No season of the year is more oriented around our ability to connect with each other than the span of holidays we end the year with. Thanksgiving activities for seniors can ensure that the day is filled with reminiscing and memory-making with the one’s they love the most.
Seniors can be especially prone to the impacts of loneliness in their lives, and relationships have been shown to be the best remedy for that. Thanksgiving activities for the whole family can provide the perfect opportunity for connections to be made and fulfilling relationships to be formed.
Not only does Thanksgiving bolster a spirit of connectivity and bonding, it is also an opportunity for activities that are at a pace everyone can enjoy. When given the right incentive, even the smallest of children are compelled to sit and absorb.
Intergenerational Cooking Is the Perfect Thanksgiving Activity
One of the best Thanksgiving activities for seniors is cooking because cooking utilizes what is likely decades of experience in the kitchen. For many seniors, crafting meals that they have known and called upon for years is a great way to get their nostalgic juices pumping. It also allows them to show their children and grandchildren something from when they were their age.
As Beth Sager writes for CaringTimes, “There’s something special about the fall and spending time with the grandkids. Of course, once they’re back to school, finding quality time can be difficult. That’s why you’ll want to make sure you’ve got some great autumn activities you can share when you do snag some grandkid time.”
These Thanksgiving dishes provide a great opportunity to get that grandkid time:
Pumpkin Chip Cookies: In regard to meshing the past and the present, the classic chocolate chip cookie just is childhood. That goes not just for the child, but for the one who is taken back to their own childhood in one, delicious bite. Add the pumpkin component, and it also becomes a quintessential fall dessert as well.
Roasted Butternut Salad: There are few flavors that capture the essence of the season as well as butternut squash does. This salad manages a fresh take on the well-used gourd that allows the squash to shine for all the right reasons, without destroying its trademark flavoring.
Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Stuffing: Thanksgiving, with all its pleasures, is a hectic day and even week. For a host or hostess, there is a lot of prep work required. But this freezer-friendly stuffing recipe is easy enough for the most novice of cooks (with a little grown-up help), and yet it’s still sophisticated. Plus, it can be made ahead, thus alleviating the burden of same-day preparation!
Cooking is just as much about forming bonds and creating memories as it is about what ends up on the plate. For those hoping to kindle cross-generational relationships, the kitchen is one of the best places to begin.
Pick a Thanksgiving Art Project
Sometimes adults underestimate just how awesome art projects are, but the reality is that they can provide an avenue for kids to stay busy and do something with their hands, while connecting with those around them.
Thus, a smart way to engage those from multiple generations is to pick a thanksgiving art project that will be enjoyable for everyone involved! Thanksgiving-themed activities are important because they remind everyone who participates what the backbone of the season is, and they foster an atmosphere that is both light-hearted and memorable.
For example, one of the most enduring kid-friendly thanksgiving activities is the making of corn husk dolls! With some common household items like paper towels, scissors, buttons, and glue, one can create legs, arms, heads, and clothing for their little corn husk doll.
The Important Thing Is Quality Time Together
Research completed by Southern Oregon University shows that when children lack sufficient interaction with older generations it can lead to negative attitudes toward seniors. Having a healthy attitude about aging and what it entails is crucial to creating healthy perspectives not just in kids but in seniors as well.
Investing in Thanksgiving activities for seniors that will also be enjoyable and beneficial for their younger counterparts is one surefire way to bolster both the spirit of the season as well as the underlying connections that make Thanksgiving so important to us as individuals and the United States as a whole.
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