My residents love the activities we have but they’re wanting to do the same stuff over and over, half are content and resistant to change and the other half are bored and want something more mentally stimulating, how can I overcome this and meet in the middle? They love classic games like dominoes and bingo but also active games like Cornhole and quoits. Just as long as it’s competitive they’re content.
Alexandra, AC
Dear Alexandra,
Thank you for your taking the time to contact me. It is very tricky to balance activity programmes to meet the needs of a group, trust me I know! I once tried to change a cards afternoon from whist to rummy and nearly had a riot on my hands!
In my experience, you can strike a balance by keeping the same well-loved activities, but add a theme. For example, Bingo could be jazzed up to the time of year. Easter bingo for example, with mini chocolate treats as prizes. Try and have a different theme for each week or month (your Daily Sparkle wall calendar can help with ideas). Try and source some giant dominoes to use in the garden in the summer to make a change from regular dominoes. Link in to sports events that are happening. It could be horse racing, mini-Olympics, football etc. If any of your residents have a history of competing in sports, try and include that as well.
You could also put your residents into teams (red, green, blue or whatever names suits your area) and award points that could lead to a prize at the end of the week or month. It just gives a bit more incentive to join in if they feel they are part of a team. Prizes could be anything from a winners badge to the winning team going out for afternoon tea, it all depends on your budget! You could invest in a winners cup that is awarded at the end of the year. You could have an award ceremony that includes everyone e.g. best thrower, best smiler, most competitive, best sport, best dressed etc
Here are a few ideas for themes:
Easter, Christmas, Saint days, events in the sporting calendar, seaside games, Royal birthdays and events, back to school sports day, pub games week, Wimbledon (balloon tennis), Butlins games, bonfire night, Halloween, Shrove Tuesday, Valentines Day (throw bean bags on to paper hearts with names of famous film stars for example), game show games (higher or lower card game is one example).
I hope that helps!
