This week we have spent time celebrating the gentleman of the home with a variety of themed games and events to make the men of the home feel extra special, these did not exclude the ladies, instead it encouraged them to try new hobbies and games that are traditionally seen as male led, like fishing and beer tasting, we ended the week with our Dads and Donut coffee morning and Donut Derby games afternoon.
Monday morning, we took on a variety of brain training games and activities, we completed an A to Z of transport before a fun group quiz.
That afternoon our weekly music therapy sessions took place in our garden view lounges. Some of the expected outcomes of music therapy include developing an enhanced awareness of self, through musical (non-verbal) and verbal interaction. Sharing and expressing feelings, development of physical, sensory, and cognitive skills.
That afternoon, with piano playing in the background we gathered to enjoy our weekly afternoon tea party in the day lounge. We love to sit with friends and reminisce about the olden days and of course being a dad to our wonderful children.
Tuesday morning, our sewing club gathered in the day lounge, we spent the morning sewing bow ties and hearts. Sewing is well known to help prevent muscle loss and joint stiffness as we age, as well as being a great social activity.
Others engaged in our aqua art painting, a fun engaging activity that promotes our wellbeing.
Our garden view lounges were a buzz of engaging activities and hobbies, we spent time engaging in therapeutic mindful colouring, time out in the garden reading garden magazines and playing a fun game of name the plants.
We also spent time accomplishing a fun jigsaw puzzle, we chatted with friends while working together.
That afternoon our Father’s Day disco gathered us all together in the lounge for an afternoon of live music and a lot of singing and dancing.
Regularly experiencing live music, boosts our creativity and cognitive abilities, reduce stress hormone levels while increasing the production of endorphins, dopamine, and oxytocin.
We were delighted to attend our Dementia choir in the stunning gardens at Hillbrow, who hosted this weeks practice. Our friends from across the 4 homes came together to sing a variety of songs of our choosing.
Song is a powerful therapy. Regular choir members report that learning new songs is cognitively stimulating and helps their memory, and it has been shown that singing can help those suffering from dementia, too.
Wednesday morning, our monthly church service with Rev Tara was held in the day lounge those who wished to attend spent time singing hymns and taking time for prayer.
Others engaged in a very traditional hobby of fishing, with our very own indoor fishing pond and rods, we loved this game it was all about hand to eye coordination and of course getting more fish than our friends.
That afternoon, we enjoyed games of basketball
Thursday morning, we love to visit the hairdresser.
We also engaged in Father’s Day therapeutic colouring and word searches.
That afternoon our flower arranging club arranged this week’s stunning flowers into arrangements.
These beautiful flowers will be seen in communal areas of the home for all to enjoy.
Friday morning our arts and crafters created stunning tie themed bunting using a variety of mediums from pens, pencils to water colours.
Saturday morning, we gathered to watch the phenomenal trooping of the colours for the King’s birthday on the Tv’s across the home waving our King Charles flags as we watched our military services parade.
We enjoyed a Pre-Father’s Day beer or cocktail while watching.
That afternoon we played board games in the day lounge from ludo to games of Uno.
Many card games require memorization or short-term recall, which can be helpful for exercising the brain and keeping memory sharp.
Others opted for knitting and jigsaw puzzles together with friends and staff across the home.
Sunday Our Dads and Donuts celebrations were enjoyed by many of our dads from across the home and their families today. With an incredible array of donuts organised by the activities team there was something for everyone to indulge from chocolate sprinkle donuts to pureed donuts for those on modified diets, lots of hot and cold drinks.
It was a great atmosphere with lots of chatting and laughing.
A special treat for all the gentlemen as we celebrated each one of them this Father’s Day!
The gift basket was filled with a variety of personalised Father’s Day treats.
“It’s so lovely to have these personalised gifts made for us, Thank you”.
That afternoon we were invited to join the ‘DONUT DERBY’ we took on a variety of donut themed games including Dunkin Donut, Donut Ring Toss and their overall favourite Whack a Donut (a twist on the classic arcade game ‘whack a mole’).
The Whack a Donut was so much fun we started off worried we would hurt the donuts, but with their encouragement and quick moving there was no choice but to whack them on the head when they popped up and down, we laughed so much while playing and had 3 or 4 goes.
We also played Dunkin Donuts, the aim of the game was to get our beanbags through the donut sized holes in the board, building up points depending on the size donut we landed in.
Our Donut Toss saw us throwing inflatable donuts onto a peg board competing against each other to be crowned winner.
A game of hand eye to coordination saw us battle with the board in teams of two, to get our ball through the central donut rather than falling off the edges.
As the Donut Derby games continued, we played donut frisbee with small donuts aiming for the large donut on the floor, this was a fun game as donuts flew left, right and centre and only some being frisbeed into the target.
You can watch our Donut Derby video suing the link below.
https://www.facebook.com/woodlandshillbrow/videos/812686937152922