Hi, I too have just started as an activity coordinator at a care home, the residents have mixed physical and mental abilities. I spent a week observing the personal care routine timetable so I had an idea of the times needing to be filled, I worked out that we have four time slots which need to have activities organised. I always start at 10am looking at the days headlines, this always generates a bit of discussion and keeps them in the current news loop, we then do a crossword together before they have their morning tea/coffee. We then have an hour before lunch, 3hrs after lunch and the eve time. A pianist volunteer comes every Monday for a singsong, the hairdresser comes every Wednesday, we always have a trip out either tues or thurs, this week we went to the riding for disabled where they have a wonderful viewing gallery, I took tea/coffee and they enjoyed watching the lessons for an hour. I've taken in the wii, this was really good, I've bought a wii puzzler which i think will be very good. i do an exersize routine on a friday based around the 'use it or loose it'. we make soup, bake and decorate cakes, we made a birthday board, do hand massages, sensory bags, balloon tennis using fly swatters, hoopla, skittles, parachute with balloons, I have a group of children come in once a week to play games, this is their favorite time of the week, the more able residents give them snack and juice. I have local charities coming to do talks and show slides, (history groups, schools, guide dog association) I have a lady going in today to read to some of them. Next week we are starting a project about their wedding day so we have asked family to bring photos and any info they have so we can make personal posters of their day, we'll have talk time to discuss their proposal/dress/food/service/honeymoon. This could also be done around their career, school, family, the list is endless and they love sharing their life stories. Pinterest is a great website. We have organised firework night with a few children coming and the residents will make cakes for them. We will also make poppy garlands for remembrance day and watch the service. so all these sort of things get slotted around the hour before lunch or the few hours after.In the evening I leave DVD's for them to watch or sometimes I manage to get volunteer musicians to come and play to them. They like Andre Rieu, nature programmes, little house on the prairie, charlie chaplin, Laurel & Hardy and all the classics. all of this though is very time consuming and I have difficulty staying within my contracted hours so its vital to find volunteers and get staff involved, this isn't always easy as their time is usually stretched but I'm finding the more willing and hard working I am, the more they look to get involved and they have started coming to me with ideas now which is fantastic. The carers working at our care home do a wonderful job. I hope this helps and I too would appreciate any other ideas from other coordinators.
