Crafts for the Elderly
Self-expression is a lifelong need, no matter what age or ability. Crafting and simple art projects fulfill that need, despite diminished abilities. Although craft books abound, specific instructional books for elderly and physically challenged individuals are hard to find. For the activity professional, or for the home crafter looking for simple projects, this book fills that need.
The Key Elements for a Successful Arts and Crafts Program is worth reviewing for even the most seasoned craft leader with clear outcomes and expectations for leader, participants, and volunteers. The importance of volunteers is emphasized. Maybe crafts for the elderly were thought of as siblings to crafts for the mentally challenged, or maybe crafts for the elderly meant—since the elderly were completing the circle of life and returning to regressed stages—that only that which children were allowed to handle was acceptable for the patients in an elder care facility.
Times have changed along with people, and crafts for the elderly are much more “advanced”…they are, too, as varied in medium and message and skill level as the individuals are. Some elders still work as jewelers, making jewelry, for instance, while others still quilt, knit, and crochet. Many enjoy finely detailed needlepoint. Others sew. Elders make clocks, build birdhouses, craft workshop items such as dolls and toys. And why can’t crafts for the elderly also include arts for the elderly? My mother paints in oils and watercolors; my friend who is retired restores antiques. Other elders I have worked with in memoir-writing workshops have continued to write and make their own books (the hand sewn kind) but have also published their own memoirs with small presses. In addition, some have made planters and plant terrariums, while others have done decoupage and wood-burning projects that have yielded family trees, poems, and images as gifts and honors for their loved ones.
But many of our so-called elders are still as active and engaged as they ever were, so they need not be limited to our idea of crafts hour in the rec room. The idea is that the elderly should continue to do what they did, what they love to do, and whatever they can do to keep their minds and souls healthy and happy. If that means rejecting a popsicle stick for a paintbrush, all the better! |
