August 2019 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 July 28 | Week of August 4 | Week of August 11 | Week of August 18 | Week of August 25

Enjoying the Summer Week

(Week of July 28)

Crafts: Summer Tan

Celebrate this last full month of summer with a week of fun activities that relate to the season. Start off by inviting your residents to help create a summer tan on paper by making easy sun prints using dark-colored construction paper, clear plastic wrap, small rocks, and flat items like flower petals or leaves for the design. Allow the paper to sit in the sun for several hours before revealing the design and framing it as artwork.

Reminiscing: Summer Gas Prices

Reminisce with residents about the rise of gas prices for the summer months during peak travel season. Afterwards, share a few interesting facts about gas stations.

Physical: Summer Storms

Recreate the sound of a storm with residents by passing out homemade drums (using tin cans, balloons, rubber bands, and wooden dowels) so that residents can get an arm workout as they beat the drums trying to mimic different summer sounds like thunder or ocean waves.

One-on-One: Summer Squash

Recruit your resident to help you organize a summer squash bake to roast the summer squash from your facility's garden for passersby to sample and enjoy. Use plastic knives to cut the squash into slices. Then lay the slices onto a baking sheet before sprinkling with herbs and butter.

Lower-Functioning: Summer Camp

Show residents how to make s'mores, just like in camp, but with a microwave. Use graham crackers, miniature chocolate bars, and large marshmallows for the tasty treat.

Bedside: Summer Wine

Treat your resident to a summer wine tasting, in which she can sample a glass of wine with a piece of cheese, a piece of chocolate, and a piece of fruit to determine which food she prefers with the wine.

Outing: Summer Ball

Take residents on a trip to see a local baseball game or even a kids' t-ball game in your area.

Sensory Stimulation: Summer Swim

Fill several kiddie pools for a fun summer pool party in your backyard. Set up chairs around each of the pools so that residents can dip their toes and enjoy the cool water.

Men's: Summer Stars

Set up a telescope on the back patio for an after-dinner gathering for the men to view the night's stars. Serve bedtime snacks of warm cookies and milk for the men to enjoy as they socialize under the stars.

Special Event: Summer Fling

Allow your residents to have fun getting to know one another by hosting a summer cocktail party on the back patio. Recruit a staff member to play bartender and serve nonalcoholic drinks, and book a band to play music for the fun outdoor soirée.

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Summer Visits With the Grandchildren Week

(Week of August 4)

Crafts: Create Art

Encourage the grandchildren to spend part of their summer visiting with your residents by hosting a fun week full of intergenerational activities that residents can do with their grandkids. Begin the week by pairing residents with kids to make mini beaches for the season using paper plates, paint, air-dry clay, drink umbrellas, paper, crayons, blue food coloring, and sand.

Reminiscing: Bake Cookies

Reminisce with residents about their favorite cookies to bake as you pass out aprons for residents and kids to make sugar cookies using cookie cutters. Make a batch for the upcoming Visit a Fire Station activity.

Physical: Go on a Scavenger Hunt

Pass out scavenger hunt bags so that residents and their grandchildren can collect items during a fun scavenger hunt in your backyard. Simply attach the scavenger hunt sheets to brown paper bags, and have the kids run to get the items as residents help point and walk with them.

One-on-One: Host a Tea Party

Recruit your resident to help you set up a fun tea party for your residents and their grandchildren by making jam sandwich cookies for the event.

Lower-Functioning: Serve Lemonade

Invite the grandchildren to help you and your residents juice lemons to sell lemonade to visitors in your facility to raise money for activity supplies.

Bedside: Make a Birdfeeder

Persuade your resident to make a few pine cone birdfeeders with her grandchild that can be hung outside of her window so that she can see the birds. Use pine cones, peanut butter, and birdseed for the project.

Outing: Visit a Fire Station

Organize a trip for residents to meet their grandchildren at the local fire station for a fun tour and visit with the firemen. Bring along the cookies that were made during the Reminiscing activity.

