By Anne Lau
When preschoolers interact with seniors, both generations benefit in incredible ways! As seen from the recent CNA docuseries “It Takes A Village”, intergenerational interactions can help our seniors be more engaged physically and mentally, providing a sense of purpose and fulfilment. Our children also gain more confidence with the love from the seniors, while learning the values of respect, compassion and concern for the elderly.
At Little Seeds Preschool (Praiseland), we take pride in teaching our children values of empathy and respect through our values-based curriculum. To take a step further, we collaborated with All Saints Home (Yishun) to create a unique Intergenerational programme, bridging the gap between our young learners and their senior friends.
The birth of a beautiful collaboration
Our partnership began with a shared vision to foster empathy, understanding, and community. With the support of All Saints Home, we launched our intergenerational programme in February 2024 as we wanted to create a space where our children could learn from the elderly and vice versa.
The programme involved our K1 and K2 children visiting the seniors at All Saints Home during festivities such as Lunar New Year and Hari Raya, which evolved to regular visits for games and bonding activities amongst the children and seniors.
Our first visit coincided with Chinese New Year in Feb 2024. Parents contributed mandarin oranges, and together with their children, created CNY couplets and lanterns for distribution to the seniors. Our children did physical exercises with the seniors and played a lively game of “Simon Says” together! We also sang Chinese New Year songs together which bridged the generation gap and filled the air with joy, festivity, and memories of tradition.
Our second visit to All Saints Home fell during Hari Raya Puasa in April, and we celebrated by making traditional Malay crafts. The seniors taught our children the art of weaving “ketupat” pouches, just like doting grandparents. It was a beautiful sight to behold.
Watching the young and old working together on the artwork was truly inspiring. With patience and perseverance, they wove together a beautiful creation. This intergenerational partnership showcased the beauty of shared creativity.
Our third visit in June was extra special, with parents joining in the fun by creating Tic-Tac-Toe board games at home with their children. The children eagerly explained the game to their senior friends, learning valuable lessons about acceptance and inclusion. Our children also played a lively game of “Scissor, Paper, Stone” together!
While language was a challenge as many of the seniors speak in dialect, the children were able to adapt and overcome the language barrier by using gestures and reading facial expressions.
Valuable lessons beyond the classroom
These visits have taught our preschoolers valuable lessons that go beyond what books and classrooms can offer. They learn essential values like connection, empathy, and relationship-building.
Teachers have observed remarkable breakthroughs in the children. One of them was Cherzelle Ang who initially showed fear around seniors. However, after just one visit, with gentle encouragement from the teachers, she became more confident and affectionate, freely interacting with the seniors just like friends!
Similarly, Gideon Tan, once hesitant and shy, overcame his apprehensions and gained confidence after the initial visit, now approaching seniors with ease.
K2 Chinese teacher Yuan Laoshi believes this partnership teaches children to care for the elderly, overcome fear, and boost self-confidence.
Ms Regina Lee, Community Relations Officer at All Saint Home, shared that the seniors at the home thoroughly enjoyed interacting with the children and look forward to their visits.
In a world where generations often seem disconnected as grandparents today rarely stay together with their grandchildren, it’s heartening to see the magic that happens when preschoolers and seniors come together. By fostering these relationships, we can build a more inclusive and compassionate society that values empathy, respect, and community.
We hope to continue bringing our youngest and wisest citizens together and watch the joy and learning unfold as they get to know each other better through regular heartwarming interactions!
To find out more about our preschools, visit https://littleseeds.edu.sg/.
Anne Lau is the principal of Little Seeds Preschool (Praiseland)
