Speckled - Blog

art and music in memory care

2/9/2017

The power of music to unlock memories is a universal experience for all of us and increasingly used in dementia care. When we engage in some activities, specific neural networks are activated, but when we listen to music, we engage all parts of our brain. Being saved in pockets all over the brain like confetti, music tied to memories remain with us well into our twilight years, even with the onset of Dementia, plenty remains.
Music therapy can be a way for people living with dementia to remember past moments and memories. Love, loss, happiness and romance, can all be remembered in the playing of a song. Music can shift mood, manage stress and stimulate positive interactions. Aged care facilities report that residents are happier, more engaged, and much calmer with the use of music therapy and that staff are able to create more meaningful relationships with patients, spending less time dealing with behavioural issues. Combining music with art therapy can further enrich the experience.
This 1950's music reminiscence craft combines creating with music. Create and paint your own printable and play the corresponding play list for best results! www.speckled.com.au/printables

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Music and memory 1950's music

31/8/2017

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Huddled with ears glued to a radio or hunched over a record player, teenagers had never heard anything like it before. It was wild and free and ripped the dull fabric of life. They called it "Rock & Roll" and it quickly became an obsession and a way of life.
The power of music to unlock memories is universal. Colour or Paint in these 1950's singers and remember Rockabilly, Rhythm and Blues and the joy of Rock and Roll!

This series of Music and Memory printables include 8 singing stars from the 1950's, from the boisterous Jerry Lee Louis and Little Richard through to the beautiful sounds of Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone. Accompany with a playlist of the songs for best results!
www.speckled.com.au/printables

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collage and dementia care

18/8/2017

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This collage uses 1950's Vivian Maier street photography and vintage aspic and jelly recipes to encourage discussion around 50's life and cooking.

When people with dementia collage (with self selected cut outs from magazines), they often choose the same theme consistently. It's usually based on special memories and experiences from the past. For example, a mother may collage about children and family life. A former accountant may collage figures and numbers.

Creating collages can help us explore memories and messages from our inner world. Although dementia gradually robs one of memory, one's self of self and identity often remains.

Dement Neuropsychol 2009 December; 3(4):299-302

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football, meatpies, kangaroos & holden cars...

30/7/2017

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There was once a time in Australia, when men derived their patriotic identity on whether you were a ‘Ford Man’ or a ‘Holden Man.’ Keenly felt in suburban driveways, the era of the 6 cylinder muscle car had dawned. By the mid 1960's, flanked in twin fins and a wrap around windscreen, Holden led car sales in Australia by almost 3 to 1 over Ford.
Read about Australians’ love of Holden cars and colour in or paint your own Vintage Car place cards. Place on dining table at meal times and enjoy the bonus conversation starter jokes on the back!
www.speckled.com.au/printables

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Princess Diana craft activity

27/7/2017

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Who am I?
I was twelve years younger and one inch taller than my husband to be. In 1981 we wed to a TV audience of millions. I wore a silk taffeta wedding dress, with 10,000 hand sewn pearls. Five extra wedding dresses were made, 27 cakes were baked, 30 choirboys sang, and even a chef was appointed to inspect every single cherry, currant, raisin and sultana that was to go into the wedding cake for perfect plumpness. It was to be nothing short of flawless. Sadly though fairytale weddings do not make for fairytale endings. My legacy lives on through my two sons William and Harry.

Bedazzle, colour in, paint and decorate this Princess Diana coat hanger cover and watch her glam up any wardrobe space

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Tupperware party reminiscence craft

18/7/2017

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Tupperware parties swept across America, Australia and the UK in the 1950's like a flash fire. Bell tumblers, wonder bowls and two-ounce midget containers become as common as television, telephones and hula hoops. Gatherings of suburban housewives nibbled on cream puffs and devilled eggs as they bought up a pastel palette of food storage containers.

