Last night in Innovative TR Activities we had our short activity presentations. It was pretty much a free for all as far as what kinds of activities we could choose from. There was a really good variety of activities--I'm surprised that everyone picked activities from a different category (music, art, physical activity)
One group did "Innovative Painting" using random materials as the tools to paint with instead of a usual paintbrush. Everyone got a piece of white paper and could choose from a lot of different paint colors. To paint with, there were feathers, wooden balls, sponges, foam pieces, leaves and a few other random things! I personally liked using the feathers and the wooden balls--they created a great texture with the paint and were fun to use!
Another group did "Making Music" where everyone got into their groups and had to create a short song using random household objects to make music with. There were a ton of interesting things to use: rubber bands, paintbrushes, keychains, cans with money in them, etc. Our group did an instrumental song with a lot of the random objects and tried to switch them up halfway through our song to use them in a different way. It was a lot of fun and everyone did a great job!
The next group was us, Group #3! We decided on doing an activity that combined art and music that would really get people to become introspective. Ours was a "Music and Emotions" type thing where everyone got into their groups and each had a piece of white paper and a colored marker. We played six different songs of different genres (rock, acoustic, pop) and had everyone close their eyes and color/draw our their emotions and/or how the music playing at the time makes them feel. Here's a few pictures of our class hard at work interpreting their emotions through song:
The whole point was to get everyone to not worry about what everyone is doing and just focus on themselves and enjoy how the music makes them feel. After each song was over, everyone switched their papers with their group members and continued on to their drawings for the next song. There turned out to be a lot of interesting drawings and squiggles that were created. We tried to decipher during which songs they were drawn during, and what those emotions brought out in those songs might mean to the individual. I think that it was a great activity that can be used for a lot of populations--but definitely needs to be modified for each specific population. As for improvements, we decided that we would make sure the groups could be in a circle so they could feel like more of a group and would be able to pass their papers more easily. Also, each group should have an individual leader that can help each group stay on task and make sure everything is running smoothly.
The next group did the "Don't Break the Egg!" activity. I remember doing this back in middle school as part of our physical science class, and it was a lot of fun. This time, I thought It would be so much easier since I'm now a more intelligent college student, but alas, it was still hard! We only got newspaper and a lot of straws and tape to use to protect our egg from breaking! My group decided to make a little nest for our egg with the newspaper and tape, then make a little raft-like object surrounding it to (hopefully) protect its fall. We named our egg Violet. Here she is after she unsuccessfully took her trip from the 2nd floor of the Health Science Center and unfortunately did not survive. :'( RIP Violet!
As I said before, I really enjoyed how diverse the activities of our groups were! They could all be used in many different settings, but of course modified based on the different populations involved. General safety precautions are to make sure all materials used, especially for the painting and music activities, are safe for the group to use. (Sharp objects or objects that could be interpreted inappropriately) Also, for the geriatric population for example, having larger, easier to grasp objects and more textured things to paint with would probably be a good idea. In general, I think all groups concluded that more individual attention and guidance would be good to have for all of our activities with all populations.
While searching the web for therapeutic activities, I stumbled upon this really neat article in the Washington Post about new therapeutic art programs for patients that have cancer and other disabilities while they are patients in hospitals. There have been a lot of grants given to hospitals around the country for some really unique programs like dance for stroke patients, photography for parents of stillborn children, beading, and even creating tapestries! It's a really cool article that describes some extremely innovative therapeutic things that are being implemented right now in the inpatient setting!!
Happy no winter-coat weather day! :)
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