The summer season is undoubtedly one of the best times of the year. You have the opportunity to go on field trips, participate in annual festivals, and indulge in crafting activities. Since the season is not harsh or difficult on the seniors, even something simple such as a walk-in a nearby garden or park will freshen up the mood. If you are looking forward to the summer season with your elderly and happen to be short of activities, give this article a read.
We have listed some awesome summer senior activities, including special arts and crafts, games, recipes, parties, plus making (and eating) foods and snacks! Great for either outdoors or in, if it’s hot. These ideas can be added to anything you might be doing throughout the summer.
General Summer Senior Activities
Themes
There are many themes you can use all season long for your summer senior activities – like parties, crafts, special meals, decorating, etc. Some that come to mind are Butterflies and dragonflies, sunflowers, roses and other flowers, baseball, bees and honey, ladybugs, watermelon, seashells, and fish of all kinds. Later on, in the summer you can include apples and other fruit of your choice.
Gardens
By now whatever gardens you’ve planted are blooming and ready to enjoy. Time to do a little harvesting of herbs and veggies, if you planted any. You may have taken a look at our Spring Senior Activities page where we discussed planning for a butterfly garden, attracting hummingbirds, and attracting songbirds. Some of these steps might still be taken in June. So have a read and see if any of these will enhance what you already have. And give you ideas too for planning for next year. Or have a field trip where you can pick some wildflowers to bring back and put in containers for the home or tables.
Field Trips
Summer senior activities can include some refreshing field trips if your group is able. There are many possibilities…
Japanese Garden
A wonderful outing is visiting a Japanese garden if you have one in the area. They are very serene and conducive to meditation and pondering. Research can be done online, or have an expert come in to help you learn and set it up. Some steps can be taken now, and the rest next spring.
Metal Detecting
This is one of my favorites, and you’d have to see if it’s right for your group. If you prefer, one metal detector can be shared among a few people, taking turns. And it can be easily done by those in wheelchairs too. There are many kinds of detectors, some at quite a reasonable price too.
More Field Trip Ideas
* Native American celebrations
* Heritage celebrations (i.e., Irish, Italian, German, Scandinavian, etc.)
* Historical re-enactment celebrations or state areas
* Carnival or park with an old-fashioned carousel or safe Ferris wheel
* visitor-friendly farms (some give hayrides)
* Antiquing and flea markets
* Baseball games
* Have a tailgate party at a sports event
* Zoos, arboretums, and conservatories
* Renaissance fairs (as well as other local fairs)
* Visit the fire station and learn about their work and the most modern vehicles, (very popular here)
* Paddleboat or pontoon boat outing, any boat trip involving historical areas
* Specialty shows, such as antique cars, and air shows
* Music festivals and outdoor concerts
* Theater in the parks (Shakespeare is popular at this time)
* Art fairs
* Watch an evening meteor shower or Northern Lights
* Berry picking, for those who are able
Parties and Food
Parties and food are given to work into your summer senior activities. You probably already do picnics, barbeques, and so forth.
Gone Fishing Party
Several different summer senior activities can be involved in this one! You have to plan the party, making or getting unique decorations (that can be used many times), making certain easy food items (we provide recipes too), maybe even having a field trip to do some fishing, and of course, having the party! Indoors or out, depending on how the weather turns out.
Haystacks
You may be familiar with the standard brown chocolate and coconut haystacks. But why not add a little color to them. All you need is a bag of white chocolate chips, food coloring, spoons, shredded coconut, and perhaps sprinkles and candy on top. And a platter with wax paper. There are many ways you could tint and decorate them for different occasions.
Melt about a cup of the chips in the microwave. Heat them for 30 seconds, remove and stir. Then heat for 15 seconds, remove and stir. Do this until only a few lumps remain. Let them melt naturally during the last stir (or you may over-cook). Add a drop of food coloring.
Add in coconut until you get a nice, thick consistency. Scoop spoonfuls onto a plate with wax paper. Add sprinkles and candy on top while still soft. As they start to set, you can mold them with spoons (or CLEAN fingers) into the shapes that you want.
Fruit Salad Characters
Ladybugs are an easy theme for summer senior activities, and so are salads. Why not combine the two and create a salad character. They’ll bring a bit of whimsy to your events, parties, and special meals throughout the season.
Crafts
Butterflies
Butterflies are always popular themes for summer senior activities, and one of our readers submitted a wonderful craft on our Share page. Take a look and see what you would like to use them for when finished.
Sunflowers
Sunflowers are one of the easiest flowers to draw or paint. Just a large circle for the middle, and many, many petals radiating out from it. Some sunflowers have 2 layers of petals as well. A favorite activity is using them in a painting, which can be done outdoors in nice weather.
Materials you need are a few colors of acrylics or watercolors, paper or a canvas board to paint on, a plastic picnic type plate for a palette, a water container and rag, and a few brushes. Dip the berry in chocolate. When the dark chocolate has hardened, make melt white chips, and add a couple of drops of yellow food coloring. Top it with candy.
Make a sunflower shape with the template above. Push a kabob skewer through the flower shapes and up into the strawberry. Then just get a vase or mug, fill it with candies or other treats (perhaps sunflower seeds!) and it’s ready. These are colorful for desserts, gifts, prizes, etc.
Shell Crafts
Shells of all kinds make wonderful themes for your summer senior activities. The one shown here was also submitted to our Share forum by a reader. As you can see, they are simple flowers. The middles may be painted, or not. Whatever you prefer. The shell flowers could also be glued onto an artboard with a painted background, collage style. Stems can be made of pipe cleaners or wire; or if a collage, use paint, yarn too.
Other shell crafts involve getting a larger sized flat shell, spreading in a bit of glue and then gluing a layer of sand (as in a beach), and then adding a couple of pearl beads and a small flameless tea light. You may also find free coloring pages online with sea and shell motifs. And you can also use them, or segments of them, to transfer and incorporated into a painting (fun to outdoors).
Easy Sea Themed Centerpiece
Make some centerpieces for your summer senior activities! This one couldn’t be easier. All you need is a tall vase, some blue glass stones, small shells, raffia, a kabob skewer, and craft glue (glue gun works great).
First, glue 2 to 3 stones onto the top of the skewer, about an inch or two down from the point. Set aside to dry. Next, simply fill the vase with a few blue stones. Then insert the skewer, and fill the vase around it with some more stones. (You could also use more shells as filler instead).
Top the point of the skewer with a small shell. Tuck a few strands of long raffia into the stones in the vase. Raffia is reminiscent of seagrass. Lastly, place a few stones in a design around the base of the vase, along with a shell or two.
Conclusion
Although some activities such as a field trip might not be physically possible for the elderly to cover but the point is that you should try a combination of different activities similar to the ones mentioned above to make summers exciting and interesting. If one activity does not fit, move on to another.