How to Create Fun Scenic Rides for
Your Senior Residents

You can make your weekly scenic rides a bit more interesting for both you and your residents with just a few tweaks.

Scenic rides can be a fun activity where your residents can explore. Unfortunately, they can also be an activity where your residents fall asleep. So to keep your residents awake and engaged throughout the whole scenic ride, be sure to add in a few fun ideas:

Play Music. Play big band music or familiar songs for your residents to enjoy as they tap their feet or sing along.

Add a Bit of Mystery. Before the ride, type up a clue about a place that they will see while on the ride. Hand out the clue sheets as residents board the bus. Ask residents if they can answer the clue.

Bring Along Coffee & Donuts. If you are driving residents to a scenic location, bring along coffee and donuts for them to eat while the bus is stopped and the residents are enjoying the view.

People-Watch. Take residents to urban areas to watch the exciting hustle and bustle from the bus windows.

Animal-Watch. Drive residents past farms and ask residents to identify the animals that they see.

Host a Scavenger Hunt. Use a scavenger hunt list that contains items that residents may see along the ride. Encourage residents to check off the items once they see them.

Give a Tour. Tell the residents what they are seeing from their windows as your bus driver passes by. If you are passing by a historical location, ask the bus driver to pull into the parking area so that you can give a few facts about the site.

Name It. Give your scenic ride a fun name like “Road Trip” or “Mystery Scenic Ride” to persuade more people to want to go.

Road Trip Bingo. Use bingo cards featuring pictures of some of the items that they may see along the ride. Encourage residents to mark an “X” through the item on the card. Hand out bingo cards and pens as residents board the bus. Award small prizes to the winners.