Next week is Global Intergenerational Week! 

TOY is one of the many supporters of the Global Intergenerational Week, which takes place next week from Monday 25th April to Sunday 1st May 2022. This is a global event and individuals or organisations in any country can participate.  Many of the events are online and most are free! 

Below is a flavour of just some of what is happening, and in which TOY has a role. For more information about events in Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, Mexico, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, United States of America and Wales you can visit the relevant country pages here.

Share a Story: an IG Reading Guide of Children’s Books

To mark Global Intergenerational Week TOY has joined forces with Children’s Books Ireland, Hibernia College and Generations Working Together to produce a reading guide of children’s books that feature intergenerational connections.  It’s called, 'Share a Story'. The more than 30 books it describes feature a diversity of friendships and relationships between old and young. 'Share a Story' will be an especially useful resource for educators working with babies, toddlers, preschoolers and primary school children. It will also appeal to anyone who values the power of stories in bring people of all ages together. It is free!  

You will be able to download Share a Story from the websites of Children’s Books Ireland, and TOY from the Monday 25th April.

Experience IG practice on campus at Atlantic Technological University, Sligo

If you are based in the West of Ireland, you might like to attend the events being organised by the Department of Social Sciences at the Atlantic Technological University, Sligo campus. The aim of the IG week in Sligo is to celebrate the research and work happening in classrooms and communities with older and younger people and share ideas to enhance best practice in intergenerational learning collaborations. Events include student-led workshops about IGL, and interviews with community-based visual artists involved in IG initiatives in the area.

Click here for full programme.

For more information you can also contact: Kate Brown, brown.kate@itsligo.ie

A blogpost written by students and older adults who have been part of IG initiatives in the West of Ireland will be published on the TOY website in the coming weeks.

The global intergenerational campaign is being coordinated by Generations Working Together (Scotland) in partnership with Linking Generations Northern Ireland, The Beth Johnson Foundation (England), and Bridging the Generations (Wales).

A Masterclass in Intergenerational Practice in the Community

More than 60 community-based workers and volunteers took part in an intergenerational practice masterclass in Dublin on 7th April 2022. Organised by Fingal County Council’s Community Development Office  and Fingal Community Facilities Network, it attracted practitioners from youth work, family support services, addiction services, community centres, day centres, active age groups, sports facilities, and early childhood education and care. Read more about the event here. 

TOY Blog: 

Walkie talkies and ‘Dancing with the Stars’ – maintaining IG friendships through COVID

One of our regular TOY blog contributors is Eilish Balfe from Happy Days Early Years Service, Ireland. In this blog she describes the creative strategies the children and residents in the local nursing home have been using this past year to maintain their friendships. You can read Eilish’s blog here.