Physical Activities
These activities are designed to promote physical and mental health.
Exercises: This might include gentle calisthenics that are adapted to the residents' physical capabilities. Bouncing, tossing and kicking beach balls also provide physical activity and mental stimulation. Some facilities are even using the Wii gaming system to encourage residents to be more active. For example, wheel chair-bound residents might still be capable of using their arms to simulate movements like rolling a bowling ball or swinging a baseball bat.
Stretching/resistence training: These activities often include having residents use large elastic bands to help them stretch, tone and strengthen their arms and legs. This might make a nice morning activity to help invigorate the residents.
Sensory stimulation: These activities are more suitable for bed-bound residents with diminished cognitive skills, and might include aromatherapy, audio stimulation such as listening to nature sounds CDs, or tactile therapies that involve having a resident use his or her fingers to feel textures ranging from soft to rough.
Pet therapy: This activity offers a great opportunity for trained volunteers to bring certified therapy pets into the facility for the residents to interact with. Holding a guinea pig or petting a dog or cat can be very therapeutic for animal lovers, and may even draw some more reserved residents out of their shells.
Gardening: This activity is seeing a resurgence in popularity. Some residents might enjoy growing herbs in a window garden or planting flowers in pots. Athough many nursing home residents are no longer capable of fully tending a traditional vegetable or flower garden on alone, some facilities do maintain gardens where volunteers assist the residents by working alongside of them or working under their directions. At the minimum, this activity affords residents fresh air, sunshine and mental stimulation that is very much needed to keep boredom and depression at bay.