Still Life Session

Time

Art & Crafts

4 3 2 1 Early-Mid Stages

Benefits

Participants

One to One, Self Led or Group Activity

What you need

Variety of fruit
A table
A basket
Paints
Brushes
Coloured pencils
Cartridge paper
Easels

Intro

It’s well documented that art has a powerful effect on the emotional and mental wellbeing of people living with dementia, so encouraging creativity wherever possible is fantastic.

Painting is a lovely, relaxing activity for people to do quietly on their own away from all distractions. But it’s also fun to do in a group, as everyone can chat and encourage one another.

If the weather is nice, why not set up this activity in the garden and enjoy a little sunshine?

The Activity

Encourage the person/group to arrange the fruit in the basket
Once the arrangement looks good, put a sheet of paper on each person’s easel or place it on the table in front of them (whichever is most accessible for them)
Hand out a variety of pencils or paints
Encourage them to paint the fruit bowl
Remind the group that art is completely personal, and no painting can be wrong. Art is always open to interpretation
It doesn’t matter whether the painting is “good” or not, just encourage them to let their creativity flow and enjoy themselves