Creating a DIY rainbow mirror ball is a straightforward and enjoyable craft for seniors or loved ones with dementia. Using simple, inexpensive materials, this activity offers an engaging way to create something visually pleasing and adds a bit of sparkle to your surroundings by creating something beautiful together.
This article is a step by step guide for making a DIY rainbow mirror ball craft for seniors living with dementia.
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Material You’ll Need
- A styrofoam ball (about 10-30 cm in diameter)
- Self-adhesive mirror tiles or square mirrors
- A selection of colourful acrylic paints, or permanent marker pens
- Small paintbrushes
- Scissors
- A bowl or container for water (for washing brushes)
- Newspaper or a plastic mat to protect your workspace
- A hanging string or decorative ribbon (optional) and screw in hook eye
- Glue (if needed)
Method
Step 1: Prepare Your Workspace
For an easy clean-up later, you can lay out newspaper on the table to cover the surface or like we did just wipe off when your finished. Lay everything out so that its within reach, so you can comfortably pick materials as you nneed them.
Even setting down all the materials became part of the crafting experience, giving us a chance to talk about our favourite colours in the process.
Step 2: Paint the Foam Ball (Optional)
You can choose to leave the ball plain if you plan to cover the whole thing in mirror tiles. Or you can choose to leave sections of the ball visible and if so you may want to paint the ball with different colours that can shine through. Holding the ball gently start painting in the colour you love.
If that’s too difficult, balance it on hollowed out ring of cardboard to keep it steady for painting. Allow the paint to dry.
Step 3: Attach Mirror Tiles
Once the ball was dry, we began to attach the self-adhesive mirror tiles. You can cut the pieces into small individual pieces or if you’re like us it easier to use them as strips and just cut to size. Just peel off the back of a tile strip and press it onto the foam.
Be careful with your loved ones if dementia is more progressed especially if using small parts like this if any concerns with eating or pocketing this small pieces.
Step 4: Complete the Design
After the mirror tiles strips were stuck on you’ll need to fill any gaps. You can do that by trimming strips to individual tiles to fit in the spaces. We worked together to measure and cut them down with scissors before attaching them.
This step involved a bit of coordination, if it helps your loved one you can cut out the pieces ready to be stuck on.
Step 5: Painting the tiles
To make a multicolour DIY disco ball, paint the tiles in different colours or use permanent marker pens if that’s easier for a colourful design. Holding the disco ball gently start painting in the colour you love. If that’s too difficult, use a hollowed out ring of cardboard to balance the disco ball and keep it steady for painting.
Let the paint dry on the completed disco ball, this gave us a moment to chat while we waited on our colour choices. It was a peaceful pause before we moved on to the next step.
Step 6: Hanging
Lastly, you can screw in a hook eye at the top of the ball if you want to hang it. You can cut a piece of ribbon (or whatever material you prefer string, chain etc) and tie it to the eye at the top of the ball to hang it up later.
If Something Goes Wrong
If a tile comes off the ball, or if the paint starts smudging, you can simply stick on a fresh tile with glue or wipe the smudge design and repaint (or wait til dry and paint over it). We didn’t give it too much thought and just continued applying the tiles so that the ball retained its charm. You can add some mod podge over the top to help it stay fixed on or clear glue to hold everything in place.
Try This Variation
For a simpler version you can:-
- skip the painting step altogether, you can use the tiles directly on the foam ball or you can cover the ball with foil.
- Use plastic gems or colourful stickers instead of mirror tiles.
- Instead of using a foam ball, you can create a flat mirror mosaic piece using a wooden board as a base. This can be a bit easier, especially for someone who prefers not to work with shapes. You could also decorate a smaller piece, like a mirror or frame, which might be less fiddly.
When We Finished
Once the mirror ball was complete, we placed it on the table where it could catch the light. It felt satisfying to see our handiwork shine and reflect an array of colours in the room. This DIY mirror ball craft for seniors is a simple yet rewarding activity that opened up avenues for colour exploration and conversation, making it a perfect project for seniors or loved ones living with dementia to enjoy together.
If you’re looking for more craft ideas, then try these easy 10 crafts ideas for Alzheimers