How Creative Activities Support Healthy Ageing and Stronger Family Connections

Across Australia, aged care is evolving beyond meeting physical needs alone. Providers are increasingly recognising that quality of life is equally shaped by cognitive stimulation, emotional wellbeing and meaningful social connection.

Creative activities have traditionally been viewed as recreational, offering residents an enjoyable way to pass the time. However, growing international research suggests their impact extends far beyond entertainment. Participation in arts and crafts has been associated with improved wellbeing, opportunities for social connection, and support for cognitive engagement, making creative activities an increasingly valuable component of person-centred aged care.

The World Health Organization's landmark Health Evidence Network Report, which reviewed more than 3,000 studies, concluded that the arts can contribute to health promotion, disease prevention and the management of illness across the life course.

"The arts can play a major role in the promotion of health, the prevention of ill health, and the management and treatment of illness across the life course."
World Health Organization, Health Evidence Network Report 67 (2019)

This growing body of evidence is encouraging aged care providers to view creative engagement not simply as an activity on the daily program, but as an important contributor to healthy ageing.

Rather than being viewed as an optional leisure activity, creative engagement is increasingly recognised as an important contributor to healthy ageing. Whether supporting cognition, encouraging conversation or strengthening family relationships, arts and crafts can play a valuable role in helping older Australians live well.

More Than Just an Activity

Creative activities engage multiple aspects of health simultaneously. While a resident may simply be decorating a birdhouse, painting a canvas or assembling a seasonal craft, the activity encourages a combination of cognitive, emotional and social processes that contribute to overall wellbeing.

Rather than focusing on a single health outcome, arts and crafts create opportunities for residents to think, create, communicate and connect with others.

Source: Adapted from the World Health Organization's Health Evidence Network Report 67: What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being? (2019).

These benefits rarely occur in isolation. A single creative session may stimulate memory through conversation, strengthen hand function through painting, encourage social interaction with other residents and leave participants with a tangible sense of accomplishment. It is this combination of physical, cognitive and emotional engagement that makes creative activities such a valuable addition to contemporary aged care programs.

Keeping Minds Active Through Creativity

Healthy ageing is about more than remaining physically active. Maintaining cognitive engagement is equally important.

Activities such as painting, decorating, mosaics, woodworking and seasonal crafts encourage residents to make decisions, solve problems, recall memories and coordinate fine motor movements. These seemingly simple tasks activate multiple areas of the brain simultaneously.

The 2024 Lancet Commission on Dementia Prevention, Intervention and Care highlights the importance of maintaining cognitive reserve throughout life. Cognitive reserve refers to the brain's ability to adapt to ageing and neurological disease by drawing on strong neural networks built through lifelong learning, mental stimulation and social engagement.

While creative activities cannot cure dementia, they form part of the mentally stimulating experiences that help maintain brain function and support quality of life.

Supporting Residents Living with Dementia

For people living with dementia, success is rarely measured by producing a perfect finished product.

Instead, creative activities provide opportunities to:

• express emotions without relying on words
• stimulate long-term memories
• reduce agitation and anxiety
• experience purpose and achievement
• strengthen social interaction

The World Health Organization notes that arts engagement can assist in the management of neurological disorders and improve emotional wellbeing across later life.

Unlike many daily tasks that may become increasingly difficult, creative activities have no right or wrong outcome. Every resident can participate at their own pace and ability, helping preserve confidence and independence.

Creativity Supports Emotional Wellbeing

Loneliness remains one of the greatest challenges facing residential aged care. Many residents experience significant changes when entering care, including reduced independence, loss of familiar routines and fewer opportunities for meaningful occupation.

Craft sessions naturally encourage conversation, collaboration and storytelling. Residents frequently reminisce while creating projects, share personal experiences and celebrate one another's achievements.

The WHO review concluded that participation in the arts contributes to improved mental wellbeing, reduced loneliness and stronger social connectedness across older populations.

The Missing Piece: Making Aged Care Welcoming for Families

While much attention is given to resident wellbeing, another challenge often goes unnoticed.Family visits can become less frequent over time.

For families with young children, visiting an aged care facility can be difficult. Quiet lounges, clinical environments and limited opportunities for children to engage often lead to shorter visits. Parents may feel pressure to keep children entertained, while children can struggle to remain engaged during extended visits.

The result is often less frequent visits and fewer opportunities for meaningful family connection.Providing simple craft activities for children changes the dynamic completely.

Instead of asking children to sit quietly, aged care providers can invite them to create alongside grandparents.

Activities might include:

• decorating birdhouses
• painting wooden ornaments
• making greeting cards
• seasonal craft projects
• colouring together
• creating keepsakes to take home

The conversation shifts from:

"How long should we stay?"

to

"Let's finish this together."

These shared experiences encourage storytelling, laughter and collaboration across generations.

Residents are no longer passive recipients of a visit. They become teachers, helpers and creators.

Building Better Aged Care Experiences

Modern aged care is increasingly centred around meaningful engagement rather than simply providing activities to fill time.

Creative programs support multiple aspects of resident wellbeing simultaneously:

• Cognitive stimulation
• Fine motor skill maintenance
• Emotional wellbeing
• Social interaction
• Sense of purpose
• Intergenerational connection

The WHO's comprehensive review concludes that engagement in the arts offers benefits throughout the life course and recommends greater integration of creative activities into health and social care settings.

References

World Health Organization (WHO)

Fancourt, D., & Finn, S. (2019). What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being? A Scoping Review. Health Evidence Network Synthesis Report No. 67. WHO Regional Office for Europe. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK553773/

The Lancet Commission

Livingston, G., et al. (2024). Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2024 report of the Lancet Standing Commission. The Lancet, 404(10452), 572–628.

World Health Organization Key Findings

WHO Regional Office for Europe. The arts contribute to health promotion, disease prevention and the management of illness across the life course.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

Dementia in Australia. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/dementia/dementia-in-australia (Australian prevalence, burden of disease and aged care statistics.)