Recently at Muddy Boots we have been really inspired by a series on Channel 4 called “Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds”.
As the name suggests, a group of children are taken to a retirement home in order to figure out the mutual benefit it would have on people at either end of the age spectrum.
With that in mind, we have been working to setup a partnership with the Amarna House Care Home on Boroughbridge Road. After a series of discussions regarding the programme and the potential benefit that we believe this sort of venture would have, we are pleased to announce that we are going to be starting to take small groups of our Pre-School children to the home for short play sessions.
Amarna house is a Dementia friendly care home split in to 4 units. Each week we will alternate between Tuesdays and Fridays and take children to all 4 of the units, tailoring our activities to each ward. We will used stories, craft activities, baking, train tracks, block building and even outdoor games to put on activities that will benefit the residents on each ward, no matter how mobile they are.
We will start the process by taking 6 children at a time for 30 minutes, with the view to going up to 8 children for 45 minutes if the initial pilot sessions are a success. We are very confident that this venture will be a success and that both generations will benefit from spending time together. Some of the benefits we envision are:
The residents teaching the children valuable life lessons
What better way for our children to learn important life lessons than to learn from wise elderly people who have lived a long and interesting life, and who have learned many valuable lessons along the way. Children love stories, and Care Home residents have hundreds of them to share!
It helps children learn to respect their elders
Some children may not have interaction with elderly people in their day-to-day lives. Interacting with older people is part of a child’s education and if children are having fun and learning with the residents, then their respect for each other will grow naturally.
Both generations are entertained
Some residents may not have any grandchildren in their life and would otherwise miss out on the joys of spending time with and being entertained by children. Similarly, children at the nursery may not have much time with grandparents and therefore miss out on the entertainment that the older generation can provide.
Here at Muddy Boots we believe that it will be beautiful to see the interaction between the two generations and think that both of our nurseries will benefit greatly from this venture.
Watch this space for plenty of updates & pictures from our first few sessions!