These activity plans were written in a step-by-step way to help guide an individual or organization regardless of experience.  They can be utilized by elder care activities directors, volunteers, teachers, or local artists.  Working with artists, but in tandem with elder care facility staff, is strongly encouraged. 

 

The plans are designed to be integrated, connected to local culture, and with an eye towards health and wellness.  Every plan is accompanied by synopses of medical studies to contextualize the art engagement.  Some plans are simple and short in duration, others are more involved and lengthy.  Because each community and group of elders is different, feel free to adjust or modify the plans accordingly.

 

If you were not one of the 1,200 local arts agencies and elder care facilities to receive a copy of the book Sundogs and Sunflowers: Folklore and Folk Art of the Northern Great Plains, upon which these activity plans are designed, or the guided imagery CD set Take Flight and On the Edge of the Wind, contact the NDCA about how to obtain them.

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• A Life Pieced Together with Love: Quilted Greeting Cards
   

• “A Swede from North Dakota”: Setting Poetry to Music
   

• A Thousand Words: Photography of Favorite Places
   

• A Whale of a Tale: Spearfishing Decoys
   

• Acrostics: Creative Writing and Fraktur
   

• Acrostics: Holiday Greeting Cards and Fraktur
   

• Appreciating the Visual Beauty of Preserves: Collage of Color
   

• Appreciating the Visual Beauty of Canning: Watercolor Jars
   

• Bird-shaped Easter Bread: A Tradition of the Germans from Russia
   

• Dalahäst (Dala Horse): Painting and Puzzle
   

• Divination: The Search for Water, Spontaneity, and Self-Discovery
   

• Food for Thought: Fraktur and Decorative Recipe Cards
   

• Foods to Share: The Creation of Social Bonds
   

• “For Me and My Gal”: Wedding Music
   

• From Blueberries to Yellow Onion Skins: Decorating Easter Eggs with Natural Dyes
   

• Geranium Cake: From the Garden to the Table
   

• Growing from the Ground Up: Decorative Pottery and Environmental Folklore
   

• Haiku: Creative Writing and Weatherlore
   

• Healthy Kuchen and the Artful Plate: A Modernized, Healthy Take on a Traditional German-Russian Pastry
   

• I Imagine: Creative Writing, Memories, and the Five Senses
   

• Improvised Mark-Making: The Mobile Painting Device, Repurposed Everyday Tools, and Traditional Dance
   

• In Flight: Creative Movement and Dance
   

• In My Hands: Therapeutic, Self-Help, Hand Exercises for Strength and Dexterity
   

• Light as a Feather: Blind Contour Line Drawing, Abstract Painting, Bird-Related Folklore, and Traditional Music
   

• Medicinal Tea: Teas That Soothe and Heal
   

• Memoirs from Photographs: Creative Writing
   

• Mindful of Crosswords: The Benefits of Puzzles
   

• Mindful of Word Searches: The Benefits of Puzzles

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• Narrative Geometry:  Warli Art and Traditional Games - “What Games Do You Play?”
   

• Narrative Geometry:  Warli Art and TimeSlips Stories – “Lions, Tigers, and Bears … Oh My!”
   

• Narrative Geometry: Warli Art and Animals
   

• No Boundaries: Painting Flowers and Landscapes with Watercolor
   

• “Old World” Christmas: Swedish Dala Painting
   

• Paper Pysanka: Symbolic Representation of Life
   

• Pen Pals: An Intergenerational Exchange for Education and Health
   

• Potlucks: Bring a Dish!
   

• Providing Comfort: The Tradition of Giving Quilts
   

• “School Days, Good Old Golden Rule Days”: Intergenerational Sharing of School Experiences and the Creation of a Memory Desk
   

• Springtime Wanderings: Exhibiting Creative Projects
   

• Symbolic Foods: Making the Everyday Special
   

• Take Flight to Family: Guided Imagery for Health and Healing
   

• Take Flight to Freedom: Guided Imagery for Health and Healing
   

• The Art of the Book: Bookmaking
   

• The Smell and Reminiscence of Fall’s Bounty: The Quilted Pantry
   

• The Storm Hit Suddenly: Blizzard Stories
   

• Thoughtful Puzzles: Creative Word Games
   

• TimeSlips: The Encouragement to Imagine
   

• Tree of Life: Traditional Paper Cutting, Nostalgia, and Life Review
   

• What’s in a Name? An Intergenerational Exchange
   

• What’s in a Word? Word Connections
   

• When the Northern Lights Dance in the Sky: Creative Movement and Dance
   

• “Where I’m From”: Poetry