There are significant advantages to be had from providing activities for the elderly in care homes. This goes for both the residents, who enjoy countless physical and mental health benefits and for the care home itself, which will gain a far more positive and brighter atmosphere! So, with this in mind, here’s Renray’s guide to effective care home entertainment.
Why are nursing home activities important?
As mentioned above, accessible activities for the elderly are vital in maintaining both the mental and physical well-being of your care or nursing home residents. They can incorporate exercise, stimulate creativity, and most importantly provide enjoyment and fun to an older adult’s daily routine. Not only that, they can be rewarding for care home employees, which in turn benefits the whole of your facility.
Care home entertainment and activity ideas
Games & Puzzles
Simple activities such as jigsaws and board games can be perfect fun for a small group of care home residents. Indeed, varieties of both games can be useful for helping older adults with mild or early-stage dementia, and more broadly they act as an effective social enabler. Meanwhile, when the weather permits, outdoor activities like boules or ring toss games are great for getting the elderly up and moving and are perhaps more suitable for larger groups.
Arts & Creativity
Craft activities, including card making and scrapbooking, not only provide hours of entertainment in many care homes but can also be extremely fulfilling for elderly residents. Organising more artistic activities in your care home can be highly stimulating and have a lot of benefits for an older adult’s mental well-being. This is especially true if it’s entertainment that they enjoy doing such as painting or letter writing.
Exercise
Light exercise is so important for maintaining a healthy lifestyle in care homes. Thus, we recommend introducing exercise classes in your facility, as well as bringing external help in providing entertainment like dances. Even simply encouraging elderly residents to go out on short walks can make for an excellent social activity, so it’s absolutely vital to include this in your care home entertainment.
You can read our article on Exercises for the Elderly for more information on activities you could set up today.
Sensory & Relaxation
Given that visual stimulants like the Colour of Nursing Home Rooms can offer support for the elderly, it’s no surprise that sensory activities can have similar benefits. Organising raffles, lucky dips or hosting guess the song competitions are all fun ideas for sensory-based entertainment.
Relaxation can also be essential to care home entertainment and sensory exercises. Thus, be sure to include weekly classes for activities like seated yoga or meditation as these are usually accessible to everyone (which is the key to care home entertainment)!
Renray Healthcare has proudly supplied Care Home Furniture for over 50 years now. If you’d like to see our innovative design options and read more about our products, feel free to check out Our Brochures Here or be sure to Contact Us for any advice.
