ActivityProfessional.Com Login

Username/Email:
Password:
Keep me signed in
Forget your Password Reset it!

• Home
• NCCAP CE Credit
• Free Activity Ideas
• Instructor
• Create an Account

Contact:
info@activityprofessional.com
330.835.5009
(M-F 9:30-9:00 Eastern)
or
Voice Mail: 925-391-0363

Healthcare Training Institute - Quality Education since 1979

Section 20
Color Sorting

Table of Contents | NCCAP/NCTRC CE Booklet

Color Sorting is an activity which requires more mental ability than either Caps-in-a-Bowl or the Bank Exercise.  In this activity, the resident puts the red gallon milk cap into the red butter dish or bowl, and the blue gallon milk cap into the blue butter dish or bowl.  Of course, your colors may vary. 

The Challenge of Material Collection
Obviously gathering the materials for this Success Therapy® Object Manipulation Activity requires a little research and planning that entails collecting caps, noting their color, and then searching the grocery and discount stores for solid colored margarine tubs or bowls.  If you get desperate for a color match, you can always resort to spray painting each.  However, if you decide to utilize spray paint, spray as thin a coat as possible and periodically monitor your materials for the possibility of chipping or peeling paint.

How to Introduce Color Sorting
Once you have assembled your materials, the object of this ST® Activity is to sort 3 to 7 caps, the red cap in the red bowl and the blue cap in the blue bowl.  Initiate this activity with your resident by demonstrating first.  Then offer him or her a cap to take. After offering the cap, ask your resident to put the red cap, for example, in the red bowl. 

No Total Physical Assistance Here
You would not have a “total physical assist” Care Plan Approach at this level, as you may have in the case of Caps-in-a-Bowl.  The reason is, your resident would need to have the hand coordination and the cognitive ability to understand the concept of Color Sorting as a prerequisite for this activity.

Adaptations Based Upon the Level of Assistance Given
You might have a Care Plan Approach that would indicate…

 By “assist with an elbow prompt’ I mean you would ask, “Can you put the red cap in the red bowl like I did?” Placing the red cap in your resident’s hand, you might nudge his or her elbow gently towards the correct bowl. While doing this, note if your physical touch is acceptable to your resident, of course. 

A way to increase the difficulty of Color Sorting is by decreasing the level of instruction you provide.  A sample Care Plan Goal illustrating this decrease in instruction would be…

Adaptations Based Upon Changing the Materials
Another way to adapt the difficulty level of Color Sorting is, of course, to increase the number of caps to be sorted. 

Approaches with the above Goals might be…

Residents with whom to try Color Sorting

Culture Change Implementation: Place Color Sorting in labeled Activity Project Bag left in resident’s room for CNA, volunteer, etc. use

Now, let’s assume your resident can easily sort colors, but the resident does not really experience the feeling of success we want, because this ST® Object Manipulation does not present enough of a challenge.  Try offering or introducing Color Pattern Cards.  Color Pattern Cards are a way of increasing the difficulty of Color Sorting.