This level of immersion will be characterized by:

• easy facilitation (keeping it simple is the best formula for success!)
• significant, though limited inter-action, due to short amount of time, infrequency of visits, and lack of small group contact
• opportunity to build experience in blending generations
• Click Here to Get Started!

Baby Step entry level could look like this:

• a Sparks group having a meeting at the seniors’ centre lounge
• a class doing a choral presentation for a special event at the home
• an older adult coming to read a story to a pre-school group

• by invitation, coming to the seniors’ home dressed for Halloween
• a grandparent spending one-on-one time with one of her/his many grandchildren
• sitting down beside an older adult on a park bench and starting a conversation

• facilitating the honouring of grandparents (students as part of curriculum write to their grandparent or to a valued elder friend of the family), invite grandparents in to share a craft, story, past occupation

• assist students in developing a family tree framework, and enlist parents and grandparents to help the child fill in the information
• inviting a veteran to speak at a Remembrance Day or Citizenship ceremony at the school, visiting classrooms after to chat

• a handful of pre-schoolers visiting a seniors’ recreational facility for crafts, or story time
• a high school volunteer program that encourages youth to build volunteer hours assisting at the seniors’ home bazaar
• having a seniors’ naturalist club accompany a class on a field trip to a bird sanctuary

• parents and students participating a baking day at school, mix and match goodies onto small styrofoam trays, wrap and decorate, and hand deliver to elders 1-on-1, not forgetting there will be diabetics on the receiving end as well.
• older adults are invited to the school for a Citizenship Ceremony, guest speaker, concert, talent show, or Christmas Bazaar, with a social hour of cookies and tea to follow

• older adults crochet or knit bears for the children’s ward at the hospital, students come to assist in stuffing them
• share a sing-a-long

• celebrate a special time of year in any culture

• string cranberries and popcorn for the birds on dental floss to hang in the trees

• spring into Spring with bubbles and sketching elder buddies