There are lots of unique ways to use the Sparkles. They function most simply as a newspaper with reminiscence topics and stories from the past, but, with a little creativity, and the use of all the extra resources we include, you can use them for a range of activities throughout the home. Here we look at how they can be used for games and quizzes…
The quiz pages we send out can be used either collectively as a group or as an individual brainteaser. Or perhaps you could try a game of ‘Who am I?’ by using dates of birth and other vital info given in the Sparkles topics. Give clues to residents and see who can guess the famous person. Try the same thing with major events – the ‘Do you remember?’ pages are perfect for this.
If you’re using our Weekly Sparkles, you can turn all the topics into a giant quiz sheet, or play word games. Hangman works really well, as it provides plenty of ideas and topics for each resident when it’s their turn. A bit of extra research can really pay off when matching famous people’s birthdays with the residents’ own birthdays, and seeing who can guess who was born on the same day as a famous actress or singer.
Find a meaningful sentence in the Sparkle, and write each word on a separate bit of paper. Jumble them up and then get residents to work together to try to put the sentence back together. The letters should be big, so the residents can see them easily, and keep the sentence to nine or ten words maximum – though with less able residents it could be as little as three or four words. The result is very rewarding for the residents – as well as feeling successful when they complete the sentence, they get interesting information, which often leads to some reminiscence and the chance for a few shared stories.
Other games to play using the Sparkle content include ‘Fill in the Blanks’ – take a sentence from an article, leave some words out and let residents guess the missing words. Or, take a short sentence from the Sparkle, print or write it at the top of an empty page or board, and get residents to see how many new words they can make from the letters available.
