APPLESAUCE DAY- JUNE 6
Game – Apple Toss. Use either old apples or plastic apples for this game to prevent waste of good fruit. Have large bushel basket or use laundry basket, line with colorful fabric and let each resident from a distance toss the apple in the basket.
Cooking – Make applesauce cake.
Craft – Have residents design and decorate an apple hat. Use foam or plastic apples, bows, bandanas, or anything you have to let them be creative and decorate their straw hats to model in an apple hat fashion show.
Game - To Market We Go. Just like the Price is Right game, except all the items are items used to make the applesauce cake. Use the empty containers from the cooking class.
Fashion Show Social – Have residents that desire to participate show off their Apple Hats and then serve the Applesauce Cake made earlier in the day.
CHEESECAKE DAY - UNOFFICIALLY JULY 30TH
Listen and learn – Read the history about cheesecake give interesting facts to the residents to start a discussion.
Outing – Check to see if you have a Cheesecake Factory in your area. If so call and ask them if the residents can come for a visit. Ask if someone would talk about the process of making cheesecakes and how the flavor ideas come about. The managers are usually very knowledgeable about their product and process that they can provide that information and might even throw in some free samples.
Cooking – Make mini cheesecakes to serve during social time.
Game – How many cheesecakes can you name? Name traditional cheesecake flavors and specialty flavors:
Traditional: Classic New York Style, White Chocolate, Chocolate Decadence, Turtle, Caramel Pecan, Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Marble, Strawberry Swirl, etc.
Specialty: Espresso and Coffee Liqueur, Mocha Cappuccino, Key Lime, Pumpkin, Chocolate Raspberry Truffle, Black Forest, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Chunk, Bailey’s Irish Cream, etc.
The fun in this game is all the answers you will get from the residents. Who knows they might even come up with a new specialty cheesecake idea!
Social – Invite residents and staff to enjoy some mini cheesecakes and tea/coffee.
Movie – You can either check the library for any cooking DVD’s on making cheesecake OR since when we think of cheese we think of rats, why not play the fun animation movie “Ratatouille”. I have not seen it, but hear it is funny. Just a thought!
CHOCOLATE ECLAIR DAY- JUNE 22nd
Listen and learn – Read and discuss the origin of the eclair.
Cooking – Make mini chocolate eclairs.
Word scrabble – Have a list of pastry names and scrabble the letters so the residents can unscramble them. Divide them up into teams for some friendly competition. Suggested words: eclair, doughnut, danish, cake, pie, cinnamon rolls, bear claws, coffee cake, lemon squares, brownies, cookies, funnel cake.
Social – Enjoy the mini chocolate eclairs with decaf coffee or tea while listening to some relaxing music.
Movie – Suggestion: Chocolat (I did not spell it wrong, that is how the movie spells it…no e at the end. It is a 2000 movie and it is a really good movie).
COOKBOOK DAY
NOTE: Prior to this day send out a notice asking residents, staff and family to bring in a family favorite recipe to be published in a facility cookbook. This will take some time, however compiling a facility cookbook can be used as a fundraiser with proceeds going to the department that needs it the most, or you can donate the money from the residents to a local cause they decide on.
Discussion – Bring out some of your cookbooks old and new to discuss with the residents. Ask them if they remember the cookbook their mothers used. If they say they didn’t use one then ask them if they remember recipe cards or recipes that were written down which was a family recipe. Talk about recipes, cookbooks, and recipe card boxes.
Game – How many cookbook, magazines, or cooking shows can you name? See how many your residents can come up with. Make this a team challenge and keep score. Here is a list to get you started: Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Nestle, Kraft, Fannie Farmer, The Joy of Cooking, Julia Child, Paula Dean, The Art of Cooking, Moosewood Cookbook, Southern Living Cookbook (can also use this for magazine), Rachel Ray, Martha Stewart, The Cake Mix Doctor, Iron Chef.
Craft – Decorate a recipe card box and fill with index cards. The residents can give this as a Christmas or birthday gift to a family member. OR Make aprons. Wal-Mart (if your area location still sells fabric) or fabric stores sell the apron prints that only require hemming the edges and sewing on the ties. These are easy to make and can be given as gifts or kept for cooking classes.
Game –Kitchen Smart. Purpose is to demonstrate coordination and memory skills.
These are items you will need on the table: pile of aprons and mixers (the old rotary kind), potato mashers, and oven mitts. Also put out: mixing bowls filled 1/4 water and a squirt of dish washing liquid mixing bowls filled with a soft-boiled potato, large bowl filled with hard boiled eggs in shell (you can use plastic eggs instead) and large bowl beside it empty.
