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Pensioner Playmates? What happens when you put a kindergarten in a care home?

For more than a quarter of a century, Providence Mount St Vincent nursing home has been operating a daycare centre in their facility.

This pre-school nursery is actually inside an old people’s home

Pre-schoolers and older people being cared for together, while interacting together and teaching each other at the same time. Genius!

Bringing generations together: The children sing, colour and read with the older residents. For more than 25 years, Providence Mount St Vincent has been operating the ILC (Inter-generational Learning Centre) – a nursing home that seeks to foster a sense of community among its approximately 400 residents through interactions with the youngsters in the facility's daycare. Source: Facebook/BrightVibes

How does that work?

The Mount’s website explains that the children and residents come together in a variety of planned activities such as music, dancing, art, lunch, and storytelling. The ILC offers children opportunities:

  • To learn about the normal ageing process;
  • To accept people with disabilities;
  • To be involved with people who are two or three generations apart;
  • To become part of an extended family;
  • To help them reduce their fear of older adults; and
  • To receive and give unconditional and unbounded love and attention.

In addition, residents and program participants benefit from:

  • Frequent interaction with children throughout their day;
  • Physical activity in playing with the children;
  • Opportunities to play, laugh and enjoy the spirit and joy that children bring to their home environment;
  • A renewed sense of self-worth;
  • An opportunity to transfer knowledge; and
  • The ability to serve as role models.

These activities result in mutual benefits for both generations.

Source: washington.providence.org

The children break the cycle of loneliness and boredom common in care homes.
The staff wanted to create a home where people came to live not die: The children break the cycle of loneliness and boredom common in care homes. Source: DailyMail.co.uk

The Growing Season

Filmed over the course of a year in a nursing home that is also home to a preschool, The Growing Season (formerly called Present Perfect) offers an intimate glimpse into a world where the very young and the very old learn and grow side by side, for a fleeting moment in time.

The film is currently in post-production and will be released in 2017. Click the source link below to watch the trailer.

Source: TheGrowingSeason

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A Comprehensive Guide to Successful Intergenerational Activities at Shared Site Programs

These activities are targeted at young children and frail adults but many can be easily adapted or modified for use with other populations.

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