Sensory Stimulation: Build Sandcastles

Cover the backyard patio tables with trash bags before placing a mound of sand on each table for residents and children to make fun sandcastles using water and pails.

Men's: Make Ice Cream

Teach the men how to exercise with their grandchildren while making ice cream at the same time using half-and-half, sugar, kosher salt, vanilla extract, and plastic bags. Be sure to seal the bigger bag with duct tape so that the men and the kids can toss the ice cream back and forth without fear of the bag ripping open.

Special Event: Organize a Game Night

Set up several gaming tables in your Activity Room featuring fun games that residents can play with their grandchildren, like a Candy Land board game, Uno, and Go Fish.

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Summer Vacation Travel Week

(Week of August 11)

Crafts: Making Passports

Use this week as a fun time to plan activities that transport your residents to fun summer vacation destinations around the world. But first, start the week by having residents make their own passports to help document their travels for the week. For the craft, provide residents with blue cardstock, white paper, embroidery thread, needles, glue, and scissors. (On the website, scroll down and click on the printables to download for the passports.) Then throughout the week, place passport stickers on the passports for the country that they are visiting. (Beforehand, recruit volunteers to print the passport sticker page onto adhesive sheets before cutting out and making them available before each country's activity.)

Reminiscing: USA

Have residents take out their passports for you to stamp with a USA stamp as you reminisce with residents about their American road trips of the past and the best highways to travel. Afterwards, ask residents whether they remember traveling Route 66 (from Chicago to Los Angeles) and what unique attractions they remember.

Physical: Germany

Allow residents to get their passports stamped in Germany as you teach them how to dance the waltz. Recruit volunteers and staff members to be dance partners as you play German waltz music.

One-on-One: Guatemala

Take your resident to Guatemala in Central America to teach her how to make a colorful faux framed weave that she can use to hang in her room. Use a glassless frame for the project, and hot-glue pieces of yarn to one side of the frame that can be woven together to cover the frame. For the project, use different colors of yarn to create a multi-colored textile that your resident can use as textured art for her space.

Lower-Functioning: Antarctica

Help residents think cool thoughts as they travel to Antarctica for tasty snow cones on this hot, summer day. Use Kool-Aid packets, sugar, water, and crushed ice for the fun treat. Try to use different types of Kool-Aid so that residents can pick their favorite flavors.

Bedside: India

Borrow a tablet to take your resident to India to visit the Taj Mahal. Show an interesting documentary about the secrets of the white marble building.

Outing: China

Schedule an outing to a local Chinese restaurant to teach your residents how to eat with chopsticks.

Sensory Stimulation: Brazil

Enjoy a visit to Brazil as you teach residents how to make brigadeiro (chocolate truffles) using condensed milk, cocoa powder, butter, vanilla extract, and chocolate sprinkles. (On the website, scroll down to view the recipe on how to make the dessert using a microwave.)

Men's: Mexico

Show the men how to play the game Mexican train dominoes, in which the men try to be the first to place all their dominoes on the board.

Special Event: The Caribbean

Finish off the week by taking residents to the relaxing islands of the Caribbean as you have a member from Dining Services give a cooking demonstration of bananas flambé that is popular in the region. Serve the hot bananas over cold ice cream for residents to enjoy.

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Senior Citizens Week

(Week of August 18)

Crafts: Senior Hobbies

Spend this week that features National Senior Citizens Day on August 21 showcasing fun senior-themed activities for your residents. Start the week by showcasing a fun senior hobby of weaving as you teach your residents how to circle weave. Use colorful yarn, cardboard circles, scissors, and beads for the project.

Reminiscing: Senior Moment

Reminisce with residents about their past senior moments as you share funny stories of forgetfulness.

Physical: Senior Olympics

Host a fun senior Olympics in your Activity Room. Set up fun activities, like a javelin throw (pool noodle toss), discus throw (fabric Frisbee toss), and archery (Velcro dart throw).

One-on-One: Senior Memories

Encourage your resident to allow you to record her while asking questions about her life. With your resident's permission, send the recording to her loved ones.

