August 2020 Weekly-Themed Activity Calendar

August is ...

• American Adventures Month
• American Artist Appreciation Month
• Boomers Making a Difference Month
• Bystander Awareness Month
• Children's Eye Health and Safety Month
• Children's Vision and Learning Month
• Get Ready for Kindergarten Month
• Happiness Happens Month
• International Pirate Month
• Motorsports Awareness Month
• National Back-to-School Month
• National Black Business Month
• National Eye Exam Month
• National Immunization Awareness Month
• Spinal Muscular Atrophy Awareness Month
• Read-a-Romance Month
• What Will Be Your Legacy Month

Week of August 2 | Week of August 9 | Week of August 16 | Week of August 23

Adults Color Too! Week

(Week of August 2)

Crafts: Cut and Color

Celebrate this week that begins with National Coloring Book Day by providing a week's worth of fun coloring activities for your residents. Begin the week by providing residents with bookmarks that are printed on white cardstock for residents to cut out and color with colored pencils.

Reminiscing: Coloring Books

Reminisce with residents about the coloring books that they used to buy their children when they were young. During the discussion, recruit residents to help you assemble coloring books for the upcoming Wine and Coloring Party by simply stapling the coloring pages together to form a book. (On the website, click on a coloring book to view the coloring pages for that book.)

Physical: Outdoor Twister

Use colored chalk to create a Twister game on the back patio for seated residents to toss bean bags so that they land on the color that they spin. (To create the spinner, print it out and attach to a piece of cardboard. Then use a push pin to attach a paper clip to the middle of the spinner so that residents can flick the paper clip to see what color they have to toss their bean bag onto.)

One-on-One: Coloring Techniques

Help your resident improve her coloring skills by sharing a few coloring techniques for using colored pencils.

Lower-Functioning: Coloring to Music

Supply residents with plain paper and crayons to draw and color creatively while listening to music.

Bedside: Coloring App

Show your resident how she can color online. (When you find the coloring page that she wants, click the "Color online" button.)

Outing: Art Gallery

Take residents on a trip to see some local art. As an alternative to taking a trip, use the coloring pages that were made during the week to create an Art Gallery in your facility. Then invite residents to visit the gallery to see the framed pictures on the wall while enjoying wine and cheese.

Sensory Stimulation: Coloring With Markers

Provide residents with fine-tip markers to fill in coloring pages that can be framed as artwork.

Men's: Color-by-Number Relay Race

Host a fun relay race for the men by dividing them into teams. To play, set up a table on the opposite side of the room from the teams and place on the table a paint by number coloring page and crayons for each team. During the game, have the first person of each team walk quickly to the table to color in their sections before returning back to tag the next player on his team. Make sure that you have the exact number of different colors on the coloring page that is on the team (e.g., if you have three people on a team, then only use coloring sheets with three different colors).

Special Event: Wine and Coloring Party

Pass out glasses of wine and the coloring books that were assembled earlier during the Reminiscing activity, and encourage residents to socialize as they all color together. (Please note that National Coloring Book Day is Sunday, August 2.)

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Wild Animal Week

(Week of August 9)

Crafts: Origami Animals

Recognize this week that includes both World Lion Day and World Elephant Day by providing fun activities for residents throughout the week that relate to wildlife. Start the week by showing residents how to make origami animals. Simply provide residents with a woods background to attach origami foxes or with a sea background to attach origami whales.

Reminiscing: Favorite Animals

Reminisce with residents about their favorite wild animals as you read off a list of the top 10 favorites. Afterwards, pass around photos of the world's most beautiful animals to see if residents want to change some of the animals in their top 10.

Physical: Charade Animals

Invite residents to get up and moving as they play a fun game of silly animal charades, where a resident acts out an animal with a job or an animal playing a sport. (On the website, click on the image of the charade list to download the pdf of charades.)

One-on-One: Stitched Animals

Show your resident how to create a stitched elephant using a small canvas, embroidery thread, a needle, an elephant silhouette, a pencil, and tape.

Lower-Functioning: Leaf Animals

Gather different colored leaves from outdoors to assist residents with assembling leaf animal collages.

Bedside: Silhouette Animals

Assist your resident with creating giraffe art to frame for her room. Simply cut out a giraffe template and trace onto colorful scrapbook paper before cutting out and attaching to cardstock.

Outing: Zoo Animals

Take residents for a fun trip to the zoo. As an alternative, bring the zoo to them by sharing a video about the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

Sensory Stimulation: Drawing Animals

Provide residents with step-by-step instructions on how to draw a toucan using black markers and crayons.

Men's: Taxidermy Animals

Help the men create framed wild animals by printing out the animal templates to fold.

Special Event: Towel Animals

Host a special towel-folding class for residents where you teach them how to fold towel animals. (Please note that World Lion Day is Monday, August 10 and World Elephant Day is Wednesday, August 12.)

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Trip to Hawaii Week

(Week of August 16)

Crafts: Hibiscus Flowers

During this week of the anniversary of Hawaii's statehood on August 21, supply residents with fun Hawaii-themed activities. For instance, show residents how to assemble beautiful hibiscus flowers using tissue paper, scissors, and rubber bands. Use the finished flowers as decoration for the week.

