Incredible Art & Craft Ideas for Seniors to Kill Boredom
In this day and age, most people resort to technology for entertainment and an escape. Our parents or our grandparents, on the other hand, have a hard time adjusting to these new resorts. They mostly like things the old school way. Easy and fun! Thus, today we have brought some really amazing craft ideas for the elderly, which will be really helpful for elders to kill boredom!
Craft: The Best Way To Kill Boredom Among Eldelry
Craft is fun; it is essential, creative, and, most importantly, an open art with no rule books. Elderly could have the absolute freedom to make just about anything, if they have fantastic craft making ideas.
There is no better boredom killer than craft, especially for the old-adults. The idea of making something with your own bare hands, at your ease and comfort, is just so satisfying. So now, we are going to present fantastic art & craft ideas. We very well have it in our mind that this needs to be simple art and crafts, when it comes to elders. Also, a lot of these ideas are precisely what we have handpicked here.
How Craft Promotes Mental Well Being In Eldelry?
In different studies, it has been found that activities like painting, art, and craft make fair use of the right side of the brain. Also, it involves hand and arm movement, keeping the person (majorly elders) busy and happy, which in turn is very good for health. It is a fact that giving evokes gratitude.
Moreover, let’s look at the nature of the given activities like cooking, baking, knitting, soap-making, etc. We will observe that these activities also involve gratitude, which is very satisfying for mental well-being. It increases the chance of social interaction positively, which boosts confidence and self-esteem. It is said that the act of gratitude strengthens the quality of relationships, physical and psychological health, thereby keeping elders high on energy and upbeat.
Unique Craft Ideas for Eldelry
Below given is a list of easy craft ideas for seniors that would serve the purpose of keeping elders engaged and, at the same time, could help bring some money on the side.
1. Wall Hanging
It is the concrete version of our reflection. The best part about wall hanging is that it can be made of various materials like wooden, paper, scrap, macramé, woolen, beads, bells, metals, crockery plates, etc.
Types of Wall Hanging
– Wooden and cardboard wall hanging
Often in our houses, we have cardboard packs new left in our storeroom. With a paintbrush and palette of color, elders can give it a shape and structure following the taste. Similarly, with a piece of old wood, elders can paint it into the magnolia texture or a Jaipuri art style and then mount it on the beautiful wall. The main trick here is how well you cut each piece of cardboard or a woodblock because the sharp cutting gives your work of art an excellent finishing.
– Macramé wall hanging
When it comes to wall hanging, macramé work is in the latest trend. If one knows the art of knitting, then this is something worth trying, and even if elders do not know, then there are lots of comfortable knot styles available on DIY videos that you can make with your own hands. All that elders will need is a pair of scissors and macramé rope and knitting needles (if elders plan to knit). These are heavily used to make beautiful dream catchers, making a perfect gift for your family members’ birthdays.
2. Decorated Glassware DIY
Glass painting is one of the most attractive art forms. It is not just engaging in terms of design and beauty, but it also keeps you captivated in the entire process of converting a simple glass into your beautiful artwork with subtle strokes of your brushes. All that elders will need is a gesso or acrylic paint kit and a plan in your mind to put it on the glass. If the glass is a plane surface, elders can also choose to place an existing 2D artwork design beneath the mirror and copy the contours through the transparent material. Elders can also choose to go with their creative mind’s flow and make abstract art on existing glassware.
3. Make Soap at home
Who doesn’t like to use natural homemade products to take care of themselves too naturally? Almost everyone does! But the only problem is that several people cannot find time to make homemade products. A homemade soap requires different oil sets like coconut oil, lavender oil, and even raw honey, depending on the fragrance and natural blend one chooses.
The main ingredients are melt and pour base, which can then be converted to a soap, based on three main techniques- like Melt and Poured process, hot and cold process, and re-batching. The freezing process takes a longer time compared to the hot cycle and the other two methods. The melt and pour technique is the easiest of them all. As a beginner, elders should start with a citrus blend or a double butter nourishing soap as they are easy to prepare at home. Natural extracts are also available to require you to use it with one of the homemade soap-making techniques mentioned above.
4. Cakes and cookies
There is a therapeutic value attached to cooking in physical movements, cognitive, and social interaction. It makes a person feel good. When we cook something special and then send it to someone who savors our meal and feel fully satisfied, it is a fantastic feeling. If you are a social bird or want to be one, all you need to know is the special events like birthdays or anniversaries of your neighbors, especially those living in your vicinity far away from their home.
