Young and old get together for fun events in Wick
Children in Wick have been meeting the town’s elderly residents thanks to an intergenerational initiative between Newton Park Nursery and Riverside House Care Home.
The nursery children have been visiting the care home residents over the past few weeks as part of the special project.
The sessions were all play-based, allowing both children and residents to learn together through playful experiences.
This included parachute games, sensory play as well as songs and music from both generations. Many of the children and residents quickly found and shared common interests such as farming and vehicles.
Care home residents visited Newton Park Nursery for an Easter fun day event as well.
Riverside resident Joan said she loved “the whole morning playing with the kids” while Betty said that “it was an excellent morning and the children were so well-behaved”.
Freya from the nursery said: “A man played the fiddle for us. It was Scotland the Brave song. I loved it.”
Kodi said: “I was telling the manny all about tractors. He liked tractors because he was a farmer.”
Heather Sutherland, equity and excellence lead at Newton Park Nursery, said: “We have been working together over the past few weeks with the nursery visiting the residents at the home and intend to celebrate the end of the project with a nursery fun day, bringing the residents to join the children here at Newton Park nursery.
“The project has been a great success and both the nursery children and the residents have looked forward to the visits every week.
“Staff have seen such a positive impact for both the children and the Riverside residents that we would love to share our story.
“We plan to continue the partnership with joint activities termly.”
