adaptive snowboarding

Activity: Adaptive Snowboarding

Target participant group: Anyone interested in snowboarding, or anyone that has decided to challenge themselves outside of just skiing.

Therapeutic potential of this activity: Adaptive Snowboarding helps with balance and coordination. It also increases body strength over time on anyone continually snowboarding.

What other groups may benefit from this activity?: Other groups that may benefit from adaptive snowboarding are anyone who wants to try something new. Winter is a hard time to get people active since its so cold out, but it is a great activity to get someone who wants to get out and have fun.

What groups may not be as appropriate for this activity?: Older groups may not benefit from this activity as much as other groups because of their fragility. Falling is common in this activity when starting out.

Activity description: Snowboarding has become popular in the last decade or two, and steadily increases each year. This is a winter sport that people will go out and do with their families. It includes going down a hill or mountain on one board that is strapped to both of your feet. Once you go down the hill you have to ride back up on a chair lift to get to the top of the hill again.

Resources needed: To snowboard, you need the following basic equipment: boots, bindings, and a snowboard. Things to use that can help include ski poles, Board Buddy, a riding bar, or tethering. A sit-board may also be used for those who can’t ride in a standing position.

Best leadership style for this activity: This activity works best if there is someone always with an adaptive snowboarder. Working one on one with a person allows someone to teach them if they need to be taught, and assistance there if there ever needs to be one.

Where did you find this activity?: Since I myself love to snowboard, I went online and looked for adaptive snowboarding websites, and this is the first one I came across, http://www.dsusa.org/challmagarchive/challmag-fall03-snowboarding.html.

Where can others find more information on this activity? There are a lot of different websites for adaptive snowboarding, and since there is so many Google can really help you out on finding the right place to go to find anything with adaptive snowboarding.

secret pal

Activity: Secret Pal

Target participant group: People living in residence homes work best for this activity since everyone is there at the site, and also feel the loneliest at times.

Therapeutic potential of this activity: Having people participate in this activity should bring about a feeling of belonging and importance.

What other groups may benefit from this activity?: I can see this activity working good in a work setting also for people that don’t really feel like they belong to anyone or a part of something bigger.

What groups may not be as appropriate for this activity?: Someone who is always going in and out of place and constantly with other people may not benefit from this activity as much. If they are always with someone else then they already feel like they belong and feel important.

Activity description: Pair up associates with residents to be a “secret pal”. Each week the associate would leave something small for the resident or decorate their door, and leave a note saying “from your secret pal”. At the end of the week, throw a party and have each resident learn who their “secret pal” was and have the associate serve refreshment to the resident. Give them time to talk and their week or anything else on the residents mind.

Resources needed: For this activity, it helps to have enough associates for each resident so they don’t have to double up. Small gifts to give to the residents are going to be needed, along with refreshments to give out at the end of the week.

Best leadership style for this activity: Working one on one with each resident works best so that they associate doesn’t get overwhelmed with too many gifts. Try matching up interests of the participants and workers so that they can have greater ideas for the small gifts to give or ideas to throw out there.

Where did you find this activity?: http://www.recreationtherapy.com/tx/txjan.htm is where I found this activity, and I absolutely loved it.

Where can others find more information on this activity? There is a lot of information out there for secret pals, such as gift ideas, and other things you can do. This activity is pretty simple, but other people around you can also help you out along the way.

scented ornaments

Activity: Scented Ornament

Target participant group: Someone with Sensory Processing Disorder would work very well with this activity since the ornament has a smell that comes off of it, and there is a feeling to the dough.

Therapeutic potential of this activity: This activity helps with sensory stimulation, increasing hand strength, and also may help the participant relax.

What other groups may benefit from this activity?: Any younger child would enjoy doing this activity. They always s love doing crafts and enjoy making things that they can take home and hang on their Christmas tree.

What groups may not be as appropriate for this activity?: I would watch out for too young of kids, because the ornaments have a smell to them, young children may want to eat the ornament, which wouldn’t be good for them.

