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National Hot Tea Month Activities for Seniors

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Senior Activity Ideas for January - National Hot Tea Month

January is National Hot Tea Month and this is a great theme for activities directors to use with their group of seniors.

Since everyone has some experience with hot tea, regardless of age or background, this is a fun theme that can reach out to a wide group. Using this theme, you can hold programs with your group that include arts and crafts, games, and other activities.

Happy National Hot Tea Month!

Photo by dulcie used under CC 2.0

Hold a Tea Tasting

Since there are so many varieties of tea, a tea tasting is a perfect way to introduce the group to something new while still being in their comfort zone. It is also a great social program that sparks discussion between the members of the group.

There are two ways you can run the tea tasting. The first is to do a blind tea tasting where they try to identify what kind of tea it is they are tasting. Alternatively, you can simply offer many types of different teas (in small portions) for them to taste. If you do this, then it is important to have a wide variety of teas, and, if possible, some teas that would be new to them.

Photo by Michael Allen Smith used under CC 2.0

Host a Tea Party

Hosting a Tea Party

This is the most obvious of all the National Hot Tea Month activities. If you have a women's group, you can plan a special tea party just for them, or you can host an event for everyone.

Make the event special by sending a lovely invitation and asking them to dress in their finest.

Decorate the room with flowers and lace. Lay fake pearls across the tables to give it that Victorian tea party feel. Have some old music playing.

Inter-generational Idea
Invite some young girls to a ladies tea party. Check with your local Girl Scout or Brownie troops for interested groups. Perhaps you could send invites to granddaughters (and great-granddaughters) of some of your seniors for a Granddaughter Tea Party.

It should be a fun time for everyone!

Tea party photo by *Vintage Fairytale* used under CC 2.0

Hot Tea Trivia

Tea Trivia Questions

Tea Quizzes and Tea Trivia -- Fun Trivia: Tea trivia questions and quizzes. Thousands of quizzes and quiz questions and answers about Tea.
Tea Trivia: Toss a little tea trivia into your next afternoon tea party and quiz your friends on their knowledge of this healthy, delicious, and relaxing beverage.

Tea Games & Activities

Activities

Take some polls and discuss the results of the group
What percentage of your group prefers tea to coffee? What percentage puts milk in their tea? What percentage likes their tea strong? Which type of tea is the most favored? What percentage of your group prefers hot tea to iced tea?
How Many Teas Can You Name?
Using a white board, chalk board, or large pad to keep track, as a group try to think of as many different types of tea as you can. You could make this a game, by dividing into two teams, and going back and forth.
Tea Party Bingo
Bingo is favorite amongst most seniors, and there is a great Tea Party Bingo Game game that comes with a story to read. You can reuse the cards and play again by pulling the words from a bag.
How Many Words...?
How many words can you find in "Earl Gray"? "Tea Party"? "Cup of Tea"?
Another alternative would be to think of words with "tea" in it (like teach, tear, steak). Here is list of words with tea in them.
A lower functioning group could try to name things in the room that start with "T".
Tell Some Tea Jokes
Yeah, they're corny, but they're still fun. Check out this list of tea jokes..
Teacup/Teapot Matching Game
Print out two copies of several photos of teacups or teapots and hang face down on a board or wall. Clearly number each photo. Divide the group into a few teams (or if it's a small group, play individually). Have someone on a team call out two numbers, and flip them over. If they match, then they get a point and get to go again. The team with the most points at the end wins. There are photos of teacups and teapots below that would work great for this.

Teapots & Teacups

Milk in the tea?

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Hot Tea Short Stories

Short Stories to Read Aloud

Reading to your group of seniors is an excellent activity that they enjoy, especially as their eyesight may not allow them to read as much as they used to.

It can be a good fill-in when another program falls through or goes short (and we all know that happens). It is nice to have a few short stories on hand at all times.

Reading short stories is a nice activity to provide to volunteers if you have them. Some people may not be comfortable leading a big program themselves, but would enjoy reading to them.

