Intergenerational activities - what exactly are they and how can great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, and children benefit from doing them?
Combining childcare and eldercare is not a new concept, and with the high cost of day care for both children and elders, creating an intergenerational home seems to make sound financial sense for more and more families. Although pooling finances might be one benefit of an intergenerational home, there are also huge emotional and psychological rewards for a family.
Young children, teenagers and elders can all reap benefits from spending time with each other. A sandwich generation home can provide the opportunity for children to learn and grow from their grandparents’ real life stories, experiences and wisdom, while elders are given the opportunity to feel a renewed sense of belonging and appreciation within the family.
Intergenerational activities can consist of informal interactions; such as, holding hands or playing catch while sharing a conversation, to a more formal activity that is planned and structured. Whether informal or formal, interaction between the generations has a great potential to create meaningful memories which will be cherished by all family members.
Infant Activities • Simply exchanging smiles and cooing back and forth creates wonderful bonding time. • Babies enjoy being sung to.
Toddler and Preschool Age Activities • Playing catch with a “soft” ball. • Singing songs (including songs with body movement) e.g. "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands….." or "Head, shoulders, knees and toes…… • Playing with play doh (this activity is great for fine motor skills for all involved and using one's imagination). • Locking at a book together with pictures (no reading required). • Drawing activities - drawing pictures together, talking about shapes and colors or simply doing random drawings. • Simple art projects together. • Bean bag toss (can even grab an empty box or "clean" trash cans to make a "basket" for tossing the bean bags in. • Making time to have brief phone conversations during the week - simply singing a song together over the phone creates positive memories.
School Age Activities • Playing catch with a “soft” ball and bean bag toss (as mentioned above). • The school age child sings songs to and with the grandparent. • The school age child reads a book to their grandparent or looks through photo albums together. • Play doh activity or simple art project. • The school age child is old enough to participate in interviewing their grandparent and starts learning about their life story - asking simple questions, such as, "What were you favorite hobbies as a kid?" or "what was your favorite subject in school, grandma?"
Teen-ager Activities • Looking through photo albums together. • Participate in interviewing their grandparents as mentioned with school-age children, and expand on the questions. • For elderly grandparents, encourage teen-agers to participate (on an appropriate level) with the care activities - e.g. gentle massages, helping to put on lotion, etc.
Adult Children Activities • Same as teen-ager activities, and on a higher and broader scale. • BE PREPARED! While interviewing your parent, your relationship will most likely reach a new level of intimacy and bonding, creating cherished memories that you never knew possible!
Dorothy Breininger, CEO of The Delphi Center for Organization, Debby Bitticks, CEO and Lynn Benson MSW, President of Delphi Health Products, Inc. are a collaborative team of Intergenerational Organizing experts who specialize in unique products and services that help families of all ages preserve their past, organize the present and plan their future. This team has coauthored Cherished Memories—the Story of My Life, The Senior Organizer, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Life Lessons for Busy Moms—7 Essential Ingredients to Organize and Balance Your World and Time Efficiency Makeover. You can learn more about them and their products at www.delphihealthproducts.com
