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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- celebrate a special time of year in any culture
- string cranberries and popcorn for the birds on dental floss to hang in the trees
- spring into Spring with bubbles and 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. |