A Cup of Tea by Katherine Mansfield
A Cup of Tea is a lovely short story written in 1922. It is available to be read online for free courtesy of New Zealand Electronic Text Center, or it can be downloaded for free as an audio book from LibraVox (Story #4).
Ginger Root Tea by Lotay Yang
Ginger Root Tea is a short story by blogger Lotay Yang.
A Nice Cup of Tea by George Orwell
A nice Cup of Tea is an essay on making great tea that was first published in the Evening Standard newspaper of 12 January 1946.

Tea Crafts

Craft Projects

Make a Tea Bag Wreath
How do you decorate for National Hot Tea Month? With a tea bag wreath! Check out this wreath made with clothes pins, and this other variation on it.
Do Tea Bag Decoupage
Tea bags have beautiful colors and artwork on their packaging so they are great for decoupage. Check out this tea bag clipboard. You can use the same idea to decoupage a small wooden box, or a small board as a door hanging.
Make Paper Crafts
Teacups and teapots are great shapes so paper crafts are perfect for National Hot Tea Month. Be sure to have some pieces already cut out ahead of time for those who have a hard time cutting. Try these: Teacup Tidings, Teacup Card.
Make Teacup Candles
While this may not work for every senior group (as residences often do not allow candles), this is a fun and beautiful craft. Turn a teacup into a lovely candle like these.

More Teacup Crafts

Arts

Senior Art Class Ideas for National Hot Tea Month

Teacups and teapots make for beautiful subjects for a still life painting or drawing. Lead a class in making a teacup watercolor, or painting, or even a drawing class.

Have some blank teacups and teapots printed that people can use to draw their own decorative designs on.
Here are a some examples:
Teacup 1 - Teacup 2 - Teapot

Art History
Hold an art history slideshow of beautiful tea related artwork. Here are a few to get you started:

Photo by Roy Patrick Tan used under CC 2.0

Teapots

Cooking

Tea Cookies

It seems pretty obvious that during National Hot Tea Month, the cooking group should make tea cookies. Here are some recipes for cookies made with tea, and cookies that taste great with tea.

- Recipe: Earl Grey Tea Cookies
- Recipe: Almond Tea Cookies
- Recipe: Polish Tea Cookies
- Recipe: Lemon Tea Cookies
- Recipe: Green-Tea Shortbread
- Presentation Idea: Tea Bag Cookies

You can use your favorite cookie recipe with one of these cookie cutters:

Other Senior Activities

Guestbook

Reply

SynchronicityHouse Apr 11, 2012 @ 4:43 pm | delete

What a brilliant creative Lens - I love it! You've shared some great ideas and links, can't wait to check out them out. You so deserved LOTD.

Reply

Ladyeaglefeather Mar 5, 2012 @ 10:34 am | delete

Very cool lens. I love tea. Some times I use milk, it depends on the type of yea I am drinking.

Reply

JaguarJulie Jan 27, 2012 @ 12:43 pm | delete

I used to put milk in my tea ... but not anymore ... now it's lemon.

Reply

Gatortail2 Jan 23, 2012 @ 3:41 pm | delete

I have allways believed America should never had a Boston Tea Party but rather a Boston Coffee Party and thrown that file smelling black varnish over board instead. I have a problem at every business meeting tea is never offered and I must endure the stench of coffee through out the meeting!

Reply

TrebAllen Jan 20, 2012 @ 11:47 pm | delete

This is an absolutely beautiful, well laid out and informative lens. Congratulations on your very well deserved LotD!
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Tea Quotes

There is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Each cup of tea represents an imaginary voyage. ~Catherine Douzel

There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea. ~Bernard-Paul Heroux

Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves - slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future. ~Thich Nat Hahn

If you are cold, tea will warm you. If you are too heated, it will cool you. If you are depressed, it will cheer you. If you are excited, it will calm you. ~Gladstone

All true tea lovers not only like their tea strong, but like it a little stronger with each year that passes. ~George Orwell