Colour in or paint your own paper people Tupperware party guests and seat them onto a desktop, fireplace or shelf!
http://www.speckled.com.au/printables

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reminiscence art in aged care

17/7/2017

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Reminiscence therapy involves discussing and sharing past memories. With Alzheimer’s, memories are lost in reverse order. Memories formed most recently are more fleeting than those from many years ago. As caregivers in Aged Care, making yesteryear, not yesterday, the focus of conversation can give great comfort to residents with dementia, giving them a sense of value and peace.
Reminiscence Art is the creative process of exploring memories. One way is to use props such as everyday household items, clothing, old books, magazines and photos from the 1950's – 1980's as a means of triggering memories from the past, then running an art activity based on the vintage aide or prop.
Speckled provides a free printable activities resource for Aged Care facilities to use with their residents. Each printable comes with a story and a vintage themed craft activity to aide the stroll down memory lane.
http://www.speckled.com.au/printables

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paint your own floral place mats

5/6/2017

Avacado green, mission brown, wheat and retro orange were very popular colours in the 70's. They were used in carpets, curtains, homewares, fabrics and wallpapers. Orange was present in shades of burnt orange, coral, ochre and sunshine.
There was once a time when retro orange was a feature colour, used along shiny laminate bench tops, draped along curtains, wrapped around linen lampshades and printed all over wallpaper.

Do you remember retro orange?
Paint your own paper place mats with retro orange flowers and brighten up your dining space.

vera_neumann_flower_in_brown.pdf
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On Maternity Leave

23/11/2015

Christmas comes early for me this year as will be having baby number three very soon.
Whilst on maternity leave from Speckled, I will be checking email from time to time over the coming months, so feel free to contact me with any queries regarding art and craft classes in aged care in the New Year.
Merry Christmas and Happy holidays!

Velázquez: Las Meninas

15/11/2015

When you're walking through the silence of a white-walled art gallery and you stop to read the brief description next to a painting, it will tell you the when, where and who of it. It can be easy to miss the enormity of what's going on in some of those paintings. Recently I read that when Pablo Picasso was seventy five, he painted 58 versions of a 17th century painting by Velázquez: Las Meninas. Fifty eight!! What fascinated him so? It piqued my interest to delve a little further... and what interesting research it was, I ended up writing a piece on it.
Life before Facebook: Re-branding reality, it's been going on forever!
The corresponding craft activity for aged care residents will be a Las Meninas inspired napkin holder.

Remembering tea time

9/11/2015

For today's art class at a Sydney nursing home we crafted around the theme of remembering tea time. With a traditional set of tea cups from the 60's as props, we spoke about the popularity of flowers and roses as patterns on tea cups, and the gold paint trims that were popular at the time. As the ladies sipped their morning tea, we painted floral tea cups to use as bookmarks. Deep in concentration, the residents enjoyed seeing how a blob of pink paint can be turned into a rose, and how easily more details can be added to flowers and leaves to make them pop. All appreciated the little pompom tied around the teacup handle to page mark and leave out of the book.

tupperware reminiscence craft

14/9/2015

This weeks art class focused on the theme of remembering Tupperware and the foods that people made and stored in Tupperware containers in the 60's and 70's (like fruit in jelly.) One of the men shared a story about how his wife had bought and hosted many a Tupperware party, asking "can you still buy Tupperware today?"
As we painted our fruits in jelly, conversation flowed to other things people did in the 60's and 70's, like travelling to the Rainbow Valley in the Northern Territory to paint landscapes!

Toilet roll doll craft

10/8/2015

"I started painting at 88," mentioned one of the men at this weeks art class. He had been a food technologist in the past. He pointed out an abstract on canvas he was working on and spoke about how how he loved to paint in layers. He wasn't at all bothered that today we would be painting paper toilet roll dolls!
I passed my vintage crotchet toilet roll doll around and many remembered having these, or seeing these atop toilets in the 1950's and 60's. One of the ladies mentioned never liking their blank gaze, whilst another found them to be a very feminine way to disguise a toilet roll.
We painted in pastels, pink and blues, much like the colours of bathrooms of the 50's. As the tea man came round with tea and crackers he requested that all dolls be blonde as blondes have more fun, and all obliged in good spirits. Once our paper dolls were dry, we wrapped them around a toilet roll and all left happily with their practical and pretty craft doll in tow.

