Craft Something special this holiday season with your senior loved one!

​After years of sewing, crafting, painting or woodworking, your loved one in a senior care facility may no longer have access to materials for creating holiday fun. But you can prepare easy crafts for them this holiday season. You can do as much preparation at home as needed for your special friend's needs, or the simple projects below can be a special way to share time together, while reminiscing over holidays past. 

• Felt Picture Wreath. From colored felt, cut round doughnut-shaped circles for wreaths, with the hole in the center an inch or two across. Each ornament will need two identical wreaths, front and back. Cut out small family photographs or pictures from old Christmas cards, wider than the hole cut-out, but smaller than the wreath, and place each between the two green layers. Place a hanger loop of yarn at the top between the pieces before sandwiching it all together with craft glue. A happy face, a puppy or a holiday ornament will be surrounded by the holiday wreath. Buttons, sequins, bows of yarn or card cutouts can be glued on the wreath as decoration. Multiple felt ornaments can be hung on a small tree or as a garland in your loved one's room.

 

• Painted Rocks. Rock painting has come a long way from the 1960s. Buy or find rounded rocks, just the size to fit smoothly in the palm of your hand or a little larger. If time is of the essence, paint the rock a solid color with acrylic paint at home so that you can start the project at the senior living facility with the rock ready to decorate. Let your loved one bedazzle it with plastic jewels, glue on stars, or, if their hands are still steady, paint designs or words like Joy or Light or Love. The finished project can be a room decoration or a comforting hand-held reminder of time spent together.

 

• Flower Arrangements. Even delicate hands can enjoy the pleasure of making a holiday flower arrangement. Buy a variety of holiday-colored artificial flowers-- white and red or blue and silver will make a striking display, holly and berries are fun: be imaginative! Add a simple pottery or plastic container. Let your friend or relative choose the stems they like the most and arrange them into the pot, the more the merrier. The extra joy of this craft is that it can be rearranged over and over, and it takes no special skills. The finished display will brighten up their room.

 
Crafting time is about enjoying creativity together, but if you are not able to visit your family member at the holidays, prepare one craft in advance and box it with the supplies needed for a matching one. They may enjoy making their own version of the craft project, knowing that even when apart, you are sharing the holidays. The finished product is not what counts: the holiday treat is the fun of making something!
 
Prairie Homestead
yvonne@prairiehomestead.org
prairiehomestead.org
1605 W. May Street
Wichita KS 67213
(316) 263-8264