Activity description: Put the cinnamon in a bowl, and slowly mix the applesauce in with. After it’s all mixed in there should be dough like consistency. Have the dough between two pieces of wax paper and flatten it out using a rolling pin. When flat, cut out shapes with cookie cutters and use other decorations to decorate your ornament. Make a hole in the top and let it dry for about 24 hours. String a ribbon through the hole, and when finished hang on their Christmas tree.

Resources needed: What are needed for this activity are cinnamon, apple sauce, bowl, spoon, wax paper, rolling pin, cookie cutters, and ribbon.

Best leadership style for this activity: Having the facilitator walk around making sure the people who need help rolling their dough out and or cutting out the ornaments. Also make sure they watch participants so that you would be able to stop them if they try to eat the dough at any time.

Where did you find this activity?: I found this activity online at http://www.recreationtherapy.com/tx/txdec.htm. A great place to go to find any activity Christmas related.

Where can others find more information on this activity?: To find more information on this activity, check out http://allrecipes.com/recipe/scented-applesauce-cinnamon-ornaments/ or you can always use Google for other great websites.

It's My Life CD

Activity: It’s My Life CD

Target participant group: Teenagers would be a great target participant group for this activity.

Therapeutic potential of this activity: Through this activity it allows the therapist to gather information and someone’s life and the perceptions of their past through music.

What other groups may benefit from this activity?: Anyone who has an interest in music would greatly benefit from this activity all around.

What groups may not be as appropriate for this activity?: If someone is not very into music, than this activity may not be the greatest to dig information out from them.

Activity description: Find out the clients musical tastes through songs, musicians, and CDs. Explain to the participant that they will be designing their own CD that includes the CD title, a cover design, and a play list of songs. Make sure that they select a theme to their CD but it can be as vague or specific as they want to get. Any of the songs can include real songs or fictitious song titles. From the songs that the client chooses, you can tell how they are feeling and what is going on in their lives. This project can keep continuing and focus on other aspects of the client’s life.

Resources needed: All that you need for this activity include an empty plastic CD jewel case, paper, construction paper, markers, colored pencils, and then also a form of music through CDs or a computer.

Best leadership style for this activity: There are many ways you can go about this activity, you can let the client have free rein on the songs that they pick, and you just sit back and watch how everything works out and try to decode what the songs are trying to say, or you can give suggestions to songs to help them get a head start. You don’t want to do the deciding for them since it is their “life” CD.

Where did you find this activity?: The best place I saw this activity was on http://www.lianalowenstein.com/e-booklet.pdf.

Where can others find more information on this activity? This is a very unique activity that I have never seen before, so I don’t know how many other activities are out like this, but I am sure there is more information out on google.

clay sculpture

Activity: Clay Sculpture

Target participant group: Children have the hardest time expressing themselves so the best way to do that is through art.

Therapeutic potential of this activity: This activity helps the child express their feelings and identify them while also increasing their self awareness.

What other groups may benefit from this activity?: Someone with a social disability may express themselves better though art, but may not fully be able to explain exactly what they made and why they made it. It may have to be up to the instructor to figure it out through what they know.

What groups may not be as appropriate for this activity?: Who may not work best with this activity may be older participants. Fine motor skills are going to be needed to fully develop the structure to the greatest ability, and someone may not have that ability, but it would work on their motor skills.

Activity description: Have the child build a sculpture that describes who they are, what they like, or what they want you to know about them. It could be realistic or abstract. Once complete, have the child answer the questions while you write down the answers in a poetic format. Ask these questions…

1.       What do you want to call this (title)?

2.       What feeling each color represents.

3.       What would you say to its/his/her relative, friend, or anyone in its life.

4.       What is the sculptures favorite food?

5.       What/who does it like and not like? Why?

6.       What does it want the world to know about it?

If any other questions come to mind feel free to ask them.  Get creative about how you wrote the poem, and then let the child know they had written a poem. Read it back to them and watch how excited they will be and allow the child to keep the sculpture.

Resources needed: To allow this activity to work properly, you will need colored clay or playdough, paper, and a pen or pencil to write with.

Best leadership style for this activity: The best way for this to work, is to do it one on one with the participant, and also to make a sculpture alone with the child so all the attention isn’t focused on them.