Social Prescribing: Art for the Elderly

30/7/2015

Lately I've been thinking about how art and craft initiatives have been funded and implemented in different parts of the world, providing elderly people living in the community and also aged care facilities, all sorts of new opportunities and positive experiences. It's wonderful that the ball is rolling on this.
Recently I wrote a piece on Social Prescribing for Starts at Sixty:
For a full excerpt: Is it Time for more than Medicine?

Music memories that take us back.

26/5/2015

Sometimes music can take you back to a time and place. Why do I feel so good when I hear an old favourite and why do I remember so well the music that I loved as a teenager?
Music can tap deep emotional recall well into our twilight years. Unlike speech and remembering peoples’ faces, which is information stored in specific parts of the brain, music is saved all over the brain and so are the memories attached to those songs.
When running art and craft sessions at nursing homes around the theme of remembering music, this is what I see; memories resurfacing from the past as the residents colour and paint.

Self portraits

17/5/2015

Artists have been painting self-portraits for eons. Early painters like Rembrandt painted self portraits as a narrative of their lives. Picasso's self portraits showcased his evolving painting style, whilst painters like Frida Kahlo and Van Gogh, made their lives and emotions the focus of theirs. Self portraits can reveal everything, or absolutely nothing. The latter seems to be the case with Andy Warhol's. Taken over several decades, his expression remained unchanged; bored. Yet the colours, hair and props popped off the canvas.
Running self portrait based art classes is always an enjoyable craft activity to do with aged care residents. Using a photocopy of each person as the canvas, we paint and add to it, remembering accessories, hairstyles and prints from the past to embellish for fun.

Remembering baking

11/5/2015

Today's craft activity was based on remembering baking. Whilst handling a vintage muffin tin and browsing though a Margaret Fulton Desserts cookbook, the ladies shared stories of baking past. From green jelly slice to making icing sugar flowers from scratch, all had a story to share. One lady mastered Chocolate Eclairs and they were often requested at social events, whilst another loved making chocolate fudge slice for the kids.
For this craft class I pre-cut the felt pieces and the ladies assembled and layered their felt muffins. All muffins looked delicious and the ladies were happy to work with a new medium: sticky felt, and reminisce on times past.

Remembering Fish moulds

4/5/2015

Today's craft class was at Southern Cross Care in North Turramurra. We started by looking at a fishing themed tablecloth from the 1960's. Two ladies spoke of past times around husbands, sons and fishing. We then passed around tin fish shaped moulds from the 1950's. Their eyes lit up as they told tales of using these moulds to bake cupcakes in and make ice cream with. One of the ladies said that when her children were little, they loved it when she made lemon ice cream in fish moulds, giggling that they had fish in their tummies.
It's incredible what conversations these props encourage. We then painted our fish on a dinner plate. Most of the ladies had never painted before. One was a former lace maker and another a cross stitcher. They all enjoyed trying something new as we worked with a stencil to make a fish scale pattern on our painted fish, then propped them up on the dining room wall.

By the Sea

13/4/2015

“I don't know how to swim,” whispered one of the ladies to me.
Today at my local nursing home we ran a 'By the Sea' art day where aged care residents and a few of daughters school aged friends painted together. Using a selection of black and white vintage beach scenes from the 1940's to the 1960's, we coloured and painted in bold and bright colours. With a set of vintage swim caps on hand, we talked as we tried them on and passed them around sharing our swim stories.

A few of the ladies mentioned that when they were growing up, only people who lived by the sea or could afford to go on family holidays knew how to swim. We compared this to how it is these days, the parents grumbling about early weekend swim lessons for their kids.