Just note down their favourite flavours, and then one can give them a surprise by baking a cake or making their favourite flavoured cookies. This will make them feel at home and loved, and in return, this gesture of gratitude will give you a great sense of joy and satisfaction that you have made someone’s day memorable. There are various quick and handy recipes for cakes; for instance, a mug cake only requires vanilla or a chocolate essence, baking soda, baking powder, white flour, and refined sugar blend. Mix it all, place it in your microwave and wait for a few minutes until your delicious mug cake gets ready. One can decorate it with buttercream and maybe put it inside a beautiful broad shaped mug with a smiley sticker on it. This will give it a more personalized touch.
5. Handmade Frames
The best parts of our lives are our memories. Although many people now keep a lot of pictures and videos in a digital format, which sometimes get deleted due to limited storage or other technical issues. Therefore, even today, the physical photos and illustrations have more value and aura around them rather than tonnes of digital clicks.
The best way to relive those moments of life is by keeping ourselves reminded through the series of photos mounted on our wall in the most beautiful way possible. One can try their hand at putting the picture puzzle in a beautiful homemade frame. Now one might be wondering how they should make a frame. It is a lot similar to making a wall hanging.
All that one needs first is to decide upon the design of the structure, wooden board’s weight, for which one can get a lot of the latest craft making ideas from the web. The common materials used for making frames are beads, cardboards, and even macramé nowadays. Once the plan and materials are in place, elders need to get the pictures in a physical and readable format. Elders can choose to go in chronological order according to the life and those moments that they cherished the most. If elders have been more of a traveler, they can take a substantial cardboard piece in the form of a country map and paint it like a globe above to pin or paste the pictures from those places.
6. Hanging Shelves
It not just beautifies the space but makes it more orderly. Hanging shelves can be easily made with the help of a rope and wooden board. Elders can opt for colouring it in a way they like. The yarn’s thickness has to be in proportion to the wooden board’s weight and the things elders plan to keep over it. Apart from the string, one can also use fixtures to mount it on the wall, so it doesn’t drop. Hanging shelves can be used to put plants, newspaper holders, kitchen utensils, books, etc. All that elders need to do is overhaul the place and see where they can optimize the space by mounting a homemade shelf.
7. Magnet pebbles
Elders can convert a natural stone into a painting as well. If elders are going for a glass pebble, they can paint it with acrylic color and glitter or go for stone pebbles. Now one might be wondering how to use a stone pebble? Just in a raw stone pebble format? Well, No. One can first paint the stone with latex paint as it is more durable and doesn’t fade away. This will also make it water-resistant, so elders can decorate stone pebbles with captivating designs and maybe place them in an aquarium or a water jar. This will give a natural tint to the place. Moreover, rocks can be used as a paper holder and with flower pots to enhance the overall look.
8. Knitwear
Knitwear is now one of the expensive and trendy looks heavily used by many famous designers. The reason behind their success is the amount of comfort and warmth these knitted sweaters used to give at the same time being wrinkle-free and easy to pack with low maintenance. A recent trend has shown that knitwear is limited to clothing like sweaters or cardigans nowadays; they are extensively used for upholstery or as a sofa cover or a woolen mat.
So if elders know this art or are even interested in knitting, they can make many homemade products and even put them up for sale at a local or even online level. Many customers look for the traditional homemade knitwear designs that have somewhere gone into oblivion these days. If elders have a reasonable amount of time and knitting skills, they should consider going ahead with their talent. The art of knitting is dying, so one can even consider teaching this skill to those interested in learning this art online through platforms like skillshare.
Similarly, there are many ways for elderly to engage with themselves and society at large through art and craft.
Earn Money With Craft Ideas
After a certain age, old-adults become dependent on their younger ones. This sense of dependency sometimes doesn’t come with normal conditions, especially if it is related to finance. So don’t worry! Elders can even earn money by making crafts in their free time and selling it.
Especially in this digital age, either they can consider selling homemade products or, if not selling, elders can share their skills by teaching the art to those who want to learn through various easy to use social media platforms like YouTube or even the newest platforms like Skillshare.
Elderly can utilize their creative neurons and give a physical form to your abstract ideas.
Conclusion
So the aforementioned were the amazing art and craft ideas for elderly. These ideas won’t only help the elders to deal with the boredom but will also make them skilful and financially independent if they want.
At the same time, spending time in art and craft decoration, also keeps the eldelry brain busy. It is like an exercise that keeps them engaged as well as happy. Well! If you’re not around the elderly and want more options to help them ease the boredom, then one can also opt for the professional eldercare services, like us at Emoha. The professionals at Emoha always keep the elder’s health, happiness, and desires on top of their priority list. You can connect with Emoha at 1800-123-445555 or eldersfirst@emoha.com.