Where did you find this activity?: I found this activity online at http://www.lianalowenstein.com/e-booklet.pdf.

Where can others find more information on this activity? To find more information on this activity I would look closer at the website given, or I’m sure you can ask other people around you what kind of questions you could ask the participant.

photo captioning

Activity: Photo Captioning

Target participant group: Teenagers are a great group to participate since they are constantly looking at magazines.

Therapeutic potential of this activity: Enhancing creativity, having socialization, and increasing self-esteem are just a few potentials of it.

What other groups may benefit from this activity?: Other groups that may benefit would be older adults so that they can get their mind working and thinking of creative things that they can come up with. Even just any adult in general can get something out of cutting out photos.

 What groups may not be as appropriate for this activity?: Younger children may not be that great for this activity since they may not be able to handle scissors very well, and may not understand the activity. If someone was there to assist them with the cutting and helping them come up with a caption it could work well.

Activity description: Have everyone in the group gather around and pick out a photo from a magazine, normal photos taken, or anything with a picture on it. Have everyone go around and come up with a humorous caption for their picture, but you may need to give a few examples before everyone catches on. Once everyone has a photo caption, then go around the group and have each one explain their caption. This can go on for as long as you want or as little as you want.

Resources needed: Things that can have photos in them include magazines, books, even something as simple as normal photos that were lying around the house. Scissors might be needed if you have them cut them out themselves. Pens and pencils will be needed to write down their caption on the front or back of their photo.

Best leadership style for this activity: Floating around while everyone is getting creative really helps you help out everyone in the group. You can help individuals think of captions or give them ideas they could go off of. Make sure you allow time for everyone and not just focusing on one individual.

Where did you find this article?: This article was found on recreationtherapy.com under the Dance, Drama, and Music sections.

Where can others find more information on this activity?: Photo Captioning is quite a simple concept so there really isn’t any more information on this activity. It really is just about looking at photos and using creativity to come up with a caption for it.

Jam Fest

Activity: Jam Fest

Target participant group: Both children and adults with Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities are the main focus.

Therapeutic potential of this activity: This activity increases socialization skills, helps people follow directions, and works on cognitive skills.

What other groups can benefit from this activity?: Anyone that loves to get up and dance can benefit from this activity and can experience the joys of dancing. Whether you can walk, talk, sing, or dance everyone is always welcome to join.

What groups may not be as appropriate for this activity?: Someone in a wheelchair may not be the best participant for Jam Fest since they may not be able to do all the moves that are being copied, but they can still just do whatever they are able to do.

Activity description: Everyone joins in a circle and one by one goes into the middle of it and do a movement. The people that are on the outside of the circle will imitate that movement and when the individual in the middle is ready to move on, they can go back to the outside of the circle and have someone else go into the middle and do their movement. Make sure everyone in the circle has a turn in the middle and you can go around as many times as you would like.

Resources needed: Music and participants are the only ingredients for a fun time in Jam Fest. Space may be needed also to allow enough room for the circle.

Best leadership style for this activity: Leadership may take a role in this activity to make sure that everyone in the circle gets a chance in the middle. Also making sure the music is appropriate for the age group.

Where did you find this activity?: I found this activity while doing a group presentation last semester on dance, and thought it would be really exciting to get around and do that as a group.

Where can others find more information on this activity?: If you go onto google and look up some information, it may be more descriptive and give you ideas for what dance moves you could start with and what music you can play for what generations.

Sing their song = Make a Connection

Activity: Sing their song = Make a Connection

Target participant group: This activity was created for people in Dementia Care.

Therapeutic potential of this activity: Making a connection and engaging someone with Dementia hopefully is the outcome of this singing.

What other groups can benefit from this activity?: Working one on one with someone of any disability is a great aspect for anyone in the world with a disability. There really are no limitations on who can and cannot be benefited.

What groups may not be as appropriate for this activity?: Really everyone is appropriate for this activity, but someone who has difficulties speaking may not be appropriate because they can’t really sing along. This doesn’t mean that they can’t just listen to someone singing to them.

