Art therapy is a wonderful resource that can help seniors find emotional healing and personal growth. Creating artwork is a form of self-expression, allowing seniors to process negative emotions constructively and share their stories with their loved ones. This can be especially impactful for seniors who are affected by dementia, aphasia, or Parkinson’s since it provides a non-verbal form of communication with which they can express themselves. While art therapy that is guided by a professional art therapist is best, there are still benefits to at-home exercises that you can practice with your aging loved ones.
Tips for Starting
When setting up a creative activity, think about your loved one’s abilities and adapt the materials to any physical limitations they might have. Here are a few tips:
- Provide large-handled brushes, spring-loaded scissors, and soft-squeeze glue bottles for those with limited grip strength.
- Use a non-slip silicone mat to prevent materials from rolling away.
- Triangular crayons can be helpful for seniors with low vision.
- Seniors with dementia often appreciate projects that use bright colors and different textures.
- Keep the materials adult-appropriate to help seniors maintain their dignity.
- Weighted, suctioned paint cups can prevent spills for those with unsteady or shaky hands.
- You can buy universal cuffs that make it easier for seniors to hold onto art supplies like pens, colored pencils, and brushes.
With all activities, focus on the creative process rather than perfect results. Encourage your loved one to reflect on their true feelings during the exercises and put them into the art pieces. These activities are a great bonding opportunity for caregivers and seniors. The resulting pieces can be a way for caregivers and seniors to understand the other’s feelings better, resulting in a stronger relationship.
Art Therapy Activities
1. Nature Painting
Combine the calming power of nature with the creativity of painting. Start with a nature walk on a nice day. You can bring painting materials and choose a beautiful spot to stop and paint the landscape. Another option is to look for a rock, stick, or piece of bark to take home with you and decorate. Use the unique shapes and textures as inspiration and use watercolor paints to add details. These natural pieces can be the perfect addition to your garden or outdoor space.
2. Draw an Emotion
Use self-reflection to draw something that expresses your emotions. Before you start, take a moment to think about your recent emotions. You can choose one emotion that you are feeling strongly and portray it in an abstract drawing or create a scene that captures a mix of emotions that you may be feeling.
3. Sculpt with Scents
Mixing essential oils with clay makes for a calming activity that exercises grip strength. For those with more artistic skill, make figurines of important people in your life or of loved ones who have passed on. For a simpler activity, use pottery stamps of objects that make you happy – like a favorite flower or animal – on a circle of clay to make an ornament that you can hang in a living room or bedroom.
4. Create a Collage
Pick a theme for your collage and use pieces of old magazines, newspapers, and craft supplies to decorate a posterboard. You can create a mood board with colors, images, and words that make you happy to remind you to look at the bright side of life. Or pick a sentimental memory and center your collage around things that make you think of that time. Collages are a great way to incorporate unique textures into your art. Try using felt, sandpaper, leaves, and buttons to add another dimension to your collage.
5. Art Observation
Viewing and discussing artwork is another way to bring personal experiences together with art. You can pick a local museum to visit or find a virtual tour of a famous museum online. Find a few pieces that evoke strong emotions and talk about how they make you feel with your activity partner. Caregivers, ask your aging loved one questions about how certain art pieces make them feel or if those pieces remind them of any personal experiences they have had.
Read more blogs from Infinity Care Solutions:
Practical Challenges and Emotional Turmoil in Caregiving
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