FEBRUARY FUN
How much do you know about the month of February, other than the main holidays we celebrate year after year? February is an interesting month filled with history, romance, and fun, besides the fact that it has an extra day every four years.
Learn & Listen – To discover interesting facts about February that you can share with your residents and also create some fun quiz games check out the internet.
Game – Play a February trivia game using some of the information you shared with the residents during the “Learn and Listen” activity.
Food – February known as “Sol-month” to the Anglo Saxons is cake-month so let the residents make cakes together to serve at a February social later in the day.
Game – Gather a list of famous birthday’s or historical events in February to quiz the residents on.
Social – Have a February party. You can serve the cake the residents made during the food activity.
ENGAGEMENT PARTY
Since February is the month that most couples get engaged, host an engagement party. Set this up just like you do your wedding in June and by the way you could even have a wedding celebration at the end of February or on Valentine’s Day to change things up a bit. Lots of couples get engaged or married on Valentine’s Day than any other holiday month.
Learn & Listen – Discuss with your residents how they became engaged.
- Do they remember how they proposed or how they were proposed to?
- Where were they, in a park, at home, in a restaurant or their special dating place?
- Did they have something funny happen during the proposal?
- Let them open up and reflex on this special time in their life.
Food – Anything chocolate! You could have residents make small chocolate boxes to put a candy ring in. For each resident you will need: 3 Hersey chocolate bars or chocolate, graham crackers, icing paste (this is just a very thick icing, however you can also use can icing)
and candy rings. Break chocolate bars (or graham crackers) in half and form into a box using the icing paste to hold the pieces together. Remember to lay one half down for the box bottom and four pieces for the sides. Put the candy ring inside the box and set the last half on top as the lid. You can have them decorate the top with icing and sprinkles too before putting it on top.
Exercise – Get your residents ready to dance the evening away. Lead them through some stretches and then lead them through some easy slow dances to prepare them for the engagement party.
Craft – Let the residents help make and decorate the engagement party decorations. Make large hearts (red and pink) out of construction paper. Add something special to the hearts by layering them with lace paper hearts or let the residents get creative on their own by adding glitter, lace, feathers, etc., whatever you have in supply to decorate the hearts. You can also make large engagement rings or any other item that might be used at an engagement party (black box, flowers, boxed candy, candles, wine bottles, wine glasses, etc).
Game – Name some famous ways to propose. Make a list of ways men propose to women and see if the residents can match your list. Some ideas:
• In a restaurant
• In a park
• During a family dinner
• During Christmas
• On Valentine’s Day
• At home on the porch
• At the beach
• On a mountain top view
• With flowers
• The ring in the lady’s dessert
• While dancing
• After asking the fathers permission
• While watching TV
• During a hot air balloon ride
• In a beautiful garden
The list can go on with using some of the ways the residents proposed or were proposed to from the Listen and Learn activity.
Movie – I am sure there are lots of good movies out there relating to proposals or engagements; however the latest is the 2009 movie called “The Proposal” starring Sandra Bullock. This movie is rated PG-13 for sexual content, nudity and language. Now I know this sounds bad, however I have seen the movie and the sexual content is suggestive, the nudity is no more than what you would see at most beaches and the language is brief. As always review any movie to see if it is something your residents would be okay with.
Social – Have an evening Engagement party so the residents can dance and toast all the wonderful memories of past engagements. Serve cheese and crackers with juice, tea or decaf coffee.
WINTER OLYMPICS
Learn & Listen – Read about the Winter Olympic Games online to discuss with the residents. Suggested questions to ask residents:
- Has anyone attended the games in the past and where?
- Has anyone participated in any sport that is featured in the Winter Olympic such as cross-country skiing, ice hockey, figure skating?
- How many like to watch the Winter Olympic Games?
- Which sport is your favorite?
Game – Play some air hockey or create your own version of ice hockey to let the residents participate in.
Food – Let residents make hot chocolate and marshmallows to celebrate the winter sports.
Exercise – During your exercise activity play some Olympic inspired music such as: Olympic Hymn, Chariots of Fire and other inspirational songs to encourage the residents to rev up their exercise today.
Craft – Make International flags with construction paper, or gold medals. They can wave the flags for their team while watching the games and the gold medals can be given to the winner of the trivia game or scavenger hunt.
Game – Try an Olympic history trivia game creating your questions from information found on Wikipedia OR set up a scavenger hunt to find Olympic Gold (candy wrapped in gold foil).
Movie – Suggested movies:
• Chariots of Fire (most famous movie about running)
• The Cutting Edge (a romantic comedy about figure skating pair)
• Cool Runnings (funny movie about the Jamaican Bobsled Team)
• Miracle (about a US Hockey Team)
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