Care home residents in Fraserburgh have proved that you are never too old to learn new tricks, thanks to an innovative school partnership.
The creative initiative sees Primary 4-7 pupils from South Park Primary School visit Meallmore’s St Modans care home once a week to engage with the residents and exchange knowledge and experience.
The project aims to encourage young and old generations to come together, get to know more about each other and teach other new things. This type of activity is proven to have many benefits for those living with dementia and Alzheimer’s, as it is mentally and socially stimulating.
So far, this has involved the pupils showing the residents how to play iPad games designed to improve memory and co-ordination and, in return, the residents teaching the pupils their personal favourite traditional games, including dominoes, draughts and chess.
Maria Kerr, activities’ co-ordinator at Meallmore’s St Modans care home, organised the initiative with South Park Primary School.
She says: “Both the pupils and residents were a little nervous about challenging each other at the games, but they hit it off straight away and now everyone really looks forward to the visits.
“It gives our residents such a boost, as they love interacting and hearing about what life is like for kids growing up these days and we have seen some great friendships forming.
“The activity has been a huge eye opener for the pupils too – they’ve all grown up technology-literate and it’s a part of their daily lives, so they are finding it quite surprising to hear from a generation that wasn’t always online!”