[For Seniors] Enjoy the Hot Summer to the Fullest! A Collection of Easy Craft Ideas
Summer is the season when we start to sweat more and more.
Even indoors, you may sometimes feel the heat.
However, some older adults seem to have a harder time sensing heat.
This time, we’ll introduce some simple, recommended crafts you can do indoors during the hot season, when outdoor activities tend to decrease.
By creating summer-themed pieces, you can help people feel the season, even if it’s become harder to sense it.
After making them, you can take them home or display them at a facility, which can also give a sense of accomplishment!
Crafting involves fine motor movements of the fingertips and thinking through the steps in your head, stimulating the brain and serving as brain training.
Please enjoy making them at your own pace.
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- [For Care Facilities] Let’s Enjoy the Summer! A Collection of Wall Decoration Ideas
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- [For Seniors] Small craft ideas: for yourself and as gifts!
[For Seniors] Make the Most of the Hot Summer! A Collection of Easy Craft Ideas (211–220)
Seashell mobile
When you think of things that evoke the heat and excitement of summer, the ocean is an essential element.
Let’s make a mobile or hanging decoration inspired by seashells—one of the items that brings the ocean to mind.
We’ll use the unique shape of coffee filters: draw patterns on the filters, moisten them with water, and shape them into seashells.
Letting the colors bleed with water creates a soft, pale finish—that’s the key point.
Once you string them together, your seashell mobile is complete.
With ocean-themed decorations, those fun summer feelings are sure to rise.
Wreath of sea creatures
Let’s arrange the familiar Tanabata ring garlands to create sea creatures! Make sea animals like fish, jellyfish, and octopuses by coloring white paper bags.
Next, craft ring garlands in colors that match the bodies of the sea creatures and decorate with them.
The ring garlands can transform into body patterns, octopus legs, or even seaweed, so you can customize them freely! If you’re decorating a wall, you could imagine an underwater scene.
Since making ring garlands together is lively and fun, why not include this in a day service craft activity?
goldfish
Goldfish are likely familiar to many seniors who once kept them at home.
At summer festivals, you can almost always find a goldfish scooping booth.
Goldfish come in many varieties—red or black, slender-bodied or round.
So why not make goldfish decorations for your wall displays? If you create and put up goldfish in various colors and shapes, you can evoke the atmosphere of a goldfish bowl.
It might even make the wall feel a bit cooler and more refreshing.
Goldfish wind chime
A wind chime that brings a cool breeze in the hot summer.
Let’s make one with a goldfish design! A recommended method uses a round cheese box and a clear plastic sheet.
Take just the rim of the cheese box and decorate it with colored washi paper or similar materials.
Cut a clear sheet to fit the rim and stick on goldfish stickers and other decorative stickers.
Once that’s done, combine it with the rim and attach a string and a paper strip (tanzaku) to finish! If you add a small bell to the tanzaku, you’ll have a wind chime that makes sound.
You can also try other methods, such as cutting a plastic bottle into small pieces or using a capsule from a gashapon machine and drawing goldfish on it.
Give it a try and make your favorite style!
[For Seniors] Make the Most of the Hot Summer! A Collection of Easy Craft Ideas (221–230)
potted morning glory
Here’s an introduction to making a realistic potted morning glory using origami and craft wire.
The finished piece can be displayed in a facility or in a senior’s room! When seniors see a piece they worked hard on displayed in their room, they may grow more attached to the facility.
Through this morning glory craft, we hope they’ll feel lively and positive each day.
Of course, gifting the finished piece is wonderful as well.
There are a few fine details involved, but with staff support, please have fun making it together.
balloon goldfish
How about using traditional origami balloon goldfish as summer decorations? They’re great as an accent for your room’s interior or as hanging ornaments.
There aren’t any particularly difficult folds, so even seniors can try them with ease.
Blowing air into them at the end gives them a cute, three-dimensional finish! Because origami uses fine motor skills, it’s also perfect for finger exercises for seniors and for helping prevent cognitive decline.
You can add round stickers for the eyes, and making them with gradient or patterned origami paper would look lovely too!
lantern
The softly glowing light of lanterns is such a charming sight that illuminates the summer night sky, isn’t it? Let’s try making such lanterns using construction paper or other types of paper! Once finished, they can be used as decorations at home or in public spaces, making them handy for indoor summer festivals.
It’s recommended to use the largest construction paper you can.
Create the part where characters are often written on a lantern and the sections that support it above and below, then assemble them to complete the shape.
Thread a string through it, and you can use it as a wall or ceiling decoration!