We talked about the changing fashion of swim bathers and Esther Williams, who in her hey day swam her way to movie fame. It was a good morning for both young and old. A big thank you to the parents who lent their kids for a colourful, fun and playful craft day!

Margaret Fulton

3/4/2015

Angel cake, Banana bread, Date loaf and Vanilla sponge... traditional baking never falls out of favour. Popular shows like The Great Australian Bake Off highlight recipes from bygone eras and the simple pleasures like the smell of a freshly baked sponge cake, making us feel nostalgic for childhood birthdays and family get togethers.
Australia's first food guru, Margaret Fulton, has been writing about baking and cooking for magazines since the early 60's, when it was considered far from a glamorous vocation, even though she flew first class all over the world to bring back recipes to the Australian dinner table. In 2012, a musical was made in tribute to her and her Pavlova prowess, appropriately named 'Queen of the Desserts.'
Recently I acquired a second hand copy of Margaret Fulton's, Book of Home Baking. Many recipes are traditional Country Women's Association-style cakes like Boiled Fruit Cake and Madeira Cake.
I use this Margaret Fulton cookbook and a vintage 1950's muffin tin when running nostalgia and reminiscence based art and craft around the theme of baking.

playing videos helps brain function in the elderly

30/3/2015

Gaming is not just for kids. Studies with the elderly have shown that gaming has many positive outcomes, from improved communication skills and stalling the natural decline of different cognitive skills to good old just making people happier! Beyond the lull of a glowing screen, games require mental energy to play them. In one study, a car racing game involving a Volkswagen Beetle, required 60 to 85 year olds to multi task; steer and monitor for signs. When played for 12 hours it was found to improve memory and attention span.
Full read here.

intergenerational art activity

16/3/2015

Inspired by Intergenerational playgroups in Aged Care, these April school holidays I'll be running an Intergeneration Art Activity at my local nursing home with the residents and a few of daughters school aged friends.
We will be painting vintage beach scenes with a side of fun!

1935, Girl and life line, Palm Beach, Australia
1958, Kleinerts bathing caps, Waldorf Hotel

Intergenerational Playgroups

13/3/2015

A nursing home is quite possibly the last place you'd expect to find prams, preschoolers and play dough, yet a new type of playgroup is appearing in some of these previously child-free environments. From aged-care facilities to community-based seniors programs, intergenerational playgroups are bringing together young children, parents/carers and senior citizens..intergenerational playgroups contribute to an improvement in senior citizens' morale, activity level, communication and participation in activities.

To read the full article, click here.

remembering retro colours in aged care

23/2/2015

Inspired by the loud flower power wallpaper from a family photo from the 70s, this weeks art and craft classes with nursing home residents focused on painting coasters in colours of that era and overlaying them with linocut floral patterns.
As we painted, we talked about wallpaper and home décor in the late 60's/ early 70's. One of the ladies mentioned that she never liked the bright yellow/ dark oranges of the 70's in her home, as living in the country it was so hot outside that she wanted a more muted, cooler palette on the inside, and so chose shades of light blues and greens.
Another lady mentioned that she liked black and white geometric wallpaper, and only one on each wall as a feature wall. Some of the residents mentioned that they preferred not to have wallpaper at all as they found it competed with the art work on their walls!

All enjoyed the simple process of painting in geometric shapes and circles, then stamping a painted flower on top.

Reminiscence Art Kits

16/2/2015

Reminiscing is storytelling. Stories come to life when someone shares their story with you. As you get to know them better, you see what life was like through their eyes at a certain time and place.
Holding and interacting with objects and images from the past helps the elderly to engage with and recollect past life experiences and communicate those to a listener.
Speckled provides a free printable activities resource for Aged Care facilities to use with their residents. Each printable comes with a story and vintage themed craft to aide the stroll down memory lane.
http://www.speckled.com.au/printables

Diana.collings@gmail.com