Cinnamon Activities Energised, Active, Connected, Happy
Activities are an essential part of life in all Cinnamon care homes, allowing us to ‘make a difference’ every day.
Every month, our dedicated Activities Team offer hundreds of imaginative, original activities that are carefully tailored to match each resident’s interests and abilities.
During the early stages of moving in, our teams carry out a life history exploration of our new resident which is all part of the getting-to-know-you phase learning about their hobbies and interests, family and relationships, past work-life and religious and cultural beliefs.
The Seven Branches of Cinnamon Care Activities
Cinnamon’s approach to activities is based on our whole-person approach. By tailoring our services to meet the unique physical, social, and emotional needs of our residents, we ensure that each day is filled with purpose and meaning. We do not take an umbrella approach to caring for someone living with dementia. The experience is unique. Our programme uses a combination of our residents’ life stories and our Seven Branches of Cinnamon, ensuring that each and every resident is comfortable, cared for and celebrated in their own individual way.
Care Home Activities
An activity is anything that a resident looks forward to in a day. Our social circle of interaction is most comfortable in groups of two to six and we strive to offer activities in small, meaningful groups as well as larger get-togethers.
Community Groups
Our community group events are open to all our local community members, offering a friendly place to relax and enjoy complimentary refreshments and make new friends in our Cinnamon care home.
Join in the emotional intergenerational groups such as the Little Muddy Boots Club which provides nature classes to residents and children from the local community. Other groups include the Mornington Warblers community choir, proven to bring happiness and improve wellbeing and spark joyous moments from the past.
Daily Activities
With so many activities to choose from including baking clubs, wine tasting, reading and arts & crafts clubs, to gardening and grow-your-own clubs there’s plenty of pastime activity into which you can immerse yourself.
Or simply relax the mind to the soothing tones of a talented harpist, enjoy the vocals of our visiting vintage Jazz vocalist or be entertained by the local school choir group. Enjoying leisure time is easy in a Cinnamon care home.
DrumFit
DrumFit’s unique music, memory and motion classes are an exciting way to get the body moving whilst listening and playing to your favourite music. It helps replenish muscle loss due to aging, improves coordination and most of all it is FUN!
All About You Journals
This is an ongoing and very powerful one-to-one activity between our resident and a team member. The All About You Journals are a guided recollection of memories, thoughts, anecdotes and experiences that have made you the person you are today. By documenting your story it is a reminder that your story matters and is a celebration of who you are.
Celebrating Cultures
Enjoy a month-long celebration of the wonderful cultures of the world around us with fun activities and tasty cuisines from the four corners of the globe.
Strictly Cinnamon
We love a good song and dance at Cinnamon, our residents and teams included. Join us for a dance competition like no other between our Cinnamon care homes, as we celebrate the wonderful world of dance in the Strictly Cinnamon competition!
The Together Project
A fantastic intergenerational activity with registered charity The Together Project, it pairs residents with local schoolchildren through a monthly arts and crafts exchange to help combat social isolation, provides a sense of purpose and contributes to the child’s development.
Each monthly activity is shared via post between our resident and their pen-friend.
Outings & Daytrips
One of our residents’ favourite events is our regular fun outings and daytrips to places of personal interest as well as new venues to explore.
From theatre tours, boating on Southampton Water, farm and country visits in the local community to taking part in National events to name just a few, there’s so much going on in a Cinnamon care home near you for all to enjoy.
Specialist Dementia Activities
Group activities are a fantastic way for people with dementia to socialise with each other, giving them an opportunity to talk, reminisce and share experiences, which will have a huge impact on their emotional wellbeing.
Why Daily Activities and Routines are Important for People with Dementia
* As dementia progresses, a person will find it more difficult to focus and will struggle with learning new things.
* Routine provides a sense of control over the day and environment, especially for those in the early stages of the disease. For those in the end stage of dementia, many of these activities are often one of the few ways they can still engage their memories and communicate.
Principles of dementia activities
- Use of everyday experiences as an activity – for example, afternoon tea.
- An understanding of what activities each person in the dementia community currently enjoys or did enjoy in the past, to be identified at assessment and subsequent meetings with the family, and a plan to provide some of these.
- An understanding of what items a person connects with, for example, a typewriter or a doll, hats, scarves, mementos of a cruise, and the provision of these to the team.
- Reminiscence groups to evoke memories and stimulate mental activity, i.e., looking back and discussing important events through the decades.
- One-to-One Reminiscing using the All About You journal.
- Therapeutic & Sensory Activities, i.e., Music Therapy, Singing for the Brain, Memory Choirs, Pet Therapy, Beauty Therapy, Aromatherapy.
- CST – Cognitive Stimulation Therapy.
Working with volunteers
Our external volunteers bring joy, extra skills, enthusiasm and ideas into the home for our residents to enjoy. Our volunteers include:
- Family and friends of residents
- Children from local schools who dedicate their time to read to residents
- Students who are looking to study further in social care
- Retired carers
- Local churches and other community organisations
Supporting charities
Supporting different charity groups provides a sense of purpose and structure to our lives. Our residents join with our home teams to raise awareness and funds for causes which may be personal to us or of particular interest.
Discover the difference for yourself – we’d love to meet you!