As part of the coronation celebrations at Sonya Lodge Residential Care Home, we entered a Nellsar-wide competition to design and make an eye-catching coronation crown.
Heading up the competition, Nellsar’s Recreation and Well-Being Manager Viv Stead commented: “The idea was to involve our residents in making something beautiful and memorable to display in their Home or garden that could be enjoyed by everyone for the coronation.”
We are a competitive bunch here at Sonya Lodge so were very excited to get to work on this project. We took a whole-Home approach with the competition, with staff and residents getting involved with this project from start to finish.
Our residents were involved in the early discussions and research (looking at a selection of different photos) with our Management team, Resident Liaison and Recreation and Well-Being Team about the types of designs and ideas they would like for the coronation crown. Once designs had been agreed, we visited the shops to buy any supplies we needed.
Our Recreation and Well-Being Team and Resident Liaison then started the construction of the crown frame and then covered it in gold wallpaper. Our residents then got to work with their artistic flair to create the jewels and gems to attach to the crown. The residents stuck sequins, feathers, pom-poms, glitter, foam stickers and sticky gems onto different shaped and coloured card. Our residents then directed our Recreation and Well-Being Team on where to attach these handmade gems onto their giant crown. We then attached some purple cloth to the inside of the crown and our Laundry Team found some old duvets to place underneath the purple material to plump it up. The crown’s final touches were added by gluing cotton wool balls to the bottom rim of the crown.
After completing our giant crown, our residents began the task of making individual crowns to wear. They started their individual crown projects by choosing one of the gold card crown template designs. They then gave their crowns those individual touches by adding their own artistic designs with pom-poms, glitter, sequins, foam stickers and gems, with our Care staff, Recreation and Well-Being Team and Resident Liaison on hand to support. This person-centred support ranged from verbal encouragement, demonstration, verbal commentary, step-by-step instructions, hand-over-hand support and staff identifying the required materials to support sensory input and need.
Once all of our crown projects were completed it was time to enjoy and show off our creations and handiwork with an afternoon tea! We set up our giant crown on the table under the pagoda in our garden. Our residents then sat around the table wearing their own crowns and enjoyed a delicious royal afternoon tea. Our Chef Steve supplied us all with scrumptious cupcakes and sweet treats to enjoy with our favourite hot beverages. It was lovely to see our whole Home joining together to mark and celebrate the coronation of our king.
Although we weren’t crowned amongst the winners, we had so much fun creating our wonderful crown which made a great centrepiece for our coronation celebrations.
The judges commented: ‘A huge crown was created collaboratively by the lovely residents and staff at Sonya Lodge – decorated in gold wallpaper and adorned with an abundance of gems, feathers, stickers and to finish a lining of regal purple. The crown was placed in the garden with lights inside for a wonderful tea party display.’
Congratulations again to everyone at Sonya Lodge involved in creating our fantastic entry for the competition.
Check out the winning entries and all the runners up!
