August 2021 Weekly-Themed Activity Calendar

August is ...

• African-American Cultural Heritage Month
• AMD/Low Vision Awareness Month
• American Heart Month
• Bake for Family Fun Month
• Creative Romance Month
• Declutter for a Cause Month
• Fabulous Florida Strawberry Month
• Great American Pie Month
• International Boost Self-Esteem Month
• Library Lovers' Month
• National Bird-Feeding Month
• National Black History Month
• National Cherry Month
• National Goat Yoga Month
• National Grapefruit Month
• National Hot Breakfast Month
• National Mend a Broken Heart Month
• National Parent Leadership Month
• National Pet Dental Health Month
• National Senior Independence Month
• National Time Management Month
• National Wedding Month
• Plant the Seeds of Greatness Month
• Return Shopping Carts to the Supermarket Month
• Spay/Neuter Awareness Month
• Spunky Old Broads Month
• Wise Health Care Consumer Month
• Worldwide Renaissance of the Heart Month
• Youth Leadership Month

Week of August 1 | Week of August 8 | Week of August 15 | Week of August 22 | Week of August 29

Cruise Week

(Week of August 1)

Crafts: Nautical Prints on the Promenade Deck

Have fun during this cruising season by hosting a fun Cruise Week for your residents. Start the week by having residents make nautical prints on tea towels using potatoes. To make the tea towels, use mini cookie cutters to create the stamp in the potato that residents can stamp onto tea towels.

Reminiscing: Shore Excursions on the Main Deck

Reminisce with residents about their past cruises and some of the places they have visited. Share a list of some of the popular shore excursions available on today’s cruise lines. Afterwards, share a few cruise lingo for residents to identify.

Physical: Sand Bottle Toss on the Sports Deck

Use empty glass bottles and colored sand to create sand bottles for residents to toss rings around.

One-on-One: Paper Boats on the Pool Deck

Recruit your resident to assist you with making paper boats to use as decoration throughout your facility. For the craft, use the boat template, embroidery thread, paper, wooden skewers, buttons, glue, heavy paper, and a craft knife.

Lower-Functioning: Flip Flop Cookies on the Sun Deck

Show residents how to make adorable flip flop cookies using Nutter Butter cookies, candy melts of different colors, round ball candies, and licorice.

Bedside: Towel Animals in the Cabin

Encourage your resident to help you make a few towel animals for her room.

Outing: Trip to the Marina

Take residents on a trip to a local marina or body of water to people-watch and boat-watch.

Sensory Stimulation: Oyster Cookies in the Galley

Assist residents with making tasty oyster cookies using Nilla Wafers cookies, white round candies, colorful icing, royal icing, and black food coloring.

Men’s: Shuffleboard on the Lido Deck

Invite the men to play a fun game of Shuffleboard. For the activity, pair the men together to compete against one another, and then have the winners of those games play one another. Keep having the winners play one another until one winner is left.

Special Event: Midday Buffet in the Lounge

Instead of a Midnight Buffet, coordinate with Dining Services to provide a fun Midday Buffet meal for residents to enjoy. Beforehand, decorate the tables with the paper boats that were made earlier during the One-on-One activity.

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Animal Lovers’ Week

(Week of August 8)

Crafts: Bean Art Animals

Recognize the animal lovers in your facility during this week that features International Cat Day, World Lion Day, World Elephant Day, and World Lizard Day. To start the week, show residents how to make bean art animals using cardboard, pencils, dried beans, paint, and glue.

Reminiscing: Pet Photos

Reminisce with residents about their past pets and ask them to share a few funny pet stories. Afterwards, pass around a few funny dog pictures for residents to view.

Physical: Guess the Animal

Place pictures of animals on the back of residents as they walk around asking "yes or no" questions to identify the animal that is on their back.

One-on-One: Pipe Cleaner Animal Pencil Toppers

Encourage your resident to assist you with making pipe cleaner animal pencil toppers using colorful pipe cleaners.

Lower-Functioning: Animal Sounds

Borrow a tablet to play animal sounds for residents to identify.

Bedside: Animal Charades

Alternate taking turns gesturing animals for the other to guess as you play a fun game of animal charades with your resident.

Outing: Trip to the Zoo

Organize a fun trip to your local zoo, or even a petting farm, for residents to see the animals.

Sensory Stimulation: Animal Cracker Snacks

Supply residents with celery sticks, peanut butter, raisins, and animal crackers to make and enjoy their own animal cracker ants on a log snack.

Men’s: Horse Play

Pair the men together into teams to play the Minute-to-Win-It game Horse Play in which the men blow ping pong balls on the table so that they land within the horseshoes.

Special Event: Hungry, Hungry Hippos

Recruit staff members to assist you with playing a fun game of Hungry, Hungry Hippos to see which residents can gather the most balls. Use wheelchairs, broomsticks or pool noodles, tape, baskets, and lots of balls for the activity. (Please note that Sunday, August 8 is International Cat Day; Tuesday, August 10 is World Lion Day; Thursday, August 12 is World Elephant Day; Saturday, August 14 is World Lizard Day.)

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Honoring Seniors Week

(Week of August 15)

Crafts: Childhood

Recognize this week that features World Senior Citizens Day (August 21) by celebrating the lives of your seniors. Provide activities throughout the week that allow residents to share their stories during different phases of their lives. For instance, start the week by honoring the stories of your residents’ childhood by inviting them to make paper spinners that resemble the spinning tops that they had as children. Use strips of colorful paper, toothpicks, and school glue for the simple craft.

Reminiscing: Teenage Years

Reminisce with residents about their style as teenagers. Pass around photos of 1940s teenage fashion for girls and for boys. Have residents identify the style of clothes that they wore to school back then.

