the center of each table, along with a specially printed menu so that they could feel a part of the theme party while staying inside. I did decorate the hallway from the main lobby to the "side door" that took folks outside. I used animal theme balloons to mark which hallway to go to and the door to exit out of. I also used cutouts of the safari theme on the walls of the hallway.

Promoting Activities

In the retirement community where I work, promoting my activities is an important element of my job as activities director. I use a few different methods. I use written announcements that are available twice a week, my in-house television community's channel, a monthly newsletter, posters on a bulletin board next to my sign up sheets and a magnetic board in the main lobby. Today, I want to talk about the magnetic board in the lobby.  

We bought a large brass floor easel and a magnetic board to advertise the foremost activities happening in the community. Due to space it is really important that you control the items on the board, so that your residents know that this is the place for them to find the "need to know at this moment kind of stuff." I like to keep mine in date order, so I am constantly moving the poster that are on the board around once I remove or add one. Usually there is a poster for the week's movie, the week's entertainment, a special meeting, guest speaker, etc.  Location is important, so make sure if you are going to add this to your community, that you have a good place to put it. 

If you can not find a big enough magnetic board, as your religious leader in your community if he has a source where he gets his supplies. I can not remember where we got ours, but I think that is where it came from. Also, thanks to the internet, you can make your own if you want. Here is a Martha Stewart video on how to make your own magnetic board. Remember that you could also frame the board with a frame that you might find in a thrift store or that a family might leave behind once a resident passes away.

In the past, I had magnets that looked like picture frames, or picture frame corners. Once those wore out, I found round black magnets at a local store. They worked fine, but kind of jumped out at me every time I walked by the board and it just didn't feel right. It dawned on me after a few months that there was an easy solution and that it was in my desk the whole time! I had small smiley face stickers in my desk that I used from time to time on notes that I'd send to residents that would work perfectly. Now, when I walk by the magnetic board, I see smiley faces instead. (And yes, it does take an extra minute to make sure they are all facing the right direction, but it is worth it.) 

Is there a place that you can add a board like this to promote your most current programs??

Give it some thought and then do it with organization and style.