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Reading Buddies


armywife8488

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I am supposed to post a program that I offer at my facility for my MEPAP2 final practicum on this forum. So here it is:

 

If you have a small child who loves to read and talk you might want to try out Park Ridge Nursing Centers Reading Buddies Program. This program was put in place to intertwine generations and allow the tiny humans and the older adults to learn from each other. Think about it for a minute. Older adults have been through life and have so much advice and stories to share; tiny humans are just beginning and have a lot of energy. They have imaginations that seem to help the older generation come alive and seem little again.

 

It’s pretty simple to start a program like this one. You will need a youth group of some sort whether it be a school group, daycare group, or Sunday School. You will need some children’s books appropriate for the ages of the kids you have coming over. You might also want to offer to have a snack provided. You will need dietary information from the teachers. Another idea to incorporate into this program is an arts and crafts session based off of what was just read. This program should be approximately 2 hours long.

 

The way we do this program is I am given a list of students and I pair the kids up with a resident at my facility. Each resident that is participating wears a name tag as do the children. Depending on how many residents participate some may have more than one child. We do ours in the main dining room and we have all the supplies ready to go by the time the kids arrive. Once everyone has been paired up the kids read to the residents. After that the kids and residents are encouraged to do some type of arts project depicting a scene from the book. Snacks are handed out during the arts and crafts activity. At the end of the program the kids are allowed to take their projects home or they may keep them at the facility.

 

This program as stated above meets the need to have intergenerational activities at your facility. Older adults love kids and it allows them to act like kids even if for one day. This is a program that is a big hit for both generations.

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Dear armywife8488,

What a great idea!  I'm retired from teaching and it's true kids love to read to others and the olders love to hear the kids!   Thank you for posting!

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We also encourage intergenerational reading. Not only do the children visit our facility and read for the Elder Adults, but our Elder adults also visit the children's school to read to them. We have done this several times and the kids love to visit with the older adults and my elder residents look upon the kids like they were their grandchildren. Smiles everywhere.

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