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Way back in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed August 19 as National Aviation Day. Since then, people across the country have celebrated the history of flying.
August 19 also happens to be the birthday of Orville Wright who along with his brother, Wilbur, invented the first successful airplane. I think this gives us a good reason to help our residents celebrate the holiday!
Here are a few fun ideas:
Reminisce
Get a group of residents together to share stories about their flight experiences over the years. For example, invite them to tell about:
- Their first airplane ride
- A humorous lost luggage experience
- Interesting people they’ve met on a plane
- A scary experience during a flight
- Have any of your residents ever piloted a plane?
Be competitive
Provide supplies so your residents can make paper airplanes, then hold a flying contest. When we did this at our nursing home, it surprised me how competitive some of our residents became!
You can find lots of online articles and books to help with the technical aspects of creating paper airplanes. This book is my personal favorite.
Learn about aviation
If you’re fortunate enough to have a local air museum as we do, this makes a terrific outing for Aviation Day. Let them know in advance that your group is coming, and I know they’ll do their best to accommodate any special needs of your residents.
You can also share information about the history of aviation from this aerospace timeline. Or, I’m sure your residents will enjoy learning these fascinating airplane facts. (A few of these might qualify as “too much information”, so please pick and choose what you want to share with your residents.)
It’s also fun to test your residents’ knowledge about air travel with this fun quiz. (Take the quiz yourself, then hit submit to get the answers. Then you can test your residents.)
Enjoy a snack
While learning all this fascinating information about aviation, your residents need to have a snack. Ask what they remember being served for in-flight snacks, then come up with an assortment to sample.
This might include pretzel sticks, Cheeze-It crackers, Biscoff cookies, yogurt granola bars, coffee, and soda. (It seems like airline snacks are rarely healthy. Has anyone seen healthier options on a flight?)
Host a guest speaker
Invite a pilot or a flight attendant to come in and speak with your residents. They can talk about so many topics:
- How their jobs have changed over the years
- Funny stories about passengers they’ve met
- Changes in rules and regulations over the decades
- The joys and challenges of their profession
Invite the kids
If you have a childcare center at your nursing home, invite the kids to join the residents in celebrating Aviation Day. You can start out with this fun and interactive video.
For a simple activity, the kids and residents could also do some coloring together. I like this site because it provides pictures that are kid-friendly as well as those that adults can enjoy.
Another fun activity is to pair up residents and kids for a craft project. You’ll want to check out these 15 creative projects that actually fly!
I would love to hear how you plan to celebrate National Aviation Day. Please share your ideas in the comment section!
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