Activities at The Warren Care Home

The 1st February kicked off National Storytelling Week, so we invited the Chairman of the Society of Storytelling along to tell us some ripping yarns and some local stories. 

He told us 5 stories, all very different and all funny in their own way. He also played his African harp and his mouth harp too for some extra entertainment.   

Residents loved it and hung on his every word. He even got a round of applause at end too. 

Thank you to Paul Jackson for spending his time with us. 

Who doesn’t like a homemade warm sausage roll?  One of our residents used to work in catering, so she was back in her element making and rolling the pastry. 

We had lots of crockery donated from a local charity, so we turned them into these gorgeous tea cup bird feeders. After lots of sticking and painting, we were done and think they look rather lovely. Now we wait for the birds…

We incorporated two special events into one activity. It was National Chocolate Cake Day, and also as it was within January that we marked Veganuary at the same time. 

We made sweet potato and raspberry brownies as well as chickpea and blueberry blondies. They were so easy to make and were also edible for all residents with any allergies or diabetics, as they were plant-based, whole food, with no oil or refined sugar. They were delicious and we really enjoyed making them. 

We paid homage to the great American painter, Jackson Pollock. We looked into his life and his work and saw how much they were being sold for and where they are displayed around the world. This gave us some great ideas of how to do our own artwork.  We splatted, we drizzled and we brushed. It’s not going to sell for $250 million, but we like it and we all enjoyed creating it. 

Our favourite this month has to have been Australia day; we have many residents with relatives in Australia, so this fitted quite well. 

We decorated the lounge, and our first activity was Aboriginal art. We learnt the symbols they use, the techniques they use and we had some fun making this artwork. They will go on to be used to decorate our visiting suite too as well as some art work from our Sprowston community also.

In the afternoon, we had some live, on-screen entertainment from Rob Thompsett; he played all their favourites, read out personal messages from loved ones and played requests. They all had a fantastic time, and a few of us got up and did the Lambeth Walk too. 

The end of the day was completed with our Australia quiz. There were fun Australia facts, and the winner of the quiz went on to play the box challenge and take the bush tucker trial. They had to guess what was in the box, and if they got it correct, they go on to try the food. They tried gummy snakes, 'chocolate' mice and fried seaweed. Our winner guessed them all and tried them all too.