Reminiscing: The Hawaiian Islands

Reminisce with residents about their past trips to the Hawaiian islands, as you share a few fun facts about Hawaii.

Physical: Ukuleles

Organize a fun ukulele dance marathon for your residents where you play ukulele music and award a prize to the last resident dancing.

One-on-One: Hulas

Get your resident moving his hips by providing him with a Hula Hoop to see how long he can keep it on his hips.

Lower-Functioning: Pineapples

Schedule a pineapple party for your residents where you cut the pineapple so that it's easy for residents to help themselves to the pieces.

Bedside: Games

Play a fun game of Hawaiian Pictionary with your resident where the two of you alternate drawing things associated with Hawaii for the other to guess.

Outing: Coffee

Take residents on a trip to a coffee shop or recreate a common area in your facility to become a Hawaiian coffee shop where residents can enjoy coffee and macadamia nuts.

Sensory Stimulation: Spam

Coordinate with Dining Services to make Spam fries for residents to sample.

Men's: Pizza

Host a fun Hawaiian pizza party for the men where they can make their own English muffin pizzas and add ham and pineapple.

Special Event: Hawaiian Shirts

Invite residents to participate in a fun Hawaiian shirt contest for residents to vote on the best Hawaiian shirt. Before the activity begins, be sure to pass out nametags to residents that have their Hawaiian name written on them. (Beforehand, recruit a volunteer to use a Hawaiian name translator to find out the Hawaiian names of your residents and print them out onto adhesive nametags or labels for residents to wear.) (Please note that Hawaii's statehood anniversary is Friday, August 21.)

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Senior Citizens Week

(Week of August 16)

Crafts: Volunteer

Help residents get ready for National Senior Citizens Day on Friday, August 21 by providing fun activities throughout the week that feature all the things that your seniors enjoy. For example, start the week with a fun volunteer project where residents create homemade face masks to donate.

Reminiscing: Cruise

Reminisce with residents about their cruising days and where they've cruised to. Then share a few cruising then and now photos for residents to see how far cruising has come.

Physical: Garden

Take residents to your facility's outdoor garden to help tidy up the crops. If the weather is too warm, then encourage them to help you water the indoor plants throughout the facility.

One-on-One: Spend Time With Grandchildren

Show your resident how to chat online with her grandchildren using a tablet or her phone.

Lower-Functioning: Paint

Invite residents to paint tulip fields on paper using cotton swabs.

Bedside: Read

Borrow a tablet to pull up a John Grisham legal thriller for your resident to read online.

Outing: Knit

Take residents to your local fabric store to gather knitting supplies like yarn or knitting needles. As an alternative, gather the fabrics and supplies from your activity closet and lay them out on tables in your Activity Room for residents to browse and find the materials they need for knitting, just as if they were in a store.

Sensory Stimulation: Scrapbook

Print out the photos of past events or photos taken around your facility for residents to scrapbook. Simply provide each resident with a scrapbook page to fill in with scrapbook paper, photos, and embellishments like buttons, ribbon, and stickers.

Men's: Woodwork

Supply the men with craft sticks, paint, cutting pliers, and strong glue to assemble craft stick coasters.

Special Event: Play Bingo

Encourage residents to play a fun variation of bingo – Swap Bingo. To play, start your bingo game as normal, but halfway through the game announce a category (e.g., all those wearing red, all those wearing glasses, all those born on the West Coast, etc.) and have all those who fit the category to swap places with one another and to finish playing on their new bingo card. (Please note that National Senior Citizens Day is Friday, August 21.)

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Park Week

(Week of August 23)

Crafts: Fly a Kite

Have fun with residents during this week that the U.S. National Park Service was founded by providing activities that residents would enjoy doing at a park. Start the week by helping residents make a garbage bag kite to fly. Use plastic bags, string, sticks, scissors, and ribbon for the craft.

Reminiscing: Observe Wildlife

Reminisce with residents about the wildlife they have encountered in their yards as well as how they have dealt with problem pests.

Physical: Hike a Trail

Lead residents on a walk through the backyard and garden for residents to get some exercise.

One-on-One: Collect Rocks

Invite your resident to go out to collect rocks to make interesting pebble art.

Lower-Functioning: Feed the Wildlife

Supply residents with birdseed to throw out in the backyard for the neighborhood birds to begin feeding.

Bedside: Explore the Trees

Take your resident online to view the most beautiful forests as well as the rainforest of Madagascar.

Outing: Get Fresh Air

Take residents to an area on your facility's grounds to pick flowers and enjoy the fresh air.

Sensory Stimulation: Sketch in a Nature Journal

Provide residents with sketch pads and pencils to sketch what they see in nature from the back patio.

Men's: Play Games

Persuade the men to play a fun game of Frisbee in the backyard. Set up a target, like a tarp on the lawn, for the men to try to land their Frisbees on.

Special Event: Have a Picnic

Coordinate with Dining Services to serve a special picnic lunch for residents where they can enjoy classic picnic foods like potato salad, fried chicken, and watermelon. (Please note that the anniversary of the founding of the U.S. National Park Service is Tuesday, August 25.)

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