Accessible Craft Activity Ideas: Supporting the creativity of our loved ones

Over the last couple of weeks we've been working with Digby's Café to be present every Friday so that people who have come to the café on their own can sit with someone for friendship and company.

On our adventures putting the worlds to rights with people we realised that some people have hobbies they once loved but can no longer do due to deterioration in their mobility and loss of dexterity so we wanted to talk about some accessible crafts.

We've been doing some research while having a search around for a special surprise Christmas gift and in doing so have come across some really great craft ideas that you can support loved ones with to help encourage them to keep doing their most loved hobbies for as long as they can:

1- Scrapbooking Scrapbooking is a great way to remain creative which doesn't require as much dexterity as other crafts. This can be made safer for older people with the use of safety scissors and stickers. The best thing about scrapbooking is you can put as much or as little on the page as you like, and you can put anything from household items to photographs on the page. Most Scrapbooking materials that can be bought can be purchased at a range of sizes so for those how need a bigger size for ease, this can be easily purchased at cheap prices on mainstream sellers like amazon.

2- Paint Pouring Paint pouring is a great way to stay creative without the frustration of needing to be precise with a paintbrush. This activity may need to be supervised to help with preparation and clean up but is a really fun and creative way to make interesting textures and shapes and if fun as an adult craft. Using straws you can also blow into the art to add more movement and different tones, this method is a really abstract and fun way to make interesting foliage inspired works.

3- Polaroid Cameras If you can get your hands on an old polaroid camera (I nicknamed mine the chonkey monkey because it was huge!) Polaroids (particuarly the p600) are larger to hold and fairly lightweight so are a great camera to use for someone who is quite limited. You could introduce your loved one to street artists such as Vivienne Maier, and talk about how just street photos show a journey, and encourage them to take pictures of the world through their eyes.

Polaroids produce the image instantly, so the input needed is fairly minimal. Why not also accompany your loved one, and go with them out and about, into the garden, around the house, and help them to hold the camera. You could also bring interesting objects to them if they are bed bound, or unable to move from their chair.

There are lots of online tips for simple lighting techniques using household objects so there are lots of great ways to support someone to take great photos in a really accessible way.

4- Polymer Clay Modelling Polymer clay is a really fun and soft modelling clay that can be mixed with other colours to create fun marbling effects. It can be sculpted, or shaped using things like cookie cutters to make some lovely jewellery pieces or bowls.

This is a fairly safe and simple craft activity and doesn't need as much dexterity as drawing or sculpting with regular clay as well.

There's so many activity ideas online in other areas too, so don't be afraid to have a browse around and see what activity ideas might peak your loved ones interest.

Have an activity in mind but not sure on how it could be made more accessible? Drop us an email today at admin@farrowfriends.co.uk we can have a chat about the challenges your loved one might be facing and if an activity they love could be adjusted to make it easier and safer for them.