Physical: College Life

Invite residents to play a variation of the popular college pastime of hacky sack, the game of kicking a bag with the feet without using the hands or arms. Instead of a footbag, use an inflated balloon to see if seated residents can keep it from hitting the floor.

One-on-One: Working Girl

Chit chat with your resident about the role of working women in the 1940s and 1950s and how it has changed today. Share information about feminism in the 1940s as well as the women’s role in the 1950s.

Lower-Functioning: Married…

Since a lot of women became homemakers after getting married, use a few kitchen items like paper plates, water bottles, and spoons to make instruments for residents to use as they listen to music. If residents like the activity, consider hosting a Kitchen Band session each week.

Bedside: …With Children

Borrow baby’s clothes from some of your co-workers to take to your resident’s room so that she can "oooh and aaah" over the little items. Use your phone to bring up a list of essentials for today’s baby, and ask your resident if she remembers having so many baby items for her children.

Outing: Proud Grandma

Take your residents on a fun trip to a local park or playground to watch the children play.

Sensory Stimulation: Retirement Years

Assist residents with making a retirement cake by baking a regular birthday cake, but then decorating it with a retirement theme. Serve the cake at the upcoming Celebration of Life activity.

Men’s: Bucket List

Encourage the men to reflect on their lives and to have fun thinking about the things that they still want to accomplish. Pass around photos of a few extreme activities to see if they want you to plan any special bungee-jumping outings for the summer.

Special Event: Celebration of Life

End the week with a fun Celebration of Life activity for your residents to celebrate the present. Pass around photos of past special events and activities and encourage residents to recognize how much joy they have in their lives now. Be sure to hire your resident’s favorite entertainer to perform for them and to keep them out on the dance floor. (Please note that Saturday, August 21 is World Senior Citizens Day.)

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Celebrating Women Week

(Week of August 22)

Crafts: Women in Fashion

Celebrate International Women’s Day this week by paying tribute to the wonderful women who have made considerable contributions to society. Start the week by paying tribute to Coco Chanel, a women trailblazer in the fashion industry known for her pearls, by inviting residents to make pearl bracelets using pearl beads, colorful ribbon, needle, and thread.

Reminiscing: Women in Politics

Reminisce with residents about the women who have taken a stand in politics over the years. Ask residents whether they agree that women should be active in politics.

Physical: Women in Medicine

Get the hearts of your residents pumping as you lead them in a chair exercise after reminding them of the great contributions by women in medicine, like Helen Brooke Taussig, who helped establish the field of pediatric cardiology.

One-on-One: Women in the Media

Help your resident add to the growing numbers of women in media by showing her how to create a simple one-page newsletter using the free edition of a Canva template. Encourage your resident to write a few short stories for the newsletter, like a biography of your newest resident and a section on upcoming events in your facility.

Lower-Functioning: Women in Music

Invite your residents to play a fun game of balloon toss as you play music by female composer Fanny Mendelssohn in the background.

Bedside: Women in Television

Borrow a tablet to watch an old episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show with your resident as you recognize the achievements of women in television like Mary Tyler Moore.

Outing: Women in the Law

Organize a trip to a local courthouse or government building where your residents can take a tour to learn more about the accomplishments of women in the law in your town.

Sensory Stimulation: Women in the Arts

Pass out art paper, oil pastels, black glue (glue mixed with black paint), a template, and watercolors to residents as you share a few painting techniques for painting poppies that can make their flowers look as vibrant as those painted by legendary artist Georgia O’Keeffe.

Men’s: Women in Science

Pay tribute to the women in science like Marie Curie as you show the men how to use a little science to create snowman soap.

Special Event: Women in Film

Showcase the popular and funny film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? featuring film icon Katharine Hepburn for your residents to enjoy. (Please note that Thursday, August 26 is Women’s Equality Day.)

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Summer Backyard Games Week

(Week of August 29)

Crafts: Color Rock Dominoes

Organize a full week of fun backyard games for your residents this summer as we head into the Labor Day weekend. Start the week by recruiting residents to make color rock dominoes that can be used for future dominoes games. Supply residents with flat rocks and paint for the craft.

Reminiscing: Childhood Games

Reminisce with residents about the games that they used to enjoy as children. Afterwards, ask residents to name the types of games that they used to play with their own kids.

Physical: Beach Balloons

Seat residents in a circle to play a Keep It Up game in which they try to keep a beach ball up in the air so that it does not touch the floor.

One-on-One: Cloth Dots

Use a large piece of fabric, pencils, and paint to create a cloth dots game that you and your resident can play using toothpicks.

Lower-Functioning: Pool Noodle Ring Toss

Gather pool noodles to create a fun ring toss game in the backyard for your residents to play.

Bedside: Candy Toss

Bring strips of colorful poster board and a bag of Skittles candy to your resident’s room to have her play a fun tabletop candy tossing game. Simply use a stapler to create tabletop targets for your resident to toss the candies into to accumulate points. Attach point values to each colored strip, and take turns with your resident to see who can collect the most points.

Outing: Trip to the Park

Schedule a trip to your local park in which residents can enjoy the outdoors while playing a game of horseshoes.

Sensory Stimulation: Sensory Hunt

Take residents to the backyard for a fun sensory scavenger hunt in which residents mark off the sensory nature tasks as they do them.

Men’s: Tin Can Knock Down

Recruit a volunteer to paint empty tin cans for the men to play a fun and colorful game of tin can knock down in the backyard.

Special Event: Water Balloon Dodge Ball

Butter up your facility’s staff members so that they will join you in a fun game of water balloon dodge ball in the backyard. To play, invite seated residents to sit in a large circle of chairs to toss water balloons to hit staff members that are standing inside the circle.

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