Once a month, kindergarten children from Goodstart Calamvale put on their walking shoes and hats and walk hand-in-hand with educators to the Opal Aged Facility just around the corner from their early learning centre.
It's a ritual that brings a little bit of love and much cheer to the aged care residents who embrace the visits as much as the children look forward to their monthly outing.
Early childhood teacher Gagan Kahlon said they started visiting the aged care home when Goodstart recieved a few requests for them to be part of their program.
"The children really enjoy visiting the home as they feel it's a part of their monthly routine. In fact, they look forward to their visits so much that on our last visit it was raining and we explained to the children we would have to wait until it stopped raining until we left," Ms Kahlon said.
"But the children were adamant they wanted to walk in the rain, saying 'they will be waiting for us'. Fortunately the rain cleared and we were able to go and stay dry."
Ms Kahlon said they took craft materials with them and always left the left over materials for residents to use later on, such as coloured pencils and paper for drawing.
"Our main motive is to expose children to diversity as they learn about this aspect of the community which some of them never get the the opportunity to know about until they are older. The children learn to show care, concern and also how they can be compassionate to make someone happy doing little things wiht the residents. Walking there as a group also teaches them about road safety.
"The residents enjoy singing so we try to learn a new song for each visit. On our last visit, the chldren learnt 'You Are My Sunshine' and it made the whole room a bit emotional as the chldren sang it twice to the residents," she said.
The next visit will take place on September 16.
It's a ritual that brings a little bit of love and much cheer to the aged care residents who embrace the visits as much as the children look forward to their monthly outing.
Early childhood teacher Gagan Kahlon said they started visiting the aged care home when Goodstart recieved a few requests for them to be part of their program.
"The children really enjoy visiting the home as they feel it's a part of their monthly routine. In fact, they look forward to their visits so much that on our last visit it was raining and we explained to the children we would have to wait until it stopped raining until we left," Ms Kahlon said.
"But the children were adamant they wanted to walk in the rain, saying 'they will be waiting for us'. Fortunately the rain cleared and we were able to go and stay dry."
Ms Kahlon said they took craft materials with them and always left the left over materials for residents to use later on, such as coloured pencils and paper for drawing.
"Our main motive is to expose children to diversity as they learn about this aspect of the community which some of them never get the the opportunity to know about until they are older. The children learn to show care, concern and also how they can be compassionate to make someone happy doing little things wiht the residents. Walking there as a group also teaches them about road safety.
"The residents enjoy singing so we try to learn a new song for each visit. On our last visit, the chldren learnt 'You Are My Sunshine' and it made the whole room a bit emotional as the chldren sang it twice to the residents," she said.
The next visit will take place on September 16.