Seven Star Studded Memorial Day Crafts for Seniors

By Anna Hazard

Introduction

Here are a selection of patriotic crafts fit for Memorial Day celebrations. They are easy-to-do, use inexpensive & easily gathered materials, and are generally suitable for seniors, kids, or the whole family. As well as being a fun activity for the upcoming holiday, these crafts can also pull double duty as indoor or outdoor decorations with craft items such as koozies & sensory toys being able to continue to be used throughout the rest of the year.

Craft Tutorials

Memorial Day Streamers

• These patriotic streamers are inexpensive and easy-to-make using common materials that can be found around the house or at a local craft, grocery, or art store. Materials range from popsicle sticks, ribbons, crepe paper, twine, construction paper, and dowel rods/sticks. Most streamers are meant for indoor decorations, but a handheld variety is also available.
• Cutting and gluing/pasting are the main skills required for these crafts making them suitable for anyone with enough hand strength & dexterity to use easy-grasp scissors & glue bottles.
• Happiness is Home Made | Parties for Pennies | Happy Family Blog | Simply Designing

Memorial Day Wind Socks

• These patriotic wind socks are mostly sturdier and made for outside display (in milder non-storming or raining conditions) as opposed to streamers and garlands. Basic materials include cannisters (such as those used for oatmeal), empty cans, card stock (preferably waterproof paper or laminated), toilet paper rolls, ribbons, streamers or crepe paper, and string or yarn.
• The main skills required include gluing, stapling, cutting, painting, and the use of standard or arthritis-styled hole punchers. The crafts using metal cans as their bases may require some assistance or preparation in advance when it comes to cleaning the cans or punching holes in them while the paper based crafts are the gentlest on the hands.
• eHow | Every Day Dishes | The Blog | A Little Pinch of Perfect

Memorial Day Garlands

• These paper & cloth garlands can pull double duty as festive Memorial Day decorations as well as acting as a fun craft suitable for the whole family from kids to seniors. Requiring only basic supplies such as tissue or normal paper, ribbons, and twine or yarn, these tutorials are an inexpensive way to have your senior loved ones flex their artistic hand while showing a patriotic spirit.
• Basic crafting tools as well as the skills needed to use them are the only requirements. These include scissors, stapler, paint, and glue, all of which can be found in arthritis-friendly styles.
• Lia Griffith | Taters to Tots & Jello | Think Make Share Blog | Yay for Hand Made

Memorial Day Centerpieces

• Here are an assortment of indoor (paper based) and outdoor (watermelon, flowers, and can based) certerpieces suitable for decorating a Memorial Day table or just adding a pop of color & celebration to the surroundings. Tutorials range from simple paper crafts to more elaborate paper constructions to even more flamboyant set-ups that may require a bit of assistance or preparation ahead of time (such as cleaning out cans or hollowing out a real watermelon)
• The main skills involved are folding, cutting, gluing, painting, and flower arranging for those senior loved ones who may not have the hand strength or finger flexibility of more intricate crafts.
• Martha Stewart | That's What Che Said | Home is Where the Boat Is | Mom 4 Real

Memorial Day Wreath

• These patriotic wreath crafts use pre-made wreath forms (either wire or straw) as their bases for simplicities sake as well as a wide range of materials depending upon their exact styles. Supplies include clothes pins, plastic table cloths, pipe cleaners, mesh, ribbons, red,white,&blue scrap fabric, as well as magazine, books, or newspaper. Wreathes using paper or non-waterproof fabric as their bases will be restricted to indoor use only, but other styles are more suitable for both indoor & outdoor decorating.
• The main skills required include gluing, wrapping, and cutting which can be accomplished with arthritis friendly glue guns & scissors as shown in our previous Crafting Tools for Seniors article.
• Home Crafts by Ali | Tidy Mom | Big Bears Wife |  Meegan Makes

Memorial Day Drink Holders

• These tutorials are for patriotic indoor and outdoor drinkholders & koozies, both normal handheld, freestanding, as well as carry-on travel versions. Necessary materials vary widely depending upon the exact style of drink holder from fabric, foam, velcro, duct tape, empty cans (soup cans being a particular good option), as well as nuts, washers, and rods for the variety of drinkholder meant to be freestanding within the yard.
• While some are simple to make using basic supplies such as craft foam as their bases, some of the more intricate varieties may require assistance or preparation in advance for those senior loved ones with hand dexterity or strength issues. This would include drilling or hammering a hole drink holders that use empty steel or tin cans as their bases or ironing on interfacing for fabric based koozies.
• Brit.co | Five Little Chefs | Better Homes & Gardens | Celebrate More

Memorial Day Sensory Toys

• These crafts are a fun & patriotic activity for Memorial Day as well as providing sensory toys & tools that will continue to be helpful when it comes to stress relief, Alzheimer's or dementia treatment, as well as hand therapy. Sensory toys range from slime to fluff to dough to calming bottles and can be easily prepared using household supplies such as liquid starch, glue, food coloring, water, empty bottle, glitter, shaving cream, flour, salt, vegetable oil, and baking soda.
• Due to the softness of their materials, these sensory tools can be made & used by even by those with more severe forms of arthritis, or hand strength & dexterity issues. Slime and fluff recipes with their inclusion of liquid starch, glue, and sometimes borax (although there are many borax-free recipes also available) may need to be handled more gingerly.
• Momdot.com (Slime) | Little Bins for Little Hands [Slime, Bottle] | Food Fun Kids (Fluff) | Midwest Modern Mama (Dough) | ThinkCrafts (Slime)