Over the Easter period, residents, family, friends and colleagues enjoyed our new arrival of chicks with the help from Incredible Eggs. We shared pictures and videos of their new adventure into the world and tamed them with physical interaction and getting them to eat and drink over the course of a week. Residents and staff enjoyed some pet therapy with the chicks and it was lovely to see so many people pop past their cage during their visits to our home, especially over the busy Easter weekend. 

The 13th April is the day that Alfred Mosher Butts was born, the inventor of Scrabble. The game that is played across the world full of strategy by using double letters, double words or more importantly triple words to create the highest score! Our residents enjoyed a Scrabble Competition where each team played for 15 minutes then changed over to continue building their individual scores. It was lovely to get so many involved and we ended with scores ranging between 179 to 77. Some residents got a real mix of letters so it was brilliant to see them creating words and scoring points, no matter how small. We have decided this type of game play will be nice to do regularly but with 30 minute time slots to give residents a little more time to warm into the game. 

We decided to raise some awareness about Brain Tumours and the research done by Brain Tumour Research. We talked about how brain tumours can affect any person at any age especially those under the age of 40, including children. It is a devastating disease which affects the whole family including friends and there is a lack of funds for brain tumour research. It is really important to be aware of the symptoms but these can also be related to other conditions. We also discovered that some residents family/friends have suffered with this disease. We incorporated some history and learning about different types of hats through the decades which was interesting especially the facts behind some styles and helping to reminisce about the days when hats were worn more often when out and about. Our residents ask everyone to remain focused, aware and in the beautiful sunshine remember to wear your hats! 

We really hope everyone enjoyed their celebrations for St Patrick’s Day. Residents got creative making Irish paper chains, rainbow paper plates with a pot of gold and the masterpiece where many residents contributed to the collaborative mindfulness shamrock which is on display in the home. We even travelled to Ireland in our Travel Club, learning about and exploring Ireland and/or reminiscing for those that have been lucky to visit before. Some really beautiful landscapes and places to see. There’s even been some St Patrick’s Day themed bingo to finish off the celebrations and residents will be enjoying some Guinness.

For Nutrition and Hydration Week we tried to work on our own nutrition and hydration by making a selection of different flavoured smoothies. Our residents cut and chopped the ingredients, put them in the blender and mixed the different options to make different smoothies for them all to try and then rate the flavour and taste. We created a Pineapple Cucumber Smoothie as the cucumber makes it extra hydrating. We created a Banana Peanut Butter Smoothie and surprising this was a real favourite (for peanut butter lovers) so we would suggest making it with the simple ingredients Banana, Milk, Creamy Peanut Butter and Ice Cubes and let us know your thoughts! Another favourite was Baileys Raspberry Smoothie and it was rather delicious. 

We hope that everyone enjoyed a Pancake or two for Pancake Day. Residents enjoyed Pancakes with a variety of toppings from syrup, some fruit to the usual sugar. We also read and worked through the activity book about Pancake Day, giving some history and some activities to do. Other residents enjoyed Pancake colour by number.