APRIL 2008
Warmer weather and longer days provide more opportunities for physical activity. Whether you walk, run, garden, bike, or swim, physical activity is important for all ages. May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month. It’s a good time to focus on the fitness activities of older adults. How can you encourage activity and fellowship among your group members - and have some fun in the process? This edition of the newsletter will offer some suggestions to get your group moving and interacting.Let’s begin with a few activities to stir up some nostalgic exercise and sports memories. (Note: Some of the suggestions are adapted from the ElderSong resource,
- Exercise muscles with some laughter. Play the legendary Abbott and Costello baseball comedy sketch, "Who’s on First?" - first heard on Kate Smith’s radio show in the late 1930s. Serve a baseball snack, like soft pretzels with cheese and mustard or mini- corndogs with Coke. Reminisce about the game from the perspective of a player, coach, or spectator.
- List action verbs related to physical activity, exercise, or sports, e.g., walk, run, bike, dance, stretch, jog, or bowl. Ask: Did you ever dance for physical fitness? Show us some of your best footwork.
- Reminisce about games you played as a kid in your backyard or at school, e.g., Red Light/Green Light, Kick the Can, Red Rover. Ask: What do you remember about the rules or rhymes? Which games required the most movement?
- Share recollections of field days at school (also known as "sports day"). Ask: Did you ever participate in an egg and spoon race, sack race, three-legged race, tug-of-war, or fifty-yard dash? Did your class receive a prize or trophy?
- Sing some popular sports songs. Suggestions: "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," "Heart" (from the musical Damn Yankees), "Notre Dame Victory Song," or other college fight songs.
- Ask participants to name their favorite individual sports, e.g., bicycling, golf, tennis, swimming, or horseshoes. Ask: Which sport activity did you like to play as a child or teen? Did you develop a passion for a particular sport - for example, running - as an adult?
- Share memories of day-to-day physical activities in your family (e.g., running the vacuum, gardening, washing the car, mowing the lawn). Ask: Has technology helped or hurt family fitness? How did you build exercise into your daily routine?
- Reminisce about participating in youth team sports in high school or college. Ask: What did you learn about teamwork, sportsmanship, or competition? What life lessons did you learn from playing team sports? Wave a team pennant, sing a fight song, or wear a team hat.
- Ask group members if they ever participated in a charity event, in which they ran, walked, biked, or bowled to raise money for a special cause. Describe the experience.
- Define the word athlete. Ask: Did you ever consider yourself an athlete? When? Are great athletes made (with lots of special skills training) or born (with natural talent)?
- Sample some wellness foods, like seasonal berries or other fresh fruit.
- Watch a favorite sports movie, e.g., Chariots of Fire, The Pride of the Yankees, or The Boys of Summer, the Brooklyn Dodgers.
- Share memories of group fitness activities, such as joining an exercise class or health club, playing intramural sports, or participating in a sports and recreation program at the YMCA. Ask: What are the advantages of exercising with family and friends? Did you enjoy meeting new people?
- Reminisce about attending a big sports event, like the Super Bowl, Kentucky Derby, World Series, Rose Bowl, or Olympic Games. Ask: Did you ever have the opportunity to witness a major sporting event, like a playoff or championship game? Describe the experience.
- Share experiences of participating in sports activities with children, either as a coach, recreational sports program volunteer, or Scout leader.
For more help planning some fitness activities, check out the spring ElderSong catalog. We’ve highlighted a few helpful resources below.
Continue to look for upcoming editions of this newsletter the last week of the month. Our newsletter contains useful information to make your job of working with older adults more fulfilling. In this issue, you’ll find:
CELEBRATE FITNESS MONTH
Celebrate with fitness, fun, and friends! Check out the newly revised and updated version of Barbers, Cars, and Cigars: Activity Programming for Older Men. Included in the resource are eight reminiscing sessions (with themes such as Boys and Their Toys, The 1960s, Television, Entertainment, and The World of Work) as well as ideas for games, sports, cooking, current events, intergenerational programming, discussion groups, service projects, and more. Chapters titled "Sports" and "Active Games" will help you plan some fitness activities throughout the month. You’ll find suggestions for sports props, sports trivia, discussion questions, and active sporting ideas. Activities to encourage physical exercise (e.g., walking program, senior Olympics, dart game, bocce ball game) are highlighted, as well as suggestions for organizing the outings.
Many senior adults enjoy exercising with a buddy or two. For group senior fitness fun, use the two compact disks Jumpstart for Seniors: Piano Music for Fitness Enjoyment and Volume II. Both Volumes I [W4061] and II [W4602] provide melodic music for an exercise routine for older adults, with tempos set for warm-up, middle, and cool-down stages. Your group will enjoy the easy-moving rhythm of songs such as "Sentimental Journey," "What a Wonderful World," "Shine on Harvest Moon," "As Time Goes By," "Stardust," and "Somewhere My Love." Make up your own routine to Wally Clark’s music, and enjoy gentle exercises to maintain your health.
Senior fitness programs often incorporate exercises for balance and coordination. One program, which includes a physical component for people with dementia, is Movement with Meaning: A Multisensory Program for Individuals with Early-Stage Alzheimer’s Disease. The program combines gentle dance movements, yoga-inspired poses, and breathing exercises with music suggestions, poetry, and sensory activities. The resource will show you how to establish a Movement with Meaning program at your facility, including how to select participants and organize a nurturing environment. There are step-by-step instructions for each activity, with 100 photographs and four 30-minute sessions described in detail. You can learn how to customize sessions for individual participants in order to stimulate physical, mental, and sensory awareness.
SPORTS LEGENDS QUIZ
Calling all sports fans! What makes a player legendary (length of career, Hall of Fame, accomplishments)? Rekindle sports memories about the following legends. A few clues about each are provided.
- Michael Jordan - basketball player, Chicago Bulls
- Babe Ruth - baseball player, New York Yankees
- Jim Brown - football player, Cleveland Browns
- Muhammad Ali - heavyweight boxing champion
- Jesse Owens - track and field, Olympic gold medallist
- Jim Thorpe - track and field, Olympic gold medallist, football, baseball
- Mildred "Babe" Didrikson - professional golfer, basketball, track and field, Olympic gold medallist
- Billie Jean King - tennis champion, Wimbledon
- Arnold Palmer - golf champion, PGA titles
- Bobby Orr - hockey legend, Stanley Cup, Hall of Fame
FEATURED PRODUCTS FOR APRIL - 15% off
Barbers, Cars, and Cigars: Activity Programming for Older Men. - 52-page book - Regularly $10.50. Online sale price $8.90.
Jumpstart for Seniors: Piano Music for Fitness Enjoyment and Volume II. - Two CDs, 30+ minutes each. Regularly $13.95 each. Online sale price $11.85 each.
Movement with Meaning: A Multisensory Program for Individuals with Early-Stage Alzheimer’s Disease. - 200-page book. Regularly $34.95. Online sale price $29.70.
THOUGHT FOR THE MONTH
"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation." ~ Plato
The ElderSong online newsletter is written by Sue Hansen.
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ElderSong Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.
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