Memory Garden July Look Back
What a great fun packed summer we’re having here at Memory Garden. The weather was perfect for our 4th of July picnic in the Louis Ferreri Memorial Park. Our residents enjoyed grilled hot dogs, beans, chips and strawberry shortcake. In addition, we had a 4th of July party complete with patriotic music, brownies and a rousing game of pong (try to bounce the ping pong ball into one of six cups).
On National Strawberry Sundae Day, we naturally held a strawberry sundae social. Resident participation was high as we devoured our sundaes to the crooning tunes of Dean Martin. The monthly birthday party was loads of fun with cake, ice cream and beanbag toss set to some classic country songs. We celebrated Christmas in July, complete with melted snowman cookies and chocolate milkshakes (It’s just way too hot in July for cocoa!). The residents participated in a dice game and everyone won a prize to unwrap! We of course sang some Christmas songs and had a blast with our Christmas in July photo booth wreath. It was a great weather day for National Hot Fudge Sundae Day, so we enjoyed our sundaes out in the courtyards.
Cindy Sue performed a concert in the Louis Ferreri Memorial Park, leaving everyone smiling wide and singing along. It was so great to have a live performance again!
On National Milk Chocolate Day we had a chocolate fondue party. The residents dipped a variety of foods in the melted chocolate, including fruit, pound cake, and marshmallows, just to name a few.
Our crafters came together and decorated some beautiful flowers made out of plastic pop bottles, to hang in the courtyards. We also made some patriotic chalk art on black paper to add to our 4th of July festivities. We baked some delicious brownies and served them up warm with a scoop of ice cream and a drizzle of chocolate syrup on top.
For our take out lunches we enjoyed great food from Applebees on one day and Honest John’s on another day.
As often as possible we’ve been getting out for walks and golf cart rides around the well maintained Louis Ferreri Memorial Park, occasionally catching glimpses of wildlife. Tuesday afternoons the library cart is taken around to all the residents, offering up a variety of books for them to borrow.
Patrick Walsh leads our residents in a session of chair yoga on Thursday mornings, guiding them through gentle stretching exercises. On Thursday afternoons, Mary Schmidt joins us for “Music with Mary”, leading the residents in music related activities such as sing alongs, karaoke and music games.
We tried a fun new game this month called skee ball. Players have to roll a ball over a ramp, trying to get it into one of four bowls with differing point values. We also played table bowling which is basically miniature bowling played on a long table top.
The residents had a great time playing “Kazoo Name That Tune”. The first few notes of a song are hummed through a kazoo and they have to either name that tune or sing the next line. We usually end up having a fabulous time singing the whole song together.
We of course revisited some of our favorite games, such as kickball (kick a ball back and forth while sitting around a big circle), cornhole (tossing a beanbag into the hole on the game board), balloon volleyball (try keeping all the balloons in the air by batting them back and forth to each other), ring toss, penny toss, bowling and bingo. The residents also enjoyed a competitive game of shuffleboard as well as bounce and catch (while sitting in a large circle, bounce the ball to each other).
On National Mutt Day we played some dog trivia and other dog related games. Another fun trivia game we played is Food Jeopardy, with all questions being, of course, food related.
The 7-Up card game is always a big hit (Players are dealt 7 cards face up and a card is drawn from a second deck. If it matches a players card they turn their card over. The first to turn over all their cards wins.)
The residents also enjoy listening to relaxing music while painting with watercolors or doing coloring pages.
Bringing out the white board, we put on our thinking caps for games like: Name 10 (try to name as many items as possible in a given category), Word-in-Word (how many small words can you find within a bigger word) and Rhyme-Time (how many words can you think of that rhyme with a given word). We also enjoyed a creative game of Pictionary (be the first to guess what’s being drawn on the board).
Our residents have been taking great care of the pumpkin patch, weeding and watering it regularly. The plants are huge with lots of blossoms and even a few baby pumpkins starting. Stay tuned we’ll see what next month brings!
Summer’s in full swing and we’re making the most of it, looking forward to more outdoor events and entertainment in August. Let’s hope for plenty of sunny days everybody!
If you have any questions or comments for upcoming activities, please contact Margaret Wright, Memory Garden Activities Coordinator at (716)488-9434 ext 2226, or email at MWright@tanglewoodmanor.com.
