Child’s play at Wellbeck
Nursery tots bringing generations together
An East Kilbride nursery is bridging the generation gap.
Tots at Toybox Nursery in the Village brighten up residents’ day when they visit Wellbeck House.
The community scheme was launched at the beginning of the year and is proving to be a huge success.
Nursery depute Karen Burton said: “Playing and learning together is a really nice and enjoyable experience for everyone.”
Bridging the age gap can be tricky.
However, for one Village nursery, forging strong links between the young and old has been as easy as ABC.
Toybox Nursery launched a new community scheme at the start of the year that aims to build relationships between generations.
And, according to nursery depute Karen Burton, residents of Wellbeck House have been “thriving” since the tots came along to visit them.
Karen explained: “For the last eight weeks we have been creating links with the community by visiting elderly residents of a sheltered housing complex once a week – and we’ve heard we are the talk of the place!
“The children and the residents build Lego together, read stories, colour in, do jigsaws and learn the alphabet and numbers from the residents of the complex.
“It’s all about bringing the younger and older generations together and building relationships – it has been really positive so far.”
The nursery hope to up their visits to twice per week when the better weather comes in so the children can help plant some seeds in the garden for summer bloom.
And an afternon tea is planned for the residents at the Maxwell Drive nursery when Wellbeck House undergoes renovations in the coming weeks.
Karen added: “Speaking to the residents really brings on the children’s language skills – they are fascinated by their knowledge about the world and can’t wait to visit their ‘great grannies and grandads’ each week.
“Playing and learning together is a really nice and enjoyable experience for everyone.
“We hope to keep this going as long as possible.”