Intergenerational care home visits involve babies, children and young adults visiting care homes, dementia cafes, day centres and sheltered housing sites.
At the sessions, people can chat, play games and interact with older people to help reduce loneliness and promote kindness.
Intergenerational visits have been proven to not only benefit the older generation but also benefit young people.
For children, interacting with older people can help with their development, ability to form friendships and also encourage them to communicate effectively.
For older children, these visits can help with their ability to empathise with others and can result in meaningful friendships and a means of support throughout their adolescent years.
“(…my son) loves visiting and now knows where he is when we pull up in the car park. He has his favourite residents and loves the cuddles, attention and shows off his new skills of the week whether that be waving, clapping or crawling. These weekly visits were important to me to teach Oakley social skills in different environments…with different age groups, but also help me get out of the house. Oakley has made friends with other little visitors when they attend and the joy on the residents faces when they see him walk in is worth the short trip there!”
How to Become a Little Visitor
It couldn’t be easier to become a Little Visitor and attend any of our free weekly sessions.
Complete our sign up form
Follow us on Facebook to see our weekly timetable of stay and play sessions.
You don’t need to book your place, just let us know when you are thinking of going for the first time via our Facebook page.
Introduce yourself as a new Little Visitor when you arrive at the care home.
Take along book, toy or games to help your child feel comfortable and to aid interaction
Let us know how you get on!
The benefits of intergenerational friendships
Our Little Visitor sessions are hour ‘long stay and play’ style sessions, held in care homes each week.
They are free to attend, suitable for babies and children of all ages and run throughout school holidays so older children can attend.
Intergenerational interaction supports early years development including:
verbal and non-verbal communication
increases confidence and self-esteem
develops empathy, kindness and caring for others
understanding disability and challenging ageist stereotypes
Read the handbook here to find out helpful information and guidance on visiting care homes with your children. We ask that all parents read this before attending a care home visit.
Information for childminders
We warmly welcome childminders to attend Little Visitor sessions with the children in their care.
Please ask the parents/carers of each child to complete the sign up form and complete a form yourself with the initials of the children you plan to bring along.
Visit our Facebook page for the most up to date listings of events and other ways to get involved.
“Being Little Visitors has made my children more confident around older people in our family and our community”
Our sessions
Little Visitors - a weekly stay and play session for babies and children of any age, please bring along a toy, book or game that will help your child to engage with the residents.
Junior Visitors - at selected care homes (please check our social media or get in touch for more details) for school-aged children. Bring along school work, a book, craft or a game to enjoy time with residents.
Music and Movement sessions - we organise frequent music and movement sessions led by local providers. Excellent for development and enjoyed by residents, these sessions are advertised on our social media pages.
Movement sessions - led by our friends at E.P.I.C Norfolk, these sessions are running in the Great Yarmouth area and are suitable for babies and children of all ages to exercise alongside residents. Please check our social media for information about these sessions.
Open Days - these are a wonderful way to meet a representative from the Friend in Deed team and explore care homes you may not have visited before.
Coming soon…
Got questions?
Contact us via direct message on Facebook
@friendindeednorwich
we would love Little visitors at our care home
If you would like to work with Friend in Deed to bring Little Visitors into your care home, please get in touch hello@friendindeed.org.uk