Art Activities and Ideas for Dementia in Residential Care Homes - Twitter

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Click HERE to connect with all things to do with art, Dementia, Alzheimers and art activity ideas in residential homes in the UK, USA and Europe.

Bonus FREE COLOURING SHEETS can be found here sometimes! Keep one eye on our Twitter Account for exclusive pictures to print out  colour and keep.

An art collaberation with Annie who has Mixed Dementia

Annie has mixed dementia and is residing in a home in Buckinghamshire.

The painting we made took her on a journey, the route was via her childhood where she spoke of picnics, running through fields and family holidays.

How wonderful it is to share these memories with someone I don't know, some one I have only just met.

Research shows that singing and music can access the sub conscious where memories lie dormant.
I believe that art can do the same.

By stimulating conversations and journeying through the work we collaborate to make, we can reach a magical thread of conversation…

Photo credit lynnedjones 2014

Ideas for Art with The Elderly & Dementia - Join us on Facebook!

Join us on Facebook for exclusive ideas and projects for art with the elderly and those with dementia.

Sometimes we post deas on Facebook before this blog.

We will be providing ideas and insights into working with people in residential homes and also for people with learning difficulties.

Our free colouring sheets also act as conversation starters taking the participants on a whole journey…but that is another story.

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Click here and you will be redirected to our Facebook page.

FREE COLOURING SHEETS TO PRINT OUT FOR ACTIVITIES for the elderly, dementia and alzheimers activities

Drawing, colouring and painting helps stimulate memories and conversation when doing activities with the elderly and people with memory loss, Alzheimers and Dementia.

These colouring sheets and print outs are lovingly hand drawn by Art With The Elderly just for you to print out and use as many times as you like.

Please join us on Facebook or Twitter to keep up to date with creative ideas and information to help with your daily art activities with Dementia and Alzheimers sufferers.

Print out and keep the images below. We hope you enjoy it.

Alzheimers and Art - My Video full of ideas!

Where my journey as an art practitoner began…

Back in 2010 I took part in THE BIG DRAW and volunteered with Sunrise Senior Living in Beaconsfield.

I learned so much during these few weeks.

Art is not just art when you work with people who have memory loss, it is a gateway, an activity, a conversation...

Here is a video of the drawings and paintings we produced.

Free colouring sheets for elderly people! Roses!

Here is another FREE colouring sheet to print out and use in your residential care home or day centre.

These sheets are great to use for those with Dementia or Alzheimers Disease.

Although I am based in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire UK, I have just realised that many of my views are coming from Australia, Norway and the USA.

I have had many emails suggesting that I make a book of designs for adults to enjoy and colour in so I am looking into this.

In the mean time please enjoy this image of a Dog Rose I have drew this morning especially for you  to print out and use.

Fyi the rose was a pretty pink with the petals turning from pink to white as they reach the centre of the flower.

Art is a wonderful thing - Even as a spectator!

Sometimes when I go to an art session I draw the people I work with.

When Alzheimers or mixed dementia is well settled into the person that lives with it they almost become a spectator in life.

When I see this I talk to them and draw…

Other residents watch the process as they wander and walk around.

Here is an example of some of my work. These 20 minute drawings are on A4 cartridge paper and coloured loosely with watercolour.

You can see more portraits here on my Facebook page.

If anyone has any suggestions about what drawing pages you would like me to make next please get i touch or leave a comment below.

Art With The Elderly is based in and around Buckinghamshire providing art sessions for elderly people in residential homes and day centres.

FREE COLOURING SHEETS for the elderly and those with dementia! CATS!

These colouring sheets are free for you to use for your residents in care homes or loved ones with alzheimers or dementia. 

If possible please could you either share this blog, comment below or subscribe. It would be amazing to know where in the world my blog is read. At the moment people in the USA are the biggest readers of Art with the Elderly, closely followed but the UK and Norway!

Thank you for visiting. Please check back for more FREE colouring sheets for adults.

FREE Colouring Print out -Activities for the Elderly & Dementia

Watch this space…in the next few days I will posting FREE hand drawn colouring sheets to use in your residential home or workshops with the elderly and those with dementia. Please comment if you would be interested in receiving some for free...

You can now find these print out sheets by clicking HERE 

Hope you enjoy them! There will be more added on a regular basis.

Spread the word!

ART - An introduction to working with new people with Dementia

I have recently started a placement at a residential home in Tring.
When starting to work with new people it takes time to became familiar with them. Even though, because of dementia, they may not necessarily remember you from the previous time you met it is your own familiarity with them that makes the art session work so well. This was the first time I had spent time with this lady.

The portrait above I drew while we talked and became acquainted, this drawing took around 30 minutes, by the time I had finished she was open to painting and made the art work below. She painted for around 15 minutes.

I look forward to my next visit...

ART WITH THE ELDERLY

ART can be used to help people with dementia.

