The holidays are just around the corner, and Christmas bazaars are undoubtedly fast-approaching at your care facilities!
This DIY Holiday Wreath is a great craft to incorporate into your seasonal Recreation Therapy programming with clients and perhaps include as a bazaar item. It’s fantastic for cognitive and fine motor skill-building, and the end product is just so lovely! I got the inspiration for this craft from the talented Kristyn at lilluna.com 🙂 I’d recommend facilitating this activity in a small-medium sized group, or at least where there’s a one helper to two client ratio.
You’ll need the following items:
- Foam wreath forms (available for around $10 each at Michael’s, OR even better, $1 each at Dollar Tree, which is where I found mine!)
- Holiday ribbon (around 2-inch thick or more is ideal)
- Decorative twigs/greenery
- Decorative greenery with pinecones
- Large poinsettias
- Floral pins (available at Michael’s – you’ll need lots if using these!) OR a hot glue gun & sticks
- Scissors and/or wire trimmers (I actually bought dog nail clippers from Dollar Tree and they worked great for wire cutting!)
To start making the wreath, pin (or glue) one end of your ribbon to the wreath form and wrap it as widely as possible (to save ribbon) all the way around the form, securing it at the other end as well.
Then the fun part – start applying your decorative items! Use your judgement as to whether a glue gun or the floral pins would work best here. The floral pins tend to be safer than hot glue and allow you to remove and rearrange items, but they can be finicky for some clients. I suggest arranging your twigs/greenery with the stems crossing in the middle, so the final touch (poinsettia) can conceal them.
Finally, stick your poinsettia on top of the crossed twigs, and you’re done! Ready for the bazaar or for your clients to hang on their doors or give to a loved one 🙂
Happy crafting!
