We are delighted to have worked with volunteer students from DMU recently to provide activities virtually for older people living in care settings across Leicester and Leicestershire during the pandemic.
It has been great to work collaboratively with De Montfort University (DMU) students and we know from experience how much value there is in bringing people from different generations together. This has been challenged and changed by the ongoing need to work remotely and safely, but there is still a lot to be gained for both students and older people living in care settings, as this project has shown.
Learning for the Fourth Age brought together students online to talk about their ideas and use our experience to guide them to create appropriate materials. They worked in small groups to create activity packs themed around topics of their choosing, which we then distributed to 12 care settings within our network. These packs were very well received by staff and residents alike.
It has also been great to see the willingness of people to volunteer in new roles supporting others, and for students to gain new experiences and skills themselves as a result of creating resources for learning and activity within care homes.
Some of the feedback we received from one care home was: “Really appreciate you sending the activity pack recently. Residents have thoroughly enjoyed painting these stones and they loved this activity because these stones look so beautiful after painting. This is what we will carry on in future.”
And here are some of the stones hidden in a garden for children and visitors to the home to find and to enjoy.
