Pre-covid we were running regular sessions in care homes. Sadly, with the onset of the pandemic, these all had to stop, but we have recently resurrected them with sessions at Springwood House in Duffield and Holbrook Hall. Our first session was on 23 June at Springwood House and our next session was in July. We are planning further events over the school summer holidays.
Our Twistin Tots Golden sessions aim to get the young and old working together to have fun using music and a range of songs and chair-based activities – from hunting for bears, to swimming with goldfish, waving ribbons or tapping toes, amongst other musical activities.
Current research has proven the benefits of mixing elderly residents and young children – from increasing self-esteem and promoting friendships to greater smiles and more conversation for elders. Plus the old and young bring new energy, knowledge and enthusiasm to each others’ lives, building relationships, and helping each person to benefit from the knowledge and attitudes of each other.
For elderly residents, our activities are designed to:
– help older residents to get more active by helping them to use motor skills more effectively
– offer a fun chair-based exercise regime
– allow elderly residents to socialise more
– provide a different and unusual activity which will bring back happy memories for the elderly residents
– introduce them to young children with whom they can interact, watch and share their experiences
– enable them to build relationships and make new friends – giving them more purpose to their lives.
For the younger attendees these sessions will
- help them to develop their speech, language and motor skills
- provide activities to help them to become ‘school ready’ by offering a range of activities that meet EYFS requirements
- allow them to benefit from the time and attention that the elderly residents can offer them
- offer a new engaging activity for parents
- allow them to help elderly residents to enjoy themselves.
The sessions use a variety of props, including puppets, parachutes, instruments, bubbles amongst other things, as well as a variety of music from different eras.
We are now charging a small fee to attend these sessions, but all the money raised from them, will go directly to support our new parental support group – Tinies & Teacups – which is not-for-profit and run by volunteers.
