Community service is one of the best ways to teach children values like compassion and empathy. By actively helping others, children can see and experience these values in action, rather than just trying to understand what the words mean.
Case in point: A five-year-old befriending a 65-year-old and forming a bond across ages.
“Engaging with young children brings joy and a renewed sense of purpose to seniors, which enhances their mental and emotional well-being,” says Ms Heidi Rafman, Chief, Healthy Ageing Department, Agency for Integrated Care (AIC). “As for children, they learn to appreciate seniors and develop important values such as kindness and respect.”
AIC has been a long-time partner of ECDA’s ‘Start Small Dream Big’ (SSDB) movement, where preschools design and implement community service projects over six months. The agency collaborates with preschools focused on inter-generational projects — such as Little Skool-House @ Temasek Polytechnic, which created shared experiences between children and their elderly friends for SSDB 2024.
WHEN YOUNG AND OLD MEET
From June to September 2024, K1 children at Little Skool-House @ Temasek Polytechnic visited the residents of NTUC Health Nursing Home (Tampines) once a month. The two K1 classes alternated their monthly trips, with each class making two visits in total.
The preschool partnered with the nursing home through AIC, whose experience in running inter-generational programmes helped educators plan meaningful SSDB activities that both young and old could enjoy, fostering interactions between the two groups.
On one of the nursing home visits, preschoolers and seniors put their