Balhousie Wheatlands has embarked on a month-long project as part of The Natural Health Award, with a focus on physical and mental wellbeing.
The award was originally intended for child minders to use with children. However, as Wheatland’s Care Home Manager Grace Sloan says: “Because of the focus on physical and mental well being, there’s no reason why it can’t be adapted to be suitable for the older adults in our care. The award demonstrates the variety of ways in which our residents can enrich their lives by improving their well- being using nature as the focus.”
The programme is being run in conjunction with the Woodland Experience, which Balhousie Wheatlands has successfully taken part in for two years. The care home plans to work with children as part of the programme, to assist them in achieving the Natural Health Award also. Grace said: “Intergenerational work is key to the activity programme within the home and this project will enhance our learning together.”
In the first session residents made bird feeders, made from recycled plastic bottles. They used a pencil to make a perch for the bird, pipe cleaners to hang them from the tree, and filled them with mixed bird seed.
Said Suzanne Williams, Activities Coordinator at Wheatlands: “Margaret France, Wilma and Louise all participated and said they all enjoyed doing so. Margaret advised us that we would need to make little holes in the bottom so that the rain could drain out.”