As an artist and art practitioner I find that art is a way of helping people with dementia tap into their subconscious and improve memory recall.
Often while painting people will remember something they did when they were younger that they couldn't recall before and for that moment the memory exists and becomes part of the creative process. My main objectives within art sessions are to stimulate conversation, improve fine motor skills and lift the spirits of the people that attend.

My local Alzheimers Society have recently started a new Dementia Cafe and I am very happy to run a regular art session for them which is very rewarding.

I began running art sessions in 2008 when a member of my family moved into a residential home. I now work freelance with Sunrise Senior Living, Care UK and other independant residential homes providing regular art sessions and one off cover sessions.

Lynne D Jones-Field  

Ba (hons) MA

WWW.ARTWITHTHEELDERLY.COM

NEWS FLASH!

We are happy to announce that Lynne will be working with The Alzheimers Society in their new Dementia Cafe in Chesham. The cafe will be situated in the Town Hall at Chesham on the last Thursday of every month.
The cafe starts on Thursday 31st May 2012 and runs from 11.00 - 1pm. It will have a creative space which will be run by Lynne and last approx one hour. We will be concentrating on the theme of tea, coffee and  biscuits and we may end up using some of the art work for the dementia cafe logo! This is very exciting!
Here are some tea cup paintings that were created in Catherine Court residential home in High Wycombe.

Practitioner says art helps those with dementia

Posted by Jo-Anne Rowney on Mar 16, 12 12:00 PM in People

ART can be used to help people with dementia and Alzheimer's, an artist working with a residential home in Beaconsfield has said.

The art practitioner says art is a way of helping people with dementia tap into their subconscious.
She said: "You can't be too structured, especially with dementia patients, which is why art works so well.
"Often they'll remember something they did when they were young that they couldn't recall before."
She added: "One man was very anxious, but once he started copying some Van Gogh he relaxed.
"For borderline dementia patients there's this total immersion. It's like a coffee break - it's an escape where people are more than their condition."
Lynne Jones began running art classes with Sunrise in 2008 when her mother-in-law moved into the home and is hoping to offer more people a chance to paint and draw.
Since then the class has expanded to Denham White Plains and Catherine Court in High Wycombe and Lynne is working with the Alzheimer's Society to open an art cafe in Chesham next month.
Doreen Wilkins, 71, has been coming to the classes for three years. She said: "It's very relaxing, and there's quite a camaraderie with the other people.
"It gets me out of bed and it's calming because I just have to think about what to paint."
Daphne Hansen, 89, who moved into Sunrise six months ago, said: "Being in a wheelchair I can't always do the activities at the home, so the art class is a great way of escaping from everything and just painting."

Self portraits, memories...

I was invited to do a one off cover session with some very nice people at a residential home in Denham a couple of weeks ago. It is always lovely to meet new people and have an activity like art to use to engage with them. We started by making some of the Valentines Sticks (see below) to break the ice. I was delighted at how quickly these people worked and how happy they were to take part.
One of my favourite things to do is to draw on blank postcards, this excercise is meant to encourage memories by drawing self portraits, this sparks conversation which makes the art session even better. I learned so much about these 6 people in this one off session which was one and a half hours long.
This is how we got on...

Making a Mural!

We are having a super time at Catherine Court in High Wycombe. We have started a project to cheer up the dining room/activities area. As the area has alot of windows I decided to paint a tree between them to give us some background to stick our weekly art work onto. I have found that in my experience alot of elderly people really enjoy painting birds, flowers, animals, also insects and most things to do with nature. These topics spark conversations about their lives and their memories...scroll down to see how our active mural is progressing...

I love the way the hanging butterflies animate the scene.
The flowers below will be added to the mural when they are dry.

Contact Details...

This blog is a continuing visual story of art made with elderly residents in Buckinghamshire, specialising in art and dementia.
For more information please call
Lynne Field
07528 338 099

Bringing the outside in!

We decided that it would be a nice idea to bring the outside a bit closer and paint a tree on the wall.
The painting could then serve as a background for our weekly projects.

It is wonderful to bring the outside in and make a space for colour and things that remind us of woodlands, holidays and lovely days out.

So far we have made birds of paradise, butterflies and leaves of different shapes and sizes (not shown). Some of these items will be stuck to the wall and some will be hung with transparent thread so that they can move and the whole area can start to feel a bit more animated.
What fun!
The residents also really enjoyed watching me paint the tree on the wall.

A healthy start to the new year!

After all the celebrations and good eating over the Christmas holidays we thought that it would be good to start the new year with something healthy. We painted fruit with watercolour and cut them out, they were then laminated and stuck to the wall in the activity area. I also made a fruit bowl to contain them.

And a Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

A Round up of Jolly Christmas Art!

Here is a brief pictorial round up of art that I made with and for residents in Care homes in Buckinghmashire. It all makes home a happier place :-)