Care home residents go wild for 30 days

30 DAYS of wildlife activities have been taking place at an East Midlands care home as part of a nationwide challenge to do something wild every day in June.

The Wildlife Trusts set the 30 Days Wild challenge to raise awareness of the importance of protecting the natural environment.

Residents at Longmoor Lodge Care Home, on Longmoor Lane, Sandiacre in Nottingham, have been creating wild flower arrangements, miniature beach scenes, leaf art, underwater sea paintings, as well as painted pebble ladybirds and hidden them around the garden for others to find.

They have made the most of the sunny weather with ice cream Sundays on the weekend in the home’s garden. A butterfly themed day involved painting butterflies and making butterfly cakes to go with their afternoon tea. And they have been tending to their fairy garden, which includes real grass, a path, bird tables, flowers and a washing line.

Resident Norah Harris said: “I used to love going for a paddle in the sea so it was great fun to make a beach in a bowl. It brought back happy memories.”

Resident Graham Carlisle, who made lavender bags, said: “The smell was lovely. It reminds me of the perfume my gran used to wear.”

There are further plans for leaf crafts, a nature quiz, association word tree game, RSPB sound identifier game, a nature collage and a viewing of David Attenborough’s award-winning Life series. Staff are also planning to hold a wildlife themed Cupcake Coffee Morning Café, in support of the Alzheimer’s Society.

Sarah Day, activities coordinator at Longmoor Lodge Care Home, said: “It has been a wonderful month of sharing my love of nature with our residents.

“Everyone has enjoyed the sensory and tactile aspects of it, which is especially important for people living with dementia.”

Barbara Parkinson, home manager at Longmoor Lodge Care Home, said: “When we learned of The Wildlife Trusts’ 30 Days Wild challenge, we thought it was a great opportunity for our residents to get involved.

“Using the activities calendar sent by The Wildlife Trusts, our residents have been able to take part in a new activity every day in June and they’ve all been a huge success.

“We have been making the most of the lovely weather with the use of our garden and organised a wide range of indoor activities that have encouraged residents to use their minds with quizzes and games, their fine motor skills with painting, bead threading and leaf art and sparked happy memories of walks with family members and trips to the beach.

“Although the 30 Days Wild challenge is coming to an end soon, there will be further outdoors themed activities throughout the summer and the rest of the year, as they enjoyed by everyone at Longmoor Lodge.”