The act of spending time together is so special and valued and cannot be understated. Connecting Generations improves the physical, mental and emotional health and safety awareness understanding of the participants involved and the overall level of happiness and connectivity”
Dr Susie O’Neill, KIDS Foundation Founder
Connecting Generations links preschool aged children and residents of aged care centres together to learn about safety risk awareness (through SeeMore Safety), engage in physical activity together, share conversations and build relationships.
The program not only educates and empowers children and elderly people about keeping themselves injury free, it develops social and emotional wellbeing by providing participants with many opportunities to share intergenerational experiences.
Connecting Generations is having an impact
The elderly and young members of our communities have been identified as having the highest injury rates through accidents. KIDS Foundation believes that we can play a role in changing these statistics by bringing together these generations on a regular basis so they can learn from each other and share their knowledge and understandings of personal safety. Both age groups bring valuable knowledge and insight about safety awareness to the sessions.
Aside from learning about safety awareness from each other, the social, emotional and physical benefits of spending time together cannot be understated!
The program
Connecting Generations: Adopt a Grand buddy program is a 12 session program conducted over a 1-year period in which elderly and preschool children meet. The program has been created in response to an identified need of reducing injuries and increasing safety awareness in both the young and the elderly members of our community.
During each session, the participants participate in fun and light exercise activity, an educational session with SeeMore Safety and an activity to encourage social relationships, eg: craft, games, songs, etc. In these sessions the children and elderly residents interact with each other and learn valuable skills and life lessons, all while being fully supervised by staff from both the early childhood education and the aged care centre.
KIDS Foundation seeks funding and grant opportunities that enable us to deliver Connecting Generations as a free program that is available to early childhood education centres and aged care centres.
REGISTER YOUR INTEREST IN THIS PROGRAM
If you’d like your centre involved in Connecting Generations, please get in touch KIDS Foundation via administration@kidsfoundation.org.au
Partnership brings Connecting Generations to regional NSW
With a generous $81,000 in funding support from Newcastle Permanent Charitable Foundation, the KIDS Foundation is able to match 65 early education childhood centres/groups with aged care facilities/groups throughout NSW to provide this program free of charge.
Connecting Generations is an extension of the KIDS Foundation’s SeeMore Safety program, an early year’s safety education program that focuses on learning through literature and real-life experiences.
Find out more