Creative pumpkin carving for care home residents
Residents and staff at Barchester’s Hollyfields care home, in Habberley Valley, Kidderminster have been exploring the joy that pumpkin-carving can bring, particularly for those living with dementia.
Following a wonderful day trip to Bells Farm Shop, where the residents had fun perusing the fabulous Halloween displays and picking their own perfect pumpkins, and on receiving a surprise donation of pumpkins from the friendly team at Franche Coop, the care home residents were all set to calve.
Calving pumpkins is a great Halloween tradition for residents to get involved in, and today our residents loved working with the activities team to design, carve and pimp their pumpkins! We know that partaking in activities that stimulate the senses is a great way to encourage reminiscence and the sharing of stories.
Our residents and staff had a wonderful time reliving special moments from their past; fond memories of carving pumpkins, from being children themselves, to carving and celebrating Halloween with their loved ones throughout the years.
General Manager, Alison Moseley-Shaw, said: “Our staff and residents love any excuse to get crafty and carving the pumpkins today also gave them a license to get messy! They all had a tremendous fun digging out the squashes before drawing and carving each design to make the final ‘Happy Habberley’ gang of Hollyfields characters.
Hollyfields care home provides nursing, residential and dementia care for respite residents and longer term care. Our varied life enrichment programme keeps residents active, and provides a daily choice of engaging physical, mental and spiritual activities tailored to residents’ interests and abilities.
