The Benefits of Intergenerational Programs: Children and Seniors Together

Some of the most effective therapies for people with dementia involve children simply engaging in their everyday activities. Many people may find this idea counterintuitive. After all, caring for children can be exhausting. They can be unpredictable and loud. Putting children and a loved one with dementia together may not sound ideal at first. But when you observe what happens when children and people living with dementia end up in the same room, something meaningful unfolds — the foundation of successful intergenerational dementia programs.

When Daycare Meets Memory Care

Providence Mount St. Vincent in Seattle is not your ordinary nursing home. It’s not just a home for older adults, but also a school for adorable kids. Older residents share the 300,000-square- foot facility with up to 125 children aged five or younger. This setup may seem chaotic to an outsider, but for many residents, interacting with the children brings joy and reduces feelings of loneliness and boredom. This child-care center within a nursing home creates the ideal environment for intergenerational dementia programs to thrive.

Residents can enjoy reading books to three-year-olds, solving puzzles with them, and doing arts and crafts. Teachers and staff guide both children and older residents through safe, structured activities. On-site events bring together young children and older adults with dementia, offering benefits for both age groups. Kids learn empathy, compassion, and patience from older residents, while also bringing spontaneous joy and warmth to reduce isolation among older people.

The kind of social connection Alzheimer’s patients experience in these settings differs from that in a typical nursing community. Kids don’t mind repeated questions — they often repeat themselves as well. A five-year-old also doesn’t get sad or hurt if an older person can’t remember their name. Most children simply want someone who will build blocks or play with them.

Many families have firsthand experience with the benefits of intergenerational activities. Your senior mom or dad with dementia instantly lights up and smiles in front of their grandchildren. Helping a grandchild solve a puzzle, teaching them a simple task, or offering companionship can restore your senior parent’s sense of meaning and reinforce their identity as someone who's still needed.

What Are the Benefits of Intergenerational Activities?

Your senior loved one receives more than meaningful moments. Such activities can help someone living with dementia in several ways.

1. Increased Pleasure

Based on research, older people living with dementia who join in intergenerational programs have positive emotional states and show higher levels of pleasure compared to those who don’t

2. Reduced Disengagement Behaviours

Intergenerational activities can spark seniors’ interest, reducing withdrawal and encouraging engagement. In front of curious kids, older people with dementia may be more motivated to smile, talk, and interact rather than sit passively.

3. Complement Other Dementia Care Approaches

Because of their effects on the emotional, social, and mental health of older people living with dementia, intergenerational activities can be a supplementary intervention to support seniors’ overall well-being. When your loved one with Alzheimer’s comforts a crying toddler or reads them a book, she’s not the one being cared for at that moment. She’s giving care. That shift from being a recipient of care to giving care can reinforce a sense of purpose in their lives.

The social connection people with Alzheimer’s need becomes possible in these settings because kids don’t bring all the awkwardness that adults do. They don’t care about memory problems and aren’t uncomfortable with repetition.

What Children Gain From These Programs

Kids benefit from spending time with older adults, too. Through these intergenerational dementia programs, children learn about values, community, and relationships.

1. They Become Empathetic

Their empathy is nurtured in more concrete ways. When a five-year-old befriends an older person with dementia, they learn to be conscious of their feelings and how to offer comfort and patience. They develop emotional intelligence through firsthand experience — something books alone can’t provide.

2. They Learn Patience

They also learn patience in the most practical way. Kids learn not to rush when they work alongside older people who process things more slowly, who might need them to repeat what they say, and who approach tasks differently. It teaches kids to match the pace of others and provide help only when needed.

3. They Develop Self-Confidence

A boost in confidence happens when kids realize they can be helpful to someone older than them and they have something to offer. Being needed does something for a child’s sense of self that’s hard to replicate in other ways.

Just as older people smile more when surrounded by children, young ones also benefit by nurturing important values, from empathy to patience and self-confidence.

How Dementia Shrinks a Loved One’s Social Circle

Reducing isolation in dementia patients is as important as medical treatment. When a loved one is diagnosed with dementia, some friends may stop calling. Other family members can become overprotective, unintentionally shrinking their loved one’s world in ways that make them feel lonely, disconnected, and isolated. To shield them from anything that can confuse, overwhelm, or harm them, many family caregivers choose to let their loved ones stay home “just in case.” This limits their opportunities to socialize — which is where intergenerational programs become especially valuable.

Kids don’t have preconceptions about cognitive decline, so it’s easier for people with dementia to connect with them. Four-year-olds don’t know it’s uncomfortable when an older person asks the same question twice or forgets their name. That absence of judgment creates space for the social connection people with Alzheimer’s deeply need.

Building Intergenerational Experiences Right at Home

If you have a parent living with dementia, bringing grandkids home can create simple moments of joy that lift their mood and ease feelings of loneliness. Simple activities like baking cookies, looking at photo albums, or sharing stories can significantly improve your loved one’s quality of life. Sometimes, all it takes to reduce feelings of isolation is bonding time between your senior parents and their grandchildren. Intergenerational activities at home offer a simple, natural way to support social engagement without overwhelming people with dementia.