This week residents at Hill House were treated to a food themed week as they toasted S’mores, baked muffins and played the Hot Potatoes game. Food was inspired by a resident’s request and love of cooking and baking.
What better way to start the week than making S’mores, as part of our sensory cooking club. Placing marshmallows and a layer of chocolate before sandwiching it between two biscuits. Although this is an American and Canadian autumn campfire snack it proved a huge hit with us and we loved the gooeyness of the marshmallow when toasted.
Birthday celebrations were held in the garden late morning and what perfect time to enjoy a sherry than with family.
After lunch we continued with the food theme as we whisked up a sensory treat. Making the batter for Welsh cakes before watching a live demonstration of the cooking process. The home was filled with the sweet smell of this traditional Welsh cake.
Elsewhere in the home the school playground game of Hot Potato was getting a lot of laughter as we throw the ball around before the music stopped, pretending the ball was a hot potato.
Tuesday morning, we still love playing skittles, perfect game to play with friends.
Others spent their morning engaged in building DIY activities or reading the daily newspapers and post.
It is proven that spending time on a hobby that you enjoy can improve your mental health and wellbeing.
With lunch over we continued with our food themed activities as residents took part in an around the world food quiz in the lounge.
Garden view lounge took part in arts and crafts painting using foods, they cut our shapes in potatoes and used a carrot as a paint brush. This activity was not about the finished result but about exploring different textures and mediums to use when painting.
Wednesday morning we listened to songs from musical in the lounge singing along as we painted using water colours, on special water colour paper of images we chose, suing our sensory dog RooRo as inspiration for one of the paintings.
Giant skittles the floor game was played in our garden view lounge. Skittles is a great game to play as part of our varied exercise programme here at Hill H ouse, it can be played sat down or stood up for those able to and draws in a big crowd when played in any of our lounges.
Wednesday afternoons are turning into what we like to call Wally Wednesday as Wally visits us on Wednesdays for pet therapy but this week wally was met by Dudley and was shown how to be a gentleman with handshakes and belly rubs.
We spent the afternoon taking walks around the garden and up to feed the fish in the fish pond.
Others spent that afternoon baking blueberry and chocolate chip muffins in time for the afternoon tea.
Thursday’s floristry group created stunning floral arrangement for the home with soft pinks and white flowers we spent time chatting about flowers we grew in our gardens. Spending time at the local garden centre picking out the flowers we wanted for our hanging baskets each year.
Others spent their morning emersed in puzzles or card games.
Card and board games can improve memory and help with age-related ailments such as dementia. Stimulating the brain via numbers, letters, colours etc. enhances brain function.
That afternoon we were treated to a musical sing along session with Louis.
Singing from the song sheets we love to sing and songs like ‘it’s a long way to Tipperary’ and ‘she’ll be coming round the mountain’ invoke such strong memories of happiness for us.
Friday morning, we joined by the Tv to take part in a food themed Quiz, using the Tv to display the questions as Bryony read out the questions and we spent time discussing as a group before shouting out our answers. It was so good to have the question on the screen we could re-read it at our leisure as we tried to guess the answers.
Today it was Fred’s turn to be spoilt with fuss and love, as we welcomed Fred back and we have found his sweet spot he will do anything for cheese. With most of us being Dog lovers we are always so happy to meet the new puppies and dogs that staff bring in.
Care home dogs help reduce employee and resident stress, boosts overall morale, promotes productivity and encourage a healthier lifestyle for all.
Friday afternoons cheese and wine tasting was a huge success with lots of wine drunk and cheese eaten.
We spent the afternoon tasting cheese and wines from around Europe, answering mini quizzes about each cheese before listening to the fun facts about them while enjoying their taste.
The cheeses were paired perfectly with wines of our choosing it was a jolly afternoon and fab fun for everyone.
Saturday morning we took on a mixture of crosswords and word searches themed around foods as part of brain training activities.
We added to our scrapbooks in the lounge chatting with friends of the fun activities we had been up to over the last couple of weeks.
This weekends movie was ‘Les Misérables’ chosen by us earlier in the week when we enjoyed our sing along to musical songs.
Watched while indulging in movie snacks of our choosing.
Sunday morning, we took on the ‘can you name 5?’ quiz. Taking it in turns to name 5 things from a category on the list as part of our brain training activities.
The S’mores proved so popular earlier on in the week, the S’more cart was back out in the afternoon as we made and ate our toasted S’mores after the weekly religious service was streamed.
