Here at Heaton House we always make sure that our activity calendar is jam-packed with a wide variety of engaging and stimulating activities for our residents. We get to know each of our residents and find out what it is they like to do, then we can arrange our activities to suit specific interests. 

The activities that we do are also chosen with the cognitive and physical benefits of our residents in mind, as well as their fun factor, of course. Just recently, flower arranging was on our activities calendar and, as you can see from the photo, lots of pretty bouquets were made!

Residents getting stuck in with flower arranging.

An activity like flower arranging allows us to engage in meaningful conversations with our residents. A simple question like ‘have you received roses before’ or ‘did you grow flowers in your garden?’ can unlock so many memories and encourage verbal communication. There’s been many times when we’ve been able to encourage a usually quiet resident to talk about their memories and engage in conversation through activities. A great example of our residents engaging well was when Vamos Theatre came to visit us. You can read all about that in our blog post here. 

Flower arranging helps our residents practice colour recognition. We can ask our residents to pick out the red or the pink flowers and this can help to stimulate their brain. Flowering arranging is also a creative activity that allows our residents to make their bouquet look how they would like them to. Did we mention that they also make fantastic decorations for our home?

The beautiful boquets created by our residents.

Now that the weather is getting warmer we’ve been able to get outside into our lovely garden and encourage residents to get involved in physical activities. Just recently, we all enjoyed a spot of golf in the garden. A game like golf is a fantastic way to practise hand eye coordination and to get residents enjoying the fresh air. 

Who says you can’t play golf in your slippers?!

Our residents, Anne, Daphne and Phyllis in particular, enjoyed putting the ball into the various ‘holes’ we had set up. As you can see from the photo above, residents were never too far away from a comfortable sit down with a blanket and a cup of tea. This was much deserved after the excitement of th