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Little Acorns Pre-School engage with residents of Grovewoodhttps://www.communityfoundation.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/LittleAcorn4.jpgtop-centerhttps://www.communityfoundation.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/LittleAcorn4.jpgtop-centermodule_group modules
Little Acorns Pre-School received £280 from the Innogy Renewables UK Middlemoor Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund at the Community Foundation to support an inter-generational project with a local care home.
Here, Mrs Sue Courty, a group leader at Little Acorns explains the project and what it means to the children of Little Acorns and residents of Grovewood House:
white module content 1 https://www.communityfoundation.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/LittleAcorn1.jpg Creating and filling bird feeders together, with lots of chat and the sharing of ideas
“We have always been very involved with events in our community and have visited Grovewood house on many occasions over the years to sing and share stories with the elderly residents, predominantly at Christmas time. However we were keen to do more to promote the very special and unique relationships we have seen grow between young and old and to facilitate the engagement and interaction of young children with the elderly in a safe and purposeful way.
“We have arranged a number of sessions at Grovewood house care home over the past few months creating Christmas cards and decorations, designing, constructing and filling bird feeders to hang in both the Grovewood and village gardens. Together they churned milk into butter to spread on scones and enjoyed several singing sessions, with both generations celebrating new and old favourites.
1 https://www.communityfoundation.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/LittleAcorn2.jpg Spreading peanut butter on wooden pizza bases
“We shared many resources from the Bailiffgate Museum with our old friends as part of our ‘Journey Through Time’ but even the simplest of things like reading a books became exceptional moments.
“What we witnessed in those few sessions in each others’ company resulted in some life affirming interactions, with both the care staff and the resident’s families commenting on how beneficial the intergenerational project had been. The children really enjoyed the different experiences and increased attention and had so many opportunities to develop their social and emotional skills as well as their language and communication. The children were keen to show their older friends how to create pizzas for the birds and squirrels and how to fill hollow apples and oranges with bird seed using fat and peanut butter, whilst the older generation ably demonstrated the use of playground toys and writing equipment from the bygone ages using skills that are pretty much now underutilised.
1 https://www.communityfoundation.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/LittleAcorn3.jpg Sharing books together
“The children brought a new sense of vibrancy and fun to the home, the focus for many of the residents was no longer on watching time pass but on living in the moment, singing songs and laughing with the little ones.
“It is hard to describe the special and unique wow moments we shared altogether, but perhaps some of the attached photographs will show just how amazing the whole experience has been.