When you are caring for a senior loved one in the winter, you may be thinking about how to keep them busy and physically active. They won’t be able to sled with your kids or even go on a snow hike, but there are tons of other winter activities that your senior can do this year. Older adults must be physically and mentally active during this time of year. It’s crucial for their health. Here are a few ways that seniors can stay active in the winter with the help of home care providers:
Bring Their Garden Inside
Engaging in this pastime reawakens one’s innate affinity with nature and piques interest in all of the senses. Get started with a basic plant first. Indoors, amaryllis bulbs bloom for weeks and are simple to cultivate. One or more indoor window boxes will allow you to grow herbs, low-light plants, and flowers year-round. You may use this method to grow seedlings, which can be replanted outdoors in the spring. Home care can help your senior parent maintain an indoor garden and prepare healthy meals with the herbs they grow.
Start Crafting or Join a Craft Group
Taking part in therapeutic art projects is a wonderful approach to combat the seasonal depression that may set in during the colder months. Depending on their mobility and manual skill, your aging relative may enjoy trying their hand at art forms like painting, ceramics, or clay sculpture. Working on a craft project is one of the nicest things to do when it’s chilly outside. If your senior wants to go out and craft there may be some local groups to attend. Creative endeavors may be undertaken at varying degrees of difficulty, from easy to complex, and always provide an enjoyable task with a rewarding outcome. Utilize your creative faculties and the search engine of your choice to compile a list of simple, low-intensity activities you and your loved one can do together this winter. How do I even begin? Create seasonal or celebratory wreaths as a family activity.
Read Books Throughout the Winter
Why not form a reading club with your elderly relative, consisting of just the two of you? Pick something you can both like reading and commit to spending an hour a day reading and talking about it. This technique may be used for even the shortest poems or every day news articles. Beneficial to the mind, reading may give the elders in your life hours of stimulating thinking and restful enjoyment. The next logical step is a trip to the local bookstore or library.
Keep Going Outside When the Weather Permits
Going outdoors is still attainable for a senior. However, home care may need to help a senior dress appropriately for the weather and decide when it is safe to do so. They will need layers, scarves, hats and gloves. Walking along local trails can be great for seniors who are still mobile. As long as the temperature is mild and there is no snow or ice, seniors can still get outside for walks with the help of home care.
If you or an aging loved one is considering home care in Portage, MI, please contact the caring staff at Fresh Perspective Home Care today. Call (269) 329-4717
Fresh Perspective Home Care is a trusted non-medical senior home care provider in Kalamazoo, Portage, Mattawan, Richland, Vicksburg, Schoolcraft, Three Rivers, Gull Lake, Yorkville and Otsego, Michigan.
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