Residents at Hill house have had a spooktacular week, as they started their Halloween celebrations. Residents took part in the witches’ games, played Halloween mini golf and crafted spooky decorations these all linked with our sugar and spice theme picked by residents and inspired by pumpkins and traditional sweets.
We were also delighted to celebrate Tihar with our Nepalese staff, learn about the festival and the significance behind it.
Monday morning, we sorted through and hung all our fabulous Halloween decorations across the home.
That afternoon we played Pumpkin Skittles a fun bouncy Halloween twist on a favourite game of ours. We benefit from the social aspect and the light physical movement when playing skittles.
Kicking off our Sugar & Spice theme that afternoon with a Digital Group Quiz, based on traditional British sweets and chocolate with many picture rounds we worked together to answer as many questions as we could.
It sparked off lots of conversations about why sweet companies changed their names over the years and how packaging and ingredients have changed also.
Tuesday morning, we were busy making giant sweets in our arts and crafts club, it is always a delight to see the art and craft works being put on central display.
We all worked together to roll, fold and cover our giant sweets in cheerfully bright tissue paper and colourful bows.
Others spent time playing balloon bounce as part of our daily exercise class.
Residents joined our activities team in wishing a Happy Tihar to our wonderful staff at Hill House and Hillbrow.
The Tihar festival is celebrated in Nepal to mark the end of the harvest season. It is also a time to give thanks to the Hindu god of death, Yama, for his protection.
May the lamp we gifted you for Tihar illuminate your life with good health, wealth and prosperity.
Our Tihar Tea Party was a huge hit with lots of yummy cakes and drinks, the conversation was bursting with intrigue and it was amazing to hear the staffs stories about Tihar and to learn about their culture in a friendly and social atmosphere.
Wednesday morning, we painted Halloween watercolour pictures as part of our therapeutic colouring activity.
The act of colouring can increase eye to hand coordination. It also improves dexterity, grip control, and focus. It is important for seniors to strengthen motor skills as much as possible, and colouring is a great way to do so.
Our rummage dresser remains popular in our gardenview lounge, we spend time organising the draws and putting overnight bags together for the kids who are off on a sleep over after school. It sparks lots of conversation and promotes storytelling, that brings joy to everyone involved.
As our ‘Sugar & Spice Halloween’ celebrations continue, we were spoiled with an incredible Sugar Pick n Mix treat cart. Our interactive cart rolled around the home offering our sugary delights to everyone, while music played bringing joy to everyone around.
The cart was filled with traditional sweets such as Flying Saucers, Liquorice and Chocolate hearts, it brought back so many happy memories of the village sweets shops residents used to stop at on route home from school.
Thursday morning, we played pumpkin skittles in the day lounge, we gathered to knock down as many skittles as possible and build up the highest score on the leader board.
Skittles is a game that a lot of us would have enjoyed in our youth so by playing it will encourage us to reminisce on days gone by many conversations were had about the wooden skittle alleys in the village hall.
This was followed by our weekly flower arranging club in the day lounge.
We played our first game of Halloween minigolf with our interactive light up pumpkin, the spice to our sugar and spice themed week, we love that we can play sitting down or standing up.
A fantastic time designing and carving pumpkins all afternoon. Some of us have never taken part in this activity before, it is good to try new hobbies as you never know what you might enjoy.
This was no exception we scooped, scrapped out each pumpkin, then drew our designs before cutting out our spooky and cute pumpkin shapes.
What incredible pumpkins this year on display in the lounges for everyone to enjoy.
Afternoon tea and a game of dominoes with friends was played in our gardenview lounge.
Friday morning, one to one pursuits saw us engage in music therapy and chair exercises.
Halloween training camp took place across the home’s lounges, we were busy preparing for the witches’ games, we played along, building up scores from the pink pumpkin target, witches hoop toss, pumpkin balloon bounce and a spooky game of Jenga.
Everyone has loved getting into the Halloween spirit and trying new games and activities.
During the break in the witches games, we spent time togther discussing Halloween and where its origins, and the different things linked with this time of year what they mean to us.
Halloween Bingo that afternoon, a great game that brings everyone together. Prizes for a line and a full haunted house.
Bingo can even be adapted for residents living well with dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease. It can help to improve cognition and can help stimulate memory and thought processes for patients in varying stages of memory loss.
Birthday celebrations in our gardenview lounge that afternoon, surrounded by loved one and friends for a Birthday tea party.
What a fantastic end to our afternoon, we were treated to a sensational ‘Sugar & Spice’ themed afternoon tea party. Cake stands adorned with stunning handcrafted sugar work decorated cupcakes, freshly baked scones with silky cream and jam, washed down with a seasonal favourite Pumpkin Spiced Latte..
Saturday morning, the day lounge was graced by the presence of Wally and Tinkerbell for Pet therapy one to ones. These two kept us highly amused and perform so well as a cheeky double act, from wet kisses to giant foot warmers they kept everyone amused and laughing.
Halloween themed picture pairs and scratch art activities we took part in in our gardenview lounges.
Whether it’s improving the skills we already have or trying something new, crafting is a brain-boosting activity for everyone.
The perfect Saturday afternoon a movie, pumpkin spiced lattes and yummy cakes for everyone.
Sunday, we enjoyed a game of Halloween word search, giving us the challenge to think of as many words as possible from the words “Trick or Treat”
