Paper Crafting, Rubber Stamping, Scrapbooking, and more

I am teaching a monthly Card class to Senior Citizens...

and would love some ideas from all my creative friends out there!

Ideas for types of cards (Birthday, All Occassion, Thinking of You, Get well...) plus holidays?
Techniques?? Should I stick with simple layouts, solid color stamps? maybe pre-printed greetings they can choose for the inside??

Any ideas would be very helpful! I will be teaching monthly, my first class is next week! I want them all to be able to bring home 3-5 cards each month.

Thanks for any ideas!!

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Permalink Reply by Linda McClain on February 24, 2009 at 10:03pm

Hi - I taught some classes at an Assisting Living facility and loved it. Here's what I learned . . .

First of all, they will love, love, love anything you do. One of my ladies was so pleased with the card she made that she taped it to the outside of her door. So - don't sweat it too much and just enjoy it.

For quite a few of them, their eyesite is weak SO they loved bright, bold colors and glitter. Yes - keep it simple with simple layouts and solid color stamps or outline stamps they can color in and with pre-printed greetings. Remember, "scrapbooking/stamping" has only recently evolted into the more advanced techniques. Most of your senior citizens will be more happy with something easy.

3 to 5 cards may be too much. You'll be doing well if you have their attention/energy for an hour. I planned 3, and really, they were pretty much ready to quit by the 2nd card. Ideally, I'd plan for 3 but not be too disappointed if you only get through 2.

Some adhesive dispensers are hard for them to manipulate. They worked best with glue sticks.

Avoid making them use scissors. If you're doing this in a facility, there may be rules against having scissors. (I'm a nursing home inspector in my day job, and we'll 'ding' a facility if there are unsupervised sharps laying around.)

Get some volunteers to help you because they will need a lot more hands-on help. I needed about 1 volunteer to each 3 residents.

I think the project that worked the best was stamping on candles. They stamped an outline image onto tissue paper and colored it in with markers. Then I melted it into the candle with the hair dryer. Just make sure they know they can't burn the candles at the facility, and don't make them operate the hair dryer. Their skin is much more sensitive to heat than ours.

What gave me the most joy was watching a mother-daughter stamp together. So often, when families come to visit, they don't really know what to do with their loved one. Having a camp that both of them enjoyed was a big treat. So, if you can, get advance notice to the family - make sure the facility puts it in their newsletter. Not only was it a joy to watch the mother/daughters stamp together, but the daughters were a big help.

Have fun - you won't regret doing this.

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Permalink Reply by Lauri Ingram on February 25, 2009 at 5:41am

This is great!! I was thinking the same thing....glue sticks, no cutting.....I am so glad you had a wonderful experience!! Thanks again for the ideas and I will let you know how it goes!!

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Permalink Reply by Jan on March 16, 2009 at 11:23am

This is a great idea! I've gone to our local nursing facility a couple times to hold a card class and the resident's loved it!

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Permalink Reply by Lauri Ingram on March 16, 2009 at 11:33am

Thanks! The class I did went very very well! Several of the ladies (I found out that day) are rubber stampers, and one of them embroiders cards as well. They are in the senior center as opposed to a nursing home and most of them drive and are very mobile/active with travelling and all so we did 5 cards in 90 minutes! I am going again in a few weeks and they are very excited about doing some very creative things!

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Permalink Reply by Sherri on March 24, 2009 at 11:46am

I've done cards and other papercraft projects with seniors at nursing homes and assisted living facilities. I am a non medical caregiver and work one on one with clients too. Depending on abilities of my clients, I always have items precut and into kits for groups. I have used my xyron to make stickers out of smaller pieces, such as a flower punchie. Glue sticks work great... Some would have problems holding onto a small glue runner. I will always make a copy of the finished project so residents can see what they are doing, as they work on it. Linda is right... they'll be happy with whatever you create. I even do some basic cards with my Alzheimer clients. Step by step, walking them through it, they can make projects and be so happy with themselves!