Project Name: TEDDYBEAR

Intergenerational learning offers benefits for everyone involved, no matter how young or old.

The Grundtvig Partnership TEDDYBEAR involved older people (50+) from all sectors of the community, including those who were disadvantaged or disabled. They were invited to share their life stories with primary school children between 6 and 12 years of age.

The partner institutions from Italy, the UK, Finland and Slovenia selected issues affecting both groups and managed to facilitate the interaction between them.

They discussed questions related to food, celebrations, crafts, games and historical events. The older people encouraged the children to respond to their life stories with questions and by producing creative work such as artwork, plays or written text.

Due to the children’s interest the adults felt motivated to "translate" their experiences into a language suitable for children. In return the children helped them to acquire new skills like using the Internet and playing new games.

While the adults acquired IT skills, more self-confidence and greater self-esteem, the children enriched their knowledge of their community’s history and began to appreciate the social changes of the past 50 years.

The impact the project had on the local community was extremely positive: the Learning Partnership encouraged the whole community to adopt a caring approach to its senior citizens. It led to better integration of the older participants, who felt more motivated to start learning again and play a more active role in their community.

TEDDYBEAR stands for 'Twinning the elderly disadvantaged and disabled with the young by enabling active reminiscence'.

The TEDDYBEAR project was funded by Grundtvig Partnerships. Find out how you can take part in a Grundtvig Partnerships project >>