This week at Hill House residents have immersed themselves in the oriental atmosphere as we celebrated Chinese New Year. Residents were treated to a Chinese takeaway food tasting cart as well as Tea Ceremony inspired tea party. Along with many arts and crafts including crafting paper tigers and lanterns. The chop stick challenge released a little competitiveness between residents. Residents are also very excited with the choice of sporting tv on offer with both the winter Olympics and the 6 nations on the Tv at the moment.
Monday morning in our garden view lounge, we played flash card games and played a group game of hoop toss.
Others spent time playing tin can alley in the lounge.
Lanterns hanging during Chinese New Year are said to be lucky charms that frighten away the Nian monster.
We spent the afternoon decorating patterns on our Lantin’s before cutting and shaping them into stunning Chinese Lanterns.
That same afternoon we were delighted to sit and listen to a fellow resident play the piano for us. He plays so elegantly and we can’t wait to watch him again.
In our garden view lounges we took on the Chinese chop stick challenge. A timed race using chopstick to collect balls the fastest. It brought lots of laughter as balls pinged across the room as we practiced with the chopsticks before starting.
A group jigsaw puzzle was also started at the table.
One to one activities are always on offer and we enjoy spending time completing activities independently alongside the planned activities. Our aqua art boards are always popular.
Tuesday morning in the lounge we played a fab game of Bananagrams. Addictively simple and simply addictive, BANANAGRAMS is a fast and frantic word game. Players and their opponents aim to use all of their letters to build a word grid in a race to the finish. The first player to use all of their tiles is crowned “Top Banana”!
In the other lounges across the home, we cut out Chinese New Year’s bunting and hung it, for the week’s celebrations. We also painting the year of the tiger, 3D tigers craft sheet, before cutting out and hanging them up to decorate the lounges.
Gong Xi Fa Chai! Wishing You a Prosperous Chinese New Year 2022
Being Chinese New Year Tuesday afternoon we continued with our fabulous celebrations with two main events running simultaneously across the home. Our chef Ryan and activities coordinator Bryony teamed up to host an afternoon of Chinese takeaway food tasting.
The smell of yummy food filled the lounge, as we sampled a generous helping of sweet and sour chicken, Chicken Chew main, egg fried rice, spring rolls, prawn crackers and noodles.
We finished our food tasting afternoon with a fortune cookie, although we were informed by a fellow resident that: Fortune cookies didn’t actually come from China. While many of us associate them with Chinese restaurants and by extension the Chinese culture. Fortune cookies are actually more readily traceable to 19th-century Japan.
Our second event for Chinese New Year was a Chinese-y tea party inspired by the traditional Chinese Tea Ceremonies as part of a traditional Chinese wedding. It started with yummy cakes and lots of Tea to drink. As we sat at our decorated table with bunting hanging over head, we shared stories of holidays to China.
We later enjoyed a savoury Chinese food tasting cart with spring rolls, prawn crackers, noodles and chicken.
Wednesday morning, we continue to celebrate all things Chinese and the chop stick challenge continues with a speed test to collect up the balls with chopsticks. Brilliant Hand-Eye Coordination and fine motor skill training disguised as loads of fun!
Our weekly brain training activities was a Chinese word search finder.
While word searches may not seem like the most stimulating of activities, they do great things for aging brains because the process for solving a word search is to look at the “clue” of a few letters to find a word. This activity helps sharpen residents reasoning skills.
Twiddle muffs provide a wonderful source of visual, tactile and sensory stimulation and keeps hands snug and warm at the same time for those living with dementia or other age-related illnesses.
Wednesday afternoon we gathered in the lounge for a fabulous afternoon of live music.
It was a very special ladies’ birthday we concluded the afternoons party with cake and sung happy birthday.
We all loved singing and dancing all afternoon, music always helps us feel good and gives us extra energy.
Thursday morning, we crafted a stunning Chinese dragon, we painted scales and the dragon’s head.
Painting can help them express our inner self and to feel calm and content.
Thursday afternoon our floristry group gathered in the lounge to arrange this week stunning flower arrangements.
Flower arranging is a great activity for seniors with dementia. It engages the senses, provides cognitive and sensory stimulation, improves motor skills and instils a sense of independence and accomplishment.
Additionally, we watched a nature documentary on TV or read through magazines and completed themed jigsaw puzzles.
Friday morning it was time to test our brains with a fun game of name the famous faces quiz.
We tried to name the famous face in the image before hearing trivia facts about them and sharing memories or stories about each of them as a group.
We took walks around the garden and played ball games as part of our weekly exercises class.
The afternoon our Omi games provided a stimulating activity for those who took part, from hot air balloon swipe games and musical reminiscing.
Cooking club this week was sticky and fun all at the same time, as we piped and decorated cupcakes.
While most of us watched the opening ceremony to the winter Olympics others opted for an afternoon of games and reading.
Saturday morning cooking club was a huge success we worked together to whisk up light fluffy delicious cupcakes. We spent time reminiscing about our favourite sweet foods and drinks and how we are spoilt by choice these days.
Others sorted out puzzle shapes and completed jigsaw puzzles while sipping tea.
That afternoon we decorated Chinese paper lanterns in our garden view lounge and then choose where we wanted them hung in our lounge. Instead of our weekly Movie we couldn’t wait to settle in for an afternoon of Rugby as we watched the 6 nations.
Sunday morning, we spent time reading our morning papers and taking part in virtual church services streamed through the TV’s around the home.
Throughout the day we played balloon games and completed jigsaw puzzles with friends. A group of ladies sat together and relaxed while taking part in therapeutic colouring.
