Image by Wisconsin Historical Images via Flickr
In my years of employment in nursing homes and assisted living facilities, I found it helpful to include discussions related to events in the community. With back to school fliers filling the paper, and children once again returning to school, this is a timely discussions to which you can tie many themed activities. And in my experience it is one that often elicited a strong response. Whether you work in a facility or visit family members or friends living in a facility, here are some conversation ideas and a few songs to spark up your visits.
Conversation starters:
- What were our favorite subjects in school?
- How many rooms/grades levels did you school have? (Many older adults in rural areas attended one or two room schools and maybe had 20 students in first through seventh grade.)
- What were your favorite games at recess?
- How far did you travel/walk to get to school?
- Did you ever give an apple to your teacher?
- Did you ever get picked to help clean the chalkboard erasers in your class? Was it a privilege or a punishment?
If people have memory issues try some of these props to help get conversations going: ruler, lined paper, Big Chef notebook, small chalk board with chalk, crayons,
Songs to sing together:
- School Days
- “A” you’re adorable
- Be True to Your School (Beach Boys)
- Inch Worm
If children are visiting, include: The Alphabet Song, School House Rock songs (people with children currently in their 50’s or younger may remember these from Saturday morning TV.)
What would you add to these lists?
Sharing and connecting is what most people want more than anything. If they feel like they have something worth sharing, that can potentially add value to your life, they are all that much more eager to share.
We should really get toddlers and the elderly into blogging! Sharing is what it’s all about!
It would be fun to have those views on line. You should check out http://arthurandbernie.com for some intergenerational insights.