The object of this game is to have residents to demonstrate how to put on an apron. Choose the proper kitchen tool to make soap suds in the water bowl and to mash the potato. Then they need to try to move the hard-boiled eggs to the empty bowl using over mitts. This should be a little challenge, but fun and should bring back some good memories using the older cooking utensils. You can add some other challenges like having a large frying pan with cardboard or foam rubber round shape pancakes and a dinner plate, which they will have to use the spatula to transfer the pancakes to the plate. If you have them do this with the oven mitts on it will be more challenging. For the residents that are lower functioning then omit the oven mitts since it will be a challenge for them to remember which utensil is used for each task.
Movie time – There are several good movies that are based around cooking. Here are a few to consider:Christmas in Connecticut, Baby Boom, Mostly Martha, Because I Said So, Ratatouille, etc.
Community event – Have a cook off between your facility and local vendors with chili. Invite the community out to sample and vote for the best tasting chili. This can be a fundraiser by selling tickets so the community can vote. Tickets are 5 for $5.00 or 12 for $10.00. When a person samples a chili that they like one ticket is deposit into that chili booth box. The booth with the most tickets 30 minutes before the event ends wins the bragging rights and a trophy for the best chili. Marketing can use this to promote the facility community involvement and if you have the facility cookbooks printed you can sell them during the event. Proceeds can be used for the facility needs or donate to a local charity.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT DAY
Learn & Listen – What does “Food for thought” mean? Open this discussion with this question to your residents. Food for Thought means anything that provides mental stimulus for thinking. It is classified as nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents. Talk about food for thought sayings. What thought provoking saying has stayed with them throughout their life? When did they first hear it? Why was it important to them?
Game – Who said it? Read famous quote and see if the residents can name the authors.
Food – What type of food makes you think about activity fun? This may be different for everyone that reads this activity, so there is no real answer. Pick a food recipe that you know all the residents like for your food activity today. Ask the residents as they make the recipe what does this type of food make you think about? Discuss the thoughts as you make the recipe.
Exercise – Try some Yoga to go with the “Food for Thought” theme.
Creative Writing – Encourage your residents to express themselves through creative writing. Let them put their own “Food for Thought” ideas on paper. If you have residents that are unable to write, then provide them with a small tape recorder to record their thought then have someone translate it to paper.
Game – Write out some famous quotes and leave two or three words out of the quote. Ask the residents to fill in the blanks. You will need to say the author of the quote as a hint. You can get some quotes off the famous quote website listed in the first game description.
Social – Have a gathering to read some of the creative writings from your residents. Serve light refreshments.
ICECREAM SODA DAY - JUNE 20TH
Cooking/craft – Make homemade ice cream in an ice cream maker or this could be a craft by making ice cream in a bag.
Sensory - With all the different textures of ice cream now days you can make this a sensory learning experience. Serve small sample sizes of the different ice creams and have discussions on how they are different. Ice creams to try: real hand scoop ice cream, soft serve ice cream, Dippin Dots, Italian ice, freeze-dried ice cream and sorbet.
You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream.
1. How many flavors of ice cream can you name? (The next time you visit your local ice cream shop take a list of their flavors to help with this question or go on line to an ice cream company for a list of flavors.)
2. How many ice cream companies can you list? Blue Bell Ben & Jerry’s, Breyers, Haagen-Dazs, Bassetts Ice Cream (oldest ice cream company – Philadelphia, PA), Perry’s, Pars Ice Cream, Dairy Queen, Baskin-Robins, Dylan and Pete’s, etc. Add any local ice cream companies or any that I have missed.
3. How many ice cream toppings can you name? chocolate syrup, strawberry, sprinkles, nuts, coconut, chocolate chips, M&M’s, peanut butter chips, whipped cream etc. You can add your own favorite or ones I have missed.
Ice Cream Cart – Load up a thermal bag or cooler with different types of ice cream products and cart it up and down the residents’ halls ringing a bell so they can get their ice cream treat. This could be considered a 1:1 if you stop at each room to talk to the residents about the ice cream truck in their neighborhood when they were kids. If you have a large facility with several floors, then have a cart for each floor under the direction of an assistant or volunteer. If you all start at the same time you should be finished around the same time if you consider the amount of time for each 1:1 visit. Since you will be carting ice cream you will not have a lot of time. If you see a resident is in need of a longer visit then make a note so you can revisit them later for a longer 1:1 visit.
