Halloween isn’t just for children, and we schedule activities around this and other holidays. Crafting and fun spark the brain to keep older adults young at heart. Below, you’ll find some fun activities to organize with the older adults in your family for a spooktacular All Hallow’s Eve.
Painted Pumpkin Picture
Many of our residents love arts and crafts and painted pumpkin pictures compliment jack-o’-lanterns, dried corn, gourds, pinecones, and candles. You can also opt to decorate oddly shaped gourds as owls, cats, and other Halloween-related props.
If your loved one has dexterity issues, ribbons, paints, stickers, and other art supplies can create a frightening or fancy pumpkin decoration that requires no carving. Residents can hang their artwork in their spacious rooms at Wickshire Senior Living.
Pumpkin Ring Toss
A pumpkin ring toss makes an excellent activity for Halloween at home. You can create rings from embroidery hoops, glow-in-the-dark necklaces, or anything else that’s round and large enough to loop around a pumpkin. Although, the wider the ring, the easier the game.
Pumpkin Bowling
Since staff members take care of housekeeping and laundry, residents are free to indulge in their favorite activities. Pumpkin bowling is a great activity for home day visits or in an organized group setting on site. The object of the game is to use your pumpkins or gourds as bowling balls to knock over decorated Styrofoam or paper cups.
Here’s what you’ll need to make this activity work:
- Round pumpkins
- Lumpy gourds (harder to “bowl” but adds to the fun)
- Paper or Styrofoam cups
Let older adults decide how challenging or easy to make the game.
Pumpkin Shuffleboard
Moving right along with our pumpkin theme, how about a game of pumpkin shuffleboard? This game takes some planning since you have to create scoring sections. For example, you and the older adults in your life can create a creepy pyramid with chalk on a concrete surface. Instead of cue sticks and pucks, use scythes, swords, and mage staffs borrowed from costumes to hit gourds into the scoring sections.
Play Hot Sweet Potato
Almost everyone has played some version of hot potato. Gather players in a circle and substitute a sweet potato for a regular potato in honor of the fall season. You can also use a small pumpkin or gourd or anything else that properly represents the season. Participants continue passing the potato around the circle until the music stops. Whoever’s caught with the sweet potato has to sit out the next round. As for the winner, there can be only one!
Jack o’ Lantern Volleyball
Don’t worry; no jack-o’-lanterns are harmed in the playing of this game. Instead of a real pumpkin, you’ll use a decorated balloon to score and try to win points. Feel free to bend the rules to suit your players. For example, using a badminton net instead of a volleyball net allows you to include any competitors who use wheelchairs. Of course, you’ll have to decorate the balloon as a ghost, pumpkin, or witch using white, orange, or black balloons as appropriate.
Halloween Treats
After everyone has worked up an appetite, it’s time to make and enjoy Halloween treats. Find an easy recipe for making caramel or candy apples or pears dipped in chocolate. You can also bake sugar cookies and invite older adults to customize their edible art with sprinkles, candy, and icing.