UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- A new intergenerational program at Penn State is spicing up life in the university's child-care programs, as older adults from the community spend time with young children in a collaborative effort sponsored by Penn State Cooperative Extension and funded by the Kellogg Leadership for Institutional Change initiative.

The Penn State Early Childhood Education Intergenerational Program incorporates an intergenerational component into two early-childhood education and child-care programs operated by Penn State's department of human development and family studies. A partnership between the child-care programs, Penn State Cooperative Extension, the Penn State Gerontology Center and the nonprofit Community Academy for Lifelong Learning (CALL), the program will stimulate mutually beneficial interactions between children and senior adults.

"As accredited child-care facilities that care for the children of university students, faculty, and staff, the centers are eager to have older adults actively involved in the daily lives of young children," says program coordinator Lydia Hanhardt.

"Many of these children are distanced from older generations in their extended family," she says. "This program connects children with older adults to ensure that they have access to the wealth of life experiences and compassion that older generations have to share. The aim is to teach understanding, compassion and life skills in a fun and friendly atmosphere. The program also provides training opportunities for students, faculty and early childhood development professionals interested in learning how to design and implement intergenerational programs."

Research in the field of intergenerational programming has demonstrated the potential that these programs offer children and adult participants. "It's amazing how much children and older adults have in common," says Matthew Kaplan, associate professor of agricultural and extension education. "In addition, we know from similar programs implemented at other sites that such intergenerational interactions have a positive impact on the behavior of children and help provide older adults with a sense of purpose and community involvement."

Center director Wendy Whitesell says the excitement generated by a previous visit of senior adults convinced participants that they had something special. "The children immediately responded affectionately to all the older adults who came into the center, reinforcing our thoughts that these children need the love that older people can offer," she says. "We want to make sure that the entire community can play a role in the development of our young children."

As part of this new intergenerational early-childhood education program, older adults will be asked to volunteer their time and experience anywhere from twice a week to twice a month. The program currently is looking for any individuals aged 55 and older interested in working with children from infants to 6 years old in either of the two schools on Penn State's University Park campus. Potential activities include (but are not limited to) gardening, art, walks, rocking babies, reading and crafts.

"Seniors interested in sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm on these and other topics with children are encouraged to join the program," Kaplan says. "We are working to develop a statewide professional workshop for early childhood professionals interested in establishing similar intergenerational initiatives in their facilities. Our hope is to conduct this training workshop early in the summer of 2002."

Senior citizens interested in learning more about this program should contact Lydia Hanhardt at the Bennett Family Center at 814-865-4057.

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EDITORS: Contact Matthew Kaplan at 814-863-7871.

Contact:

Gary Abdullah gxa2@psu.edu 814-863-2708 814-865-1068 fax