LOLLIPOP DAY - Traditionally celebrated July 20th
Listen and learn – Discuss the history of lollipops. Talk about their favorite flavor, most unusual flavor and the worse flavor of lollipops they have ever had.
Cooking – Make easy lollipops.
Sing-a-long. Lollipop lyrics by Chordettes, Candy Man by Sammy Davis Jr. , On The Good Ship Lollipop by Shirley Temple, Sugar, Sugar by The Archies, Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch by Temptations, etc. See how many other songs your residents can come up with relating to lollipops, candy or sugar.
Craft – Make a lollipop tree for your residents to take to their room or to give to their grand or great-grandchildren. Use a Styrofoam that is cone shape and cover with any type of decorations: paper flowers, glitter, yarn, whatever you have they can glue on the cone. Leave thin rows to expose the Styrofoam so after the decorations are dry they can push in the lollipops. You may want to clue the entire cone on a small plastic plate so they will have a way to carry and so it does not fall over.
Movie – What else but “Charley and the Chocolate Factory”
RASPBERRY CREAM PIE DAY
Some celebrate this day on Aug 1st; however, there is no real documentation to that this is a real national celebrated day.
Discussion – Ask residents if they ever went Raspberry picking and let them tell their raspberry stories. You can also read about picking tips that will help the residents when they go out to pick raspberries at the farm, market or store.
Outing – See if there is a raspberry picking farm near your town to take the residents so they can pick some raspberries for the cooking activity. If no farm is around then take them to the Farmers Market or the local grocery store.
Cooking – Make a no-bake raspberry creme pie or have residents whip some creme to make whip topping for their fresh raspberries.
Social – Have a Raspberry Cocktail or punch while playing songs by The Raspberries.
ROCKYROAD DAY
Cooking class – Rocky Road Squares. Look up recipes online.
Story time – With residents in a circle start telling a story about a rocky road. Ask everyone to participate in making up a story around “Driving down a rocky road…and finish with eating rocky road ice-cream. Each person gives one sentence based on what the previous person said. OR ask each resident to write (or tell you so you can write it) one word on poster paper so when you (or a volunteer) makes up a story, when you say their word they have to hold it up to incorporate the word in your story. After you say their word, then they can put the sign down. I would use their name as well. You could start by saying “Our activity bus was driving down a rocky road…”. Just remember to end with eating rocky road ice cream. Have someone to record the information so they can read it back later for laughs.
Social – Serve rocky road ice cream and you could possibly read the story that you recorded from story time or you could play songs with titles the words rocky or road, like: Rocky Mountain High – John Denver, Take Me Home Country Roads – James Taylor or Loretta Lynn, The Rocky Road to Dublin by Dubliners, Album: Songs From Ireland-Greatest Hit, On the Road Again – Willie Nelson, etc.
Walk and Talk – Take your residents to a nearby park or walk around your facility to talk about a time when they walked down a rocky road and the things they may have found.
Craft – Paint a rock to display in a rock garden either outside or inside. It does not have to be a big rock garden, just something to display the creative rock paintings that your residents did. At the end of the week or month give the rocks back to the owners. Make sure you put their name on the bottom.
WATERMELON DAY
Discussion – Where did watermelons come from? Look online for information on watermelons and discuss it with the residents. Ask them if they grew watermelons or what was their favorite watermelon game, treat or drink? Find a picture of the new Japanese square watermelon to see what the residents think of it. If you can find one in your area then buy it for a discussion group treat.
Craft – Do some folk art by painting watermelons on the vine on a plate or box.
Cooking – Purchase a seedless watermelon and fresh strawberries (or you can use blackberries or raspberries), sugar, lemon juice and ice cubes. Slice watermelon in wedges so residents can scoop out the melon meat to place in a bowl. Have some residents cut the leave caps off the strawberries if you don’t have enough watermelon wedges to go around. In a blender combine 2 cups of watermelon, one pint of strawberries, 1/3 of sugar or you can use sugar substitute instead, 1/3 cup of lemon juice and about 2 cups of ice cubes. Process until it resembles a slushy. Let residents enjoy it before it melts. This is a great treat on the hot summer days of August!
Game – How many times can you use watermelon in the name? Example: watermelon patch, watermelon carving, watermelon shooters, watermelon cooler, watermelon festival, watermelon crawl, watermelon salad, yellow watermelon, seedless watermelon, juicy watermelon, etc. You get the idea. See what your residents come up with, this may be a time to have a volunteer to record some of the answers they come up with and let them reminisce. It’s okay if they make up names.
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CHRISTINE'S THEMES: 