Little voices and laughter echo through the halls at Trailridge, the Senior Living Community located down the street from EmBe South. Those “little voices” are preschoolers who have the opportunity to build relationship with older adults and participate in fun activities. Some of the past events include crafts, story time and bounce house fun for the children.
In 2019, classes will participate in several activities with Trailridge including a Valentine’s Day craft, an Easter egg hunt and snowman building. The children are always excited to see the “grandmas and grandpas” and the residents of Trailridge have stated that they love having the kids over.
Numerous studies have linked social interaction with decreased loneliness, delayed mental decline, lower blood pressure and reduced risk of disease and death in elders. Socializing across generations has also been shown to increase the amount of smiling and conversation among older adults – watching our children engage in these activities proves that theory hands-down!
Director of Childcare Services, LaToria Horan shares. “Our goal is to build relationships with our community and be an active participant in our neighborhood. We are honored to build this relationship with Trailridge and look forward to more fun activities in the future!”
Building Friendships in Mitchell
At EmBe Mitchell, preschoolers had the opportunity to visit the residents at Edgewood. Miss Ericka and her class were busy the past few weeks preparing holiday songs to sing to the residents. The preschoolers were most excited to sing “Let it Go” from the movie Frozen. The residents sang along to more traditional songs like Jingle Bells and Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer.
After the sing-a-long, the preschoolers and residents played a spirited game of “Pin the Nose on the Reindeer” which was certainly entertaining for all to watch. EmBe preschoolers brought materials to Edgewood so that they could create holiday slime. It just goes to show, you’re never too old to enjoy making slime! And the seniors were more excited than the kids as they each were able to keep a portion to play with for later!
Regardless of where these precious interactions happen, both the children and the seniors light up at the sight of each other. We look forward to making more of these wonderful memories with friends and neighbors in our community!