Activity description: Singing is a great way to communicate with someone in a different way, and a great way to keep things okay between everyone when helping with personal care. It brings people out of isolation and can be an activity all in itself. Before you approach someone, make sure you know their personality and what songs mean to them, and which songs have meaning. Then you can just go about and sing along with that person and keep them engaged.

Resources needed: Only resources needed are your voice and then someone to sing with. You can have music to sing along to if wanted.

Best leadership style for this activity: Leading the sing along is the best way to lead this activity. If you don’t start the song, then more than likely they won’t start it unless they are very much engaged. Make sure that you know the songs that the person enjoys and not singing something that someone with dementia doesn’t enjoy or doesn’t know the words too.

Where did you find this activity?: I found this activity online at www.recreationtherapy.com searching though all the different activities they have on that site.

Where can others find more information on this activity?: I don’t think there is much else there is to know about this activity. Most of it is all based off of you and just singing a song that your participant enjoys.

rock painting

Activity: rock painting

Target participant group: Teenagers are a great participating group for this activity.

Therapeutic potential of this activity: Doing this activity can help relax, and increase the attention span.

What other groups may benefit from this activity?:  Younger children can benefit from rock painting, even people in a nursing home can benefit by having it a social gathering. Pretty much anyone can paint a rock and get something out of it.

What groups may not be as appropriate for this activity?: Behavioral problems may not be the best group, but they can still benefit from it, you would just have to watch them close enough and not allow them to throw rocks at other participants.

Activity description: Give each participant a rock of any size, shape, color. Participants may have to share paint between a couple people, but allow the participants to paint whatever they would like on their rock, the possibilities are endless. Different objects can be used for painting such as paint brushes, fingers (just make sure they don’t eat paint unless it’s edible) or different objects around you. Allow the rock to dry once they are finished painting to minimize the smearing.

Resources needed: Different rocks, paint, paint brushes, news paper to not paint on the tables, any objects you would want to paint with

Best leadership style for this activity: The best thing to do is sit back and let the participant paint whatever they would like on the rock, as long as it is appropriate. If they are having a hard time thinking of an idea to get started with, you can give them suggestions that they can go off of or help them think outside the box. Make sure that everyone is safe and not eating the paint or causing trouble.

Where did you find this activity?: I got this activity from something that I have done when I was younger, and I loved being able to express myself and paint whatever I wanted.

where can others find more information on this activity?: I am sure there are a bunch of different websites on google that people can look up for more information, but the activity is pretty laid back and easy to do.

IKAN Bowling

Activity: IKAN Bowling

Target participant group: Pretty much any age group and anyone in a wheelchair can participate.

Therapeutic potential of this activity: This helps with getting to know how your wheelchair works, and is a great social gathering place.

What other groups may benefit from this activity?: Anyone else is able to benefit from bowling, and they don't have to been in a wheelchair to be able to bowl. This activity is just focusing on someone in a wheelchair, but other people with a disability can benefit from bowling also.

What groups may not be as appropriate for this activity?: Someone with a behavioral problem may have trouble with bowling because they do have the potential to end up throwing bowling balls at someone, or causing other things to fly around the room.

Activity description: The IKAN bowler works just like an able-body bowler bowls, where they set up, approach, release, and watch the ball go down the lane. The device attaches to a power wheelchair and with the assistance of a caddy, can bowl alongside anyone else around them. The bowler can control the speed, direction, and timing of the release.

Resources needed: A power wheelchair, IKAN bowler, Universal mount, and a bowling alley are needed.

Best leadership style for this activity: Best leadership style would be to teach the bowler how to bowl using the IKAN bowler, and then just let them practice until they get the hang of it. The best way for them to get better is by practicing, and leading them in the right direction. Keep on encouraging them until they can get used to it.

Where did you find this activity?: I found this activity online at recreationtherapy.com where they have a whole bunch of different ways for therapeutic bowling. IKAN bowl is not the only one out there.

Where can others find more information on this activity?: I bet there is more information out there on IKAN bowl, especially by the makers of this equipment, ikanbowler.com.