The Ideas Behind Bi-Folkal Kits

Bi-Folkal Kits Begin With Remembering.
Remembering is the first word of every kit title, and it's the first focus of every item we produce. Reminiscence programs can meet many needs: the need of the family to know and embrace its history; the need of older adults to put their lives in perspective; and the need of the community to understand and honor the accomplishments of earlier generations.
For information about individual kits, click on the titles listed below.

Remembering...

  1. County Fairs
  2. Train Rides
  3. 1924
  4. School Days
  5. the Depression
  6. Farm Days
  7. Fall
  8. Automobiles
  9. Birthdays
  10. Summertime
  11. Home Front
  12. Work Life
  13. the Fashion
  14. Music
  15. Fun and Games
  16. Pets
  17. Home
  18. African American Lives
  19. the Fifties
  20. Spring

 

 

 

Contact Information:
Bi-Folkal Productions, Inc.
809 Williamson St.
Madison, WI 53703
800-568-5357
bifolks@bifolkal.org

 

 

Bi-Folkal Kits Are Multi-Sensory.
All five senses trigger memories and transmit information. In any group program, the more senses you involve, the more people you involve. And the more you involve them.

Sight. A picture is worth a thousand memories when you look at it with an older adult. A single photograph of Main Street fifty years ago can prompt an entire afternoon of memories. Hand-held photographs and pictures are great for individuals and small groups. But for larger groups, use slides. What's so great about slides? See the introductory page for Slideas.

Sound. Music is the universal language. Without saying a word, it can remind us of the occasions of our lives - the events, the celebrations, the transitions. In addition to sing-along songs and mood music, Bi-Folkal kits include stories to listen to and discuss.

Smell. "Nothing awakens a reminiscence like an odor," according to Victor Hugo. We include scented stickers in several of our kits. People scratch, sniff, and remember.

Taste. Food provides some of the programming opportunities that are the most fun - and the most involving. Our program manuals suggest things to taste to remember the kit topic. And there are recipes for things to make and eat - corn dogs to remember county fairs, butternut squash soup for fall. Things to touch. To touch is to make a connection - with an item or texture, with the person passing the object, and perhaps with the memory of a time or a place or an event long since forgotten. Each of our kits includes things to touch related to the kit topic - a silky stocking, a tin cup, a yo-yo, a flour sack, baseball cards, marbles. Do touch!

These thoughts introduce the slide/tape in the Bi-Folkal kit, Remembering Farm Days, Morning Chores and Other Times Remembered by Hadley Read:

When you reach September
of your years
you have the right to choose
those best times to remember.
That's what I've done.
Bi-Folkal Kits Can Make History All you need is a Bi-Folkal kit and some older adults. Put them together and what do you get? Eye-witness accounts of the past - his story, and her story, too. With a Bi-Folkal kit, you can do it. The memories of people's best times - and other times, too -are waiting to be collected and preserved. Bi-Folkal kits are just the ticket for the time machines ready to depart from the senior center, Grandma's birthday party, a historical society meeting, a nursing home, or the folks' golden anniversary celebration. Anywhere that the experienced and the curious get together, a Bi-Folkal kit can go, to bring back old memories...and to create new ones.