We have a form to book resources for each week – One person is responsible for filling the form out before the activity. Before we take the bus and leave for Apex Lodge, the group members that are in charge of the week’s activity go and pick up the resources from the service office. Resources are returned on the same day after returning.
There are a variety of resources we can use from the ‘resource catalog’, which makes it easier for groups to plan activities – there is a wider range of things we can do. This even includes books related to cognition, giving the students and teachers more information, and preparing us well for the session. The other resources include board games, card games, drawing utensils, sports games, art and craft tools, musical instruments (safe), etc… All these components contribute to the elderly’s mental health.
The most common activities involve arts and crafts and board games. To be more specific, they involve memorizing, which helps to strengthen neural connections.
Even though arts and crafts and board games are common, the group members can host various activities without repeating them – for example, we’ve done many sessions on arts and crafts, but all of them were different – for instance, we had stencil drawing, origami, etc…
In conclusion, we had enough resources to host a range of activities that the residents can engage in, and we only need to focus on managing them responsibly.