Baby Steps

Baby Steps

This level of immersion will be characterized by:

  • easy facilitation (keeping it simple is the best formula for success!)
  • significant, though limited inter-action, due to short amount of time, infrequency of visits, and lack of small group contact
  • opportunity to build experience in blending generations
  • Click Here to Get Started!

Baby Step entry level could look like this:

  • a Sparks group having a meeting at the seniors’ centre lounge
  • a class doing a choral presentation for a special event at the home
  • an older adult coming to read a story to a pre-school group

sharing_little_buddies_with_elder_buddies   reciting_poetry_   celebration_presentation

  • by invitation, coming to the seniors’ home dressed for Halloween
  • a grandparent spending one-on-one time with one of her/his many grandchildren
  • sitting down beside an older adult on a park bench and starting a conversation

the_fishing_story   spring_chat

  • facilitating the honoring of grandparents (students as part of curriculum write to their grandparent or to a valued elder friend of the family), invite grandparents in to share a craft, story, past occupation
the_music_lesson    grandmother_and_grandson_teach_the_class
  • assist students in developing a family tree framework, and enlist parents and grandparents to help the child fill in the information
  • inviting a veteran to speak at a Remembrance Day or Citizenship ceremony at the school, visiting classrooms after to chat

sharing_stories_of_ww_ii

  • a handful of pre-schoolers visiting a seniors’ recreational facility for crafts, or story time
  • a high school volunteer program that encourages youth to build volunteer hours assisting at the seniors’ home bazaar
  • having a seniors’ naturalist club accompany a class on a field trip to a bird sanctuary
sharing_past_knowledge_of_the_land    learning_about_environment_from_elder_volunteers
  • parents and students participating a baking day at school, mix and match goodies onto small styrofoam trays, wrap and decorate, and hand deliver to elders 1-on-1, not forgetting there will be diabetics on the receiving end as well.
  • older adults are invited to the school for a Citizenship Ceremony, guest speaker, concert, talent show, or Christmas Bazaar, with a social hour of cookies and tea to follow
iced_tea_party    showing_off_christmas_store
  • older adults crochet or knit bears for the children’s ward at the hospital, students come to assist in stuffing them
  • share a sing-a-long

a_song_in_the_heart    old_and_new_notes    winter_sing-a-long

  • celebrate a special time of year in any culture

milliners_model    youth_between_two_hats    milliner_and_client    spring_hats_for_everyone    pumpkin_carving

  • string cranberries and popcorn for the birds on dental floss to hang in the trees

teamwork_is_for_the_birds

  • spring into Spring with bubbles and sketching elder buddies
simple_spring_things    sketching_elder_buddies

Let us know if you have a Baby Steps project that you would like us to know about, would like us to feature on this website and share your contact information.