This Easter our amazingly creative activities team, put a quirky twist on our Easter celebrations this year in order to bring a little humour and imagination, they themed their eater celebrations around the classic and iconic Alice in wonderland story book, through out the week activities were themed to mirror events in the story from the queen of hearts croquet game to an incredible Mad Hatters Easter Sunday Tea Party.
Monday morning kicked off our week of easter celebrations, in our garden view lounge we engaged in stamp printing Easter cards and tags as part of our arts & crafts programme. A varied crafting programme has been found to enhance mood; increase motivation, self-esteem, and self-confidence; and reduce anxiety in older adults.
The afternoon spring sunshine enticed us in the garden and we relished in the sunshine beside the fish pond.
Later that afternoon we started to work on our Easter bonnets, a company tradition that leads to our annual Easter Sunday bonnet parade.
Tuesday morning, a few of us continued to work on our Easter bonnets across the homes lounges, others spent time in the garden or completed brain training exercises.
Tuesday afternoon with record breaking March temperatures we took activities outdoors and engaged in group quizzes, exercises and read the Alice in wonderland story book out loud as part of a group book club session on the lawn while in the garden view court yard we socialised with one and other and shared our eater traditions with one and other. Indoors, we played dominoes and used our aqua art boards to create paintings.
Wednesday our Garden view lounge started their morning with a singalong session, singing pleasing melodies can deliver even more benefits for physical and mental health, memory and important social connections in the elderly and is the perfect start to the day.
Others took part in The Queen of hearts seated croquet competition. In the story Alice has a difficult time adjusting to the curious version of croquet played by the Queen. The croquet ground is ridged, the croquet balls are live hedgehogs, and the mallets are live flamingos. The various playing cards stand on all fours to form the arches that the balls are hit through. The Croquet competition was not rigged and everyone had a blast playing a new game.
We took time out of the fun and games of activities to complete our Easter Egg hunt trail around the garden, 12 eggs were hidden 6 were numbers and 6 had interesting Easter Trivia facts, after the hunt we were treated to our winning prize of a mini chocolate Easter egg.
After lunch the Queen of heart croquet competition was enjoyed in our garden view lounge, we got very competitive and the competition spirit continued as we played Easter quoits. The fact play can add joy to life, relieve stress, supercharge learning, and connect you to others around you, encourages mate ship in the home and its amazing to see new friendships blossom.
Others opted for dominoes and sensory flower arranging, a quieter afternoon as more of us took on the egg hunt challenge around the garden for our chance to win chocolaty treats.
Thursday morning marked the start of our day of reflection and new beginnings, residents helped make yellow ribbon bows for residents and staff to wear. others helped attached labels to roses, we asked residents of uplifting quotes they would like to hear if they needed a pick me up, we took their suggestions and asked staff to right quotes on each of the roses for the afternoons event.
At Hill House we celebrated a day of New Beginnings this afternoon and reflected upon the events of the last year. Hearing speeches and well wishes from Alison, Laxmi & Nicoletta. We came together by singing alongside our old friend Terry Owen who had pre-recorded beautiful renditions of ‘You’ll never walk alone’ & ‘Wonderful world’. Then we heard students from Edgeborough School singing ‘Somewhere over the rainbow’ followed by a sweet poetry reading. Moving into the garden we all took part in planting our new cherry tree before going inside for tea and freshly baked cakes.
Friday morning our weekly forestry group meet in garden view to create this weeks stunning floral vase arrangement’s.
One of our lovely ladies is delivered monthly flowers from family and tis week was a DIY project, she spent the morning creating a stunning floral Easter wreath the lavender filled the room and others came around to watch and help out.
Our cooking club made chocolaty easter nests after lunch topping them off with mini eggs.
Saturday morning, we worked on a group easter project, an Egg themed wreath to hang in the lounge, we traced round an egg shape before cutting out different coloured eggs then the messy fun began as we painted a variety of different patterns and shapes on to each egg before creating our wreath with a bunny’s face to finish it off, we had fun letting out our creativity and chatting with friends while doing so. Elsewhere we completed jigsaw puzzled, played games on the interactive Omi system and spent time with loved ones who visited.
Saturday afternoon we watched Alice in wonderland movie and nibbled on Easter themed pick n mix sweets.
We took time to water the garden in the garden view court yard and looked through family photo albums and shared our stories and memories with staff.
Easter Sunday, we watched a live stream of the local church Easter service, on the main TVs in the lounges and on iPad or laptops in our bedrooms, there is always a way for us to continue our spiritual beliefs here at Hill House.
We got out in the sunshine throughout the morning and picked a few daffodils to take to our bedrooms.
Alice, and the Mad Hatter joined residents at Hill House for a quirky ‘Alice in Wonderland’ Mad Hatters tea party to bring a sense of fun and magic to all this Easter.
The dining rooms were transformed into enchanted and majestic wonderlands. By theming our Easter event around the all-time classic that is Alice in Wonderland, we have been able to create a magical Mad Hatters tea party experience for each of our residents, they sipped on lashing of tea and coffee while indulging in freshly baked themed cakes, chatting and laughing with friends.
The afternoon ended with our annual Easter Bonnet Parade as residents showed off their millinery decorating skills, to director Alison who had the tough job of judging a winner.
