Friday 30 December 2016

Seasonal Crafts - Art Therapy for those with Alzheimer's

My mum has unfortunately lost all track of time ... as she's not aware of the month, I try to keep our arts and crafts seasonal so she is really living in and enjoying the time of year ...


Spring 

Daffodils are my mum's favourite flower. We go for walks at the local arboretum to enjoy the Spring flowers ... 




... then we make our own daffodils out of crepe-paper :) to brighten up her home and bring the season indoors!


Summer 

Mum loves the brightly coloured summer flowers that we find in the beautiful Yorkshire countryside ...



... summer flowers inspire us to make brightly coloured crepe paper flowers :) 
Mum loves to always have flowers ready to give to anyone who visits!

If you would like to know how we make these flowers you can find the instructions on our Making Paper Flowers Blog :)

Autumn 

We take trips out to the forest to enjoy the autumn colours and collect leaves to press for cards ...




Using a flower press we position our clean, dry leaves between the absorbent sheets of blotting paper, screw the wooden press together and leave for about 4 weeks.


The pressed leaves can then be used to make attractive seasonal cards.



Christmas 

Christmas is such a lovely time of year!! I make sure Christmas music is always in the background while we are working on our crafts ... 

Decorations ...
This year we painted glitter-glue onto wooden tree decorations and sprinkled on extra glitter. My mum loves anything shiny and glitter glue is easy for her to paint on to the decorations.








Christmas cards ... 
Meaningful activities such as card making really give my mum a sense of achievement. Making cards to send to friends & family is one of her favourite hobbies.





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New Year

No sooner is Christmas over we start on the next event! 
This year mum has made some lovely Happy New Year cards!! 




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For more details on our Hand Made cards please visit our Hand Made Cards blog


I believe that keeping my mum engaged and active is very important to her quality of life. 


There are many benefits to Creative Therapy. 
Unlike traditional art expression, the process of creation is more important than the final product. Arts and Crafts help with hand & eye coordination, focus and concentration. They also seem to lessen my mum's fidgeting and anxiety and definitely give her a great feeling of accomplishment.


Art Therapy is a very important part of our daily routine and I combine it with Music Therapy and Animal Therapy which I also believe are hugely beneficial to my mum's well being. 


For more of our photos and videos of our alternative therapies please have a look at my other blog posts and our Creative Carer Facebook Page or website Creative Carer .