Childcare centre bridges gap with aged care visits

WITH the ever-increasing segregation between young and elderly, Creative Garden Centenary Heights Early Learning Centre staff want to make a difference.

Creative Garden Centenary Heights and their monthly visits to the local aged care home in a bid to bridge the generational gap. Genevieve Baragry, 4, and Beryl Green. Picture: Contributed

WITH the ever-increasing segregation between young and elderly, Creative Garden Centenary Heights Early Learning Centre staff want to make a difference.

They have organised monthly visits to the local aged care home, with wonderful results for all involved.

"The Salem Lutheran Rest Home is just one block away, so I called them earlier in the year to see if they were interested in regular visits," said centre director Linda Smith.

"As we live in a society where young and old is increasingly segregated with very limited opportunity for the two age groups to interact, we felt this would benefit both parties. They jumped at the opportunity for us to visit monthly."

The children aged three to five years and their educators arrive around morning tea time when the aged care residents are usually in the common room where they sing for them and participate in craft activities and games.

"On our first visit the children were very curious about the whole center, so with the help of the staff we walked around the center greeting some of the elderly that were not able to leave their rooms," said Ms Smith.

The children wear yellow safety vests in the centre and as they walk from the childcare centre.

"Usually the elderly are happy to talk to the children and engage with them in activities such as storytelling," said Ms Smith.

"I think they love the feeling of someone just coming to say hello, a little contact with someone so much younger than themselves. Meanwhile, the children are learning valuable lessons from the visits like kindness and compassion, and giving back to the community."

This initiative will significantly improve each child's early learning experience, as it allows for them to achieve a key outcome in the Early Years Learning Framework.

Learning Outcome 2 from the Early Years Learning Framework is about developing a sense of belonging to groups and communities and understanding the reciprocal rights and responsibilities of active community participation.

Interactions with residents of Salem Lutheran Rest Home would allow for the children expand their understanding of key roles in the community and equip them with the confidence to interact with and aspire to being a valuable member of the world they live in.

Originally published as Childcare centre bridges gap with aged care visits