As always, there are a number of special days to keep an eye out for this month. Find our tips and activity ideas below. Enjoy!
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1st August: Yorkshire Day
This day was established in 1975 as a protest about the government splitting up the county. Nowadays it is seen as a day to celebrate the great and good of the county.
It doesn’t matter what part of the country you come from, this is a great opportunity to explore the culture and landscape of ‘God’s own county’. After you have celebrated Yorkshire, use this as inspiration to celebrate your own region!
- Hold a discussion group, asking your residents about any links to Yorkshire, or what they associate with it. Most will probably mention Yorkshire puddings! Yorkshire has a wonderful coastline, with Whitby and Scarborough being two of its most notable towns. Have any of your residents visited these towns, or any other part of Yorkshire? They may recall visits to the Yorkshire Dales. Display a map of Yorkshire, or use an iPad or large screen to display images of areas that residents mention.
- Explore Yorkshire sayings. The Yorkshire dialect is amazing. You’ll find many phrases on this link – print them off and have fun using your best Yorkshire accent!
- Make white tissue-paper roses. Use green pipe cleaners or lollipop sticks as the stem. Display on your tables at mealtimes.
- Show some classic Yorkshire-based television programmes that your residents may enjoy watching. Heartbeat, Last of the Summer Wine, Emmerdale, All Creatures Great and Small, or even Wallace and Gromit, would make suitable choices for today.
- Hold a cookery session, prepping the tins and batter for Yorkshire puddings. Speak to your kitchen staff to inform them of this session, and ensure that they plan a meal that can incorporate your creations – or that they have back-ups ready! Your residents will share tips to help you make the perfect Yorkshire puddings.
Our tried and tested Yorkshire pudding recipe:
Ingredients
- 8 oz plain flour
- Pinch of salt
- 4 eggs
- Half a pint of milk
- Oil for cooking
Method
- Put flour and salt into a bowl. Make a well in the centre.
- Beat eggs with the milk and pour into the well a little at a time, beating well.
- Whisk the mixture for a few minutes.
- Allow the mixture to rest for about half an hour in the fridge.
- Heat oven to 220 degrees Celsius.
- Heat the pudding trays with a little oil in each section.
- Lightly whisk the batter and pour into each section, two thirds of the way up.
- Bake for 30-45 minutes depending on the size of your tins.
- Don’t open the oven door in between or they will collapse!
5th – 28th August: Edinburgh Festival
This festival, held every year in Scotland’s capital city, is the world’s largest arts festival. It consists of many shows, some in theatres, others in pubs, clubs and even on buses! Anyone can join in, and many big careers such as Rowan Atkinson’s (Mr Bean) and Billy Connolly’s have been launched after appearing here. Comedy accounts for a third of all performances, but other performances include dance and theatre.
- This is a great opportunity to look back to some of this country’s famous comedians and performers. Hold a discussion group and print off photos of performers such as Norman Wisdom, Eric Sykes, Bob Hope, The Two Ronnies, Bruce Forsyth, Ken Dodd, Tommy Cooper and Monty Python.
- Run your own comedy session. Print off jokes from sites such as this one. Always ensure that the jokes are suitable for your setting. Cut up the jokes and place them into a hat, then pass the hat around between residents so each person has a turn reading out a joke.
- Provide Scottish shortbread with your tea trolley.
- Make your own Scottish flags, Highland cows or tissue-paper thistles in a Scottish-themed craft session. A group of residents could work together to make a large Loch Ness monster as a table centrepiece!
11th August: Enid Blyton’s Birthday
Enid Blyton is our Person of the Month. Click here to find out more about her and read our suggestions of activity ideas to celebrate this special birthday.
15th August: VJ Day
Many people find this date a difficult one to celebrate. Although it effectively marked the end of the war, it came at a terrible cost with the use of atomic bombs. It may be wise to tread sensitively as many residents will have painful memories passed on to them by their parents. We suggest focusing today’s activities on the theme of peace.
- Make white paper doves. Hang them up individually, or you could make a mobile by attaching a few to a coat hanger using thin wire.
- Cut out and colour paper dolls and attach them together in a long chain, so it appears as though they are all holding hands.
27th – 29th August: Notting Hill Carnival
The Notting Hill Carnival is one of the world’s biggest street carnivals, attracting over a million visitors each year. It is organised by the British West Indian community and it is a colourful celebration of Caribbean culture.
As well as the wonderful parades, there are lots of vendors selling Caribbean-style food such as jerk chicken and tropical fruit. Music features heavily with a mix of reggae, steel bands and calypso music.
- Do your research – do any of your residents share the culture? If they do, ask them and their families for help and advice.
- It is a great opportunity to explore other cultures and food. Tropical fruit is a popular choice and is great for hydration.
- Make your own (milder version of) jerk chicken. Serve with rice and peas, or in wraps with salad.
- Make your own carnival-themed masks. You can buy blank masks easily from craft shops or online. Provide feathers, gems, colourful pens and stickers for your residents to use as decoration.
- Decorate Zimmer frames using butterfly stickers, fake flowers, garlands and feathers!
- Arrange a parade around your garden. Encourage residents to take part, whether they walk, are pushed in wheelchairs, or sit on the sidelines and clap.
- Ask around for a local reggae or steel band who may be willing to visit your care home to play some live music.
29th August: Summer Bank Holiday
This is the last bank holiday until Christmas, so make it a good one!
- There are usually many fetes, fairs and summer shows on over the August bank holiday, so it is always a good idea to check locally. Alternatively, hold your own gathering. Many of your residents’ relatives won’t be working, so you could make it a large care home community event.
- Involve your residents in setting up their own ice-cream cart. You’ll need a cool box, ice cream, cones, chocolate Flake bars and a homemade sign advertising the ice creams!
- Make a delicious homemade fruit punch, using lots of chopped fresh fruit, lemonade and cordial.
- Set up small paddling pools for residents to paddle in. Those that are unable to paddle could dip their feet into a smaller pool or washing-up bowl placed on the floor in front of their chair.
- Finish the day with fish and chips wrapped in parchment and newspaper.
We hope you find these suggestions useful. We always love to see and hear what our readers have been up to – please email photos and stories to for your chance to be featured in our Reader’s Corner!
