Last Sunday we had a wonderful field trip to “Wheels on Fire”. Wheels on Fire pottery painting in Surprise AZ is a unique business in the Surprise and Goodyear, AZ area (actually it’s in Peoria but close by). They make beautiful pottery pieces that the public can come in and paint. So we thought it would be fun to do some pottery painting for seniors in assisted living. We brought some residents from our Surprise assisted living homes and our Goodyear assisted living home to try it out.
A Paradise for Parents is always looking for new activities for our residents. Pottery painting for seniors in assisted living seemed like something the residents would really enjoy.
We decided Sunday afternoon about 1 pm would be the best time to pick up our residents from both the Goodyear and Surprise assisted living homes to take them to pottery painting in Surprise AZ. That way the residents had a chance to finish their lunch. It was a beautiful day, so the residents really enjoyed the drive.
After loading up our residents and driving over it was about 2pm. Wheels on Fire is located at 8643 W. Kelton Ste #102 Peoria 85382 right near Bell Road and the 101. It was about a 25 minute drive from our Surprise assisted living homes and about a half hour from our Goodyear home.
Pottery Painting for Seniors in Assisted Living
When we arrived, there was handicap parking right outside. It was easy for our residents to move from our transportation vans right into the store.
The pottery painting in Surprise AZ store is in a beautiful building. It’s clean, warm and inviting. Many pottery places (think about your pottery class in high school) can be very dirty and not kept up well. Not Wheels on Fire. You could tell right away when you walked in that Mary really cared about her place. Everything was immaculate.
Mary had all sit down at a long table. Then she brought out some freshly-made coffee mugs and lots of colors of paint. Our residents each had a brush and a little palette for their paint. Some of them were a little shy at first, but soon they opened up and became budding Picasso’s! It was a great day of pottery painting for seniors in assisted living.
The Rest of the Pottery Painting in Surprise AZ Process
Some of our residents from our Goodyear and Surprise assisted living homes finished their painting very quickly. Others took their time to create more detailed works of art.
We even had one resident who is mostly blind paint a mug. It made me think how cool is that? What if we had to paint some things with our eyes closed. It would create a whole new perspective and open up new ideas. With what you see from some ‘modern’ artists today, certainly having a blind artist could be a new direction to go? What a great day for pottery painting for seniors in assisted living.
Once we had all the mugs painted, Mary collected them all. She also added everyone’s names to the mugs to personalize them. She has beautiful writing/painting skills! Over the next week she will fire them in her kiln. They will have a nice glossy appearance. And they will be completely safe for coffee or whatever other drink our residents want.
Return to Our Goodyear and Surprise Assisted Living Homes
Our residents had a wonderful time at Wheels on Fire pottery painting in Surprise AZ. They are all excited to see how the finished products turned out for the pottery painting for seniors in assisted living. We’ll try to post updates here so you can all see as well.
We then cleaned up the area a little and paid for the mugs (about $17 for the mugs and all the paint). All the paint is completely water soluble. Everything just wiped up with a wet rag. Once our table and our clothes were clean, we loaded up everyone into the vans and returned our residents to our Goodyear and Surprise assisted living homes. They all had smiles on their faces. We can’t wait to take more residents from our homes over to see Mary!
If you have kids or older adults, I think you would really like to take them to Wheels on Fire. You can learn more about Wheels on Fire through their Facebook page. Judging by the reviews, it looks like lots of other people enjoyed going there as well.
Thanks to Mary and the staff at Wheels on Fire. We really enjoyed our time there!
