Social Distancing Activities

Hallway Connections Social Distancing Activities You can never have enough options to create interest-based programming during current social distancing requirements. The following are a few more ideas to help you plan alternatives that meet the needs of those you serve. Hope you find them helpful. Hallway Meditation – Restricting contact can cause anxiety and stress for residents. Meditation is a proven strategy to help cope with anxiety and stress, and doesn’t have to be limited because of physical distancing. Consider creating an ambiance in your hallway by using an essential oil diffuser or electric/battery operated candle lights. Courtesy of Compass on the Bay Hallway Trivia – Get those minds working with a friendly competition of trivia! You can assign residents to teams or have residents play individually. Pass out slips for residents to write their responses on and, at the end of each round, have them share their answers out loud. For an ongoing event, turn this into a weekly tournament and keep the scoreboard in the hallway for residents to see. Courtesy of Acoya Mesa Hallway Never Have I Ever – This is always a fun one and can sometimes have a lot of shock value. It is a good way for residents to get to know each other and is very entertaining to see how residents respond! This activity is also a great way to tie into reminiscence activities. Residents can sit in their doorways and you can give them three items to use as their “fingers”. Some items that are good for all to see include paint sticks, straws, or flags. Courtesy of The Heights on Huebner Hallway Horse Racing – It’s off to the races! Set the horses up on a table in the hallway, making it visible to all residents. Pass out disposable money for residents to bet with and give the winner a prize! Courtesy of Five Star Quality Care Hallway Car Racing – Use remote control cars to allow residents to compete with one another. Residents that are not racing, can be spectators and wave checkered flags. Ask staff to dress up and announce the race. Yorktown Manor Hallway Mario Kart – This hallway activity brings Mario Kart to life! Tie balloons to a remote control car (or a few depending on the size of your hallway) and select a resident(s) to control the car. Then, pass out Nerf guns to the remaining residents whose goal is to shoot the balloons. The way to win? Shoot each balloon at least once! It is recommended to use different color balloons to help identify this or put a non-toxic washable substance on the nerf gun tips to see where they hit. Courtesy of The Commons, United Methodist Communities Hallway Sing A Long – This evergreen activity is one of the easiest hallway activities to execute. The best part of this activity is that it lends itself to so many variations, ranging from spiritual hymns to hosting an American Idol-like competition. Other creative variations include show tunes, broadway songs, or even nursery rhymes. Courtesy of Greenwood Nursing & Rehabilitation Hallway Drumline – This activity idea is not only therapeutic by relieving stress but allows residents to work on their musical talents. You can use plastic bins, or create your own using packing tape or large balloons on tin coffee or paint cans. You can also add other musical instruments to your hallway band such as tambourines, harmonicas and symbols. Courtesy of JEA Sycamore Place – Free Trivia download is available on source site Source: https://eversoundhq.com/blog/10-hallway-games-for-physical-distancing-that-arent-bingo/ Bingo with a Twist Pre-filled Bingo Cards – One way to ensure residents can still play bingo is to give residents pre-filled numbers along with several blank bingo cards. These can be left with residents to be completed by a certain time. At that time, circle back and give out prizes to winners.   Host Hallway Bingo – Best hosted in small blocks, this type of format allows residents to hear each other and helps keep the competition lively! This format most similarly reflects a normal group bingo game, with the host sitting in the center of the hallway block and pulling out numbers. We recommend keeping your set-up on a cart for ease of use between room blocks and to act as a small table. Using TV Dinner stands, set residents up near the edge of their doorway with a chair and bingo chips that can be disposed of or easily sanitized.  Bingo Roulette – This type of bingo is great for residents who are room bound. Give each resident multiple bingo cards. Then have residents choose their luck by pulling number cards from a set of bingo cards. Residents can select up to 20 cards. We recommend using several bingo decks for this format. If there is no winner after the first 20 cards, have residents keep pulling until there is a winner. You can also shuffle the cards and deal each resident cards. Note: Cards should not be reused nor shared between residents. Telephone Bingo – Do your residents have access to a cell phone? If so, this bingo may be your community’s new favorite way to play! First, have residents who want to participate share their phone number. Be sure to check with your community for any rules around privacy and consent. Once you’ve collected every participant’s phone number, create a group chat. If your residents are conscious about texting charges, try a free app like Whatsapp or GroupMe. Next, pass out bingo cards to each participant. Call numbers as you normally would, but instead of yelling it out, share the number via text. Play until you find a winner! Variation: Use free conference call lines and have each resident dial in. Often, you can secure the same line and meeting code number to make execution easier. If so, print out copies of the number and meeting code and share with residents with a schedule of what time they can call in! Live-streamed Bingo – Do your residents use Facebook? If so, use Facebook Live to announce numbers to residents! Facebook Live is an easy feature that allows you to broadcast on your page for free. For a more private option, use Zoom or Google Hangouts. Both of these video conferencing platforms are free to use with restrictions. Residents can download either app to their smartphone or tablet to participate. While this may require a bit of work upfront to get residents set-up, it allows your team to minimize the number of disruptions in your routine by offering Bingo from the comfort of residents’ rooms! Best part? Through this feature, residents can talk and see one another. We recommend keeping it to smaller groups until you and your residents feel comfortable. Check source link below to see videos of these ideas in different facilities. Sources: https://eversoundhq.com/blog/physical-distancing-bingo/   https://naap.info/covid-19-activity-resources/ Have a topic request or question for Celeste? Send them over to celestechase@activitydirector.org Our NAAPCC Courses for Certification NAPT36hr National Activity Professionals Training –   New Class Format Completely Online, No Practiums, Interviews or Traveling www.ActivityDirector.org – 1.888.238.0444   One Course, One Board Exam, One National Certification – Enroll and Begin Anytime American Healthcare Association’s Shelter in Place: Planning Resource Guide for Nursing Homes Keep Residents, Staff and Family Members up to date with this blank Covid-19 Newsletter Template. Made simply for your convenience: Step 1: Click on Button below Step 2: Fill in sections with your info. Step 3: Hit print or email.

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