Paint and stencil in memory care

This weeks art class in aged care was reminiscence based: Remembering fishing and food molds. I passed around vintage fish shaped molds used in the making of aspics and jellies to assist memory recall of past times related to food: foods that people cooked, what they ate, and even how they sourced or stored foods.
I sketched out fish on a paper plate for the residents to paint. As they painted they spoke about how their food was sourced when they were growing up. One lived on a farm by a river and spoke about how when fishing she would beg her father to throw back the big cod as she found them too chewy. Such was the abundance of fish!
Another lady spoke about cattle farming and not eating much fish whilst growing up on a farm. They stored their meats in a cool room under the house.
It's always interesting to converse with the elderly in nursing homes and they enjoy having someone to tell their stories to. It highlighted for my daughter too, how much things have changed in a relatively short span of time.