Lower-Functioning: Senior Agility

Invite your residents to keep their fingers agile as you have them pull off petals from flowers to make homemade potpourri.

Bedside: Senior Skills

Help improve your resident's skills in speaking "Millennial" as you teach him a few phrases of millennial lingo.

Outing: Senior Discounts

Take residents on a fun outing to take advantage of senior discounts in your area, like at the local bowling alley, coffee shop, or restaurant.

Sensory Stimulation: Senior Taste

Organize a taste testing for residents to identify foods as sweet, salty, bitter, or sour. For the activity, blindfold residents as you have them sample a variety of foods.

Men's: Senior Prank

Persuade the men to participate in a fun senior prank of filling your facility's Administrator's office with hanging balloons. Recruit volunteers to help you and the men blow up the balloons and add ribbon to hang in the Administrator's office. Once the prank has been revealed, ask volunteers to use some of those balloons to hang and decorate the rooms of your facility's bedridden.

Special Event: Senior Prom

Schedule an entertainer to play music for your residents during a fun Senior Prom in your Activity Room to cap off the week. Encourage residents to dress up for the fun event, and recruit volunteers to help make corsages and boutonnieres for the prom's participants using flowers from your facility's garden. (Please note that National Senior Citizens Day is Wednesday, August 21.)

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Back-to-School Week

(Week of August 25)

Crafts: Aluminum Notebook Covers

Celebrate this Back-to-School Month by hosting a fun week for your residents that ends in a Back-to-School Fair for their grandchildren. Begin the week by assisting residents with creating notebook covers using aluminum tape, tacky glue, and plain notebooks from your local dollar store. Save the finished notebooks as favors for the upcoming Back-to-School Fair.

Reminiscing: Favorite Teachers

Reminisce with residents about their favorite television teachers from the 1950s and 1960s. Ask residents whether any of their real teachers were like those they liked from television.

Physical: Post-it-Note Piñata Game

Use Post-It Notes to create a fun piñata for your residents to hit with a plastic bat. Before the activity, recruit volunteers to help you assemble the piñata using cardboard, scissors, glue, and lots of Post-It Notes.

One-on-One: School Medals

Encourage your resident to assist you with molding school medals to pass out to the participants of your upcoming Back-to-School Fair. Use air-dry clay (or Sculpey clay as mentioned on the website) and stamps to create the medals. Once the medals have air-dried, paint the medals in bright colors.

Lower-Functioning: Book Treats

Enlist the help of your residents to decorate Rice Krispies book treats. Provide residents with bowls of plain icing with drops of food coloring to mix together to create bright colored icing that they can slather onto the Rice Krispies treats. Finally, use a food grade marker to write on white candy to transform the treats into colorful books.

Bedside: Pencil Toppers

Recruit your resident to help you make monster pencil toppers to give out as favors for the upcoming Back-to-School Fair. To assemble the pencil toppers, simply remove the erasers from the pencils. Then add hot glue where the erasers were before securing on the pom-poms. Finally, use glue to attach the eyes.

Outing: Soda Shop

Take residents on a trip to a local ice cream shop to enjoy the cool treat as they reminisce about the places that they visited after school each day.

Sensory Stimulation: Erupting Apples

Invite the grandchildren to assist residents with conducting an erupting apples experiment using baking soda, water, vinegar, liquid soap, and liquid watercolors.

Men's: Speed Eraser

Persuade the men to play a fun game of speed eraser to see how many pencils they can bounce into cups.

Special Event: Back-to-School Fair

Host a Back-to-School fair and invite the grandchildren to come out for fun carnival games in your facility's backyard like Duck Pond Ring Toss (kiddie pool filled with water and rubber ducks for participants to throw rings around the ducks) or Fish Bowl Bounce (plastic cups filled with water and toy fish for residents to bounce ping pong balls so that they land in one of the cups). In addition, set up a fun get-to-know-you bingo game for the residents and for the kids like Find-a-Friend Bingo (using one bingo card for the residents and a different bingo card for the children).(Please note that August is National Back-to-School Month.)

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