Hi Everyone, I just joined (March 1, 2017), and I am LOVING the website so far. I am the director of a a small senior day care facility ( as of February 1, 2017), and I would like to explore/plan inter-generational activities as a fixed part of our weekly schedule. Does anyone have any intergenerational ideas and activities that are working well? I would love some pointers in the right direction. Thanks in advance.
Hi Darlene, welcome to Golden carers. Inter-generational activities are such a good idea. We used to have a Playgroup come around every fortnight. It was very popular; we placed a large picnic rug on the floor and the toddlers played and interacted with the elders for about an hour. We also got some high school musicians to come and play their instruments for half an hour and then play cards or other games with the residents. Cheers.
Thanks for responding Solange. I never would have thought of organizing an event with Toddlers, but I like the idea of a playgroup with toddlers. Great idea to have high school students play their instruments and then play cards and other games with the residents. LOVE it. I'll start working on seeing how I can implement some of these ideas at my facility. THANKS! :-)
Just an update to let you know I have my first meeting with the principal of an elementary school tomorrow to organize an inter-generational activity for world meteorological day. If this goes well, I plan to role out a series of scheduled inter-generational activities various elementary and secondary schools on a rotation basis. Stay tuned and THANKS again for the ideas.
Hi Solange, Just got back to my desk. The meeting with the school principal went superbly well. She loves the idea and can see how it would benefit the senior, the youngsters and the community at large. She will discuss proposal with the teachers today and will confirm back to me tomorrow. She loves my proposal to have the elementary classes visit our senior facility on a structured basis, once per month. So grade 1 this month,grade 2 April, Grade 3 May etc. We would plan activities appropriate to the age of the visiting group. Preschoolers can color and draw with our senior citizens, older kids may do arts and crafts work. One thing we discussed is finding male oriented activities for the boys to do with our senior men at the center. The principal suggested Kite making. I like that idea, but it can't be done in one visit, (45 minutes). Any ideas on your end for specific inter-generational activities for senior men and boys? Once I get a good rotation in place with the elementary school, I plan to visit the principal of the secondary school ( high school) to discuss computer related inter-generational activities! THANKS again. :-)
Hi Darlene, well done, I am sure your clients will enjoy theses activities. Regarding activities for the boys, kites are a good idea, you may also try: paper airplanes, skittles, sculpting, poster making, stick figures drawing. All the very best!
I absolutely love this idea and can be easily tailored to suit the seasons and have used a very similar board before. There are so many amazing, wonderful ideas on this site. Thank you so much
Evangeline Girling Registered Manager United Kingdom