This is a very easy and rewarding project to do with people of varying abilities. It is also very inexpensive since the only supplies you need are: two pieces of white cardboard (I cut up a gift box…), magazine strips (about 1/4 ” wide), and glue. I traced a wooden letter from the craft store to get my outline but you can create a letter yourself if you are good with that type of thing. If you work in a recreation or art instruction job, keep a folder of the stencils you trace off. I have almost the entire alphabet and I use the letters for other projects as well. For instance, in April and May, each person did a letter for the phrase “HAPPY SPRING” and we strung them on some twine and hung them as a banner.
STEP #1: Trace your letter on two pieces of cardboard. Cut out ONE of the letters. In this case, I also cut out the two “centers’ of the “B” which were to be used later.)
STEP #2: Apply a thin layer of glue to the first piece of cardboard with the letter traced on it. Do not do the whole letter at once,,,do a little at a time so that the glue doesn’t dry.
STEP #3: Apply the magazine strips over the glue and cover the entire letterTrim the edges so that the strips do not extend past the edge of the cardboard. This can be confusing to someone with Alzheimers but just keep telling them to COVER the letter completely and show them a sample of this step.
Take a look below at what one person in the later stages of Alzheimer’s did with the letter “J”. The strips were randomly crisscrossed and I thought it was another interesting way to do the project. I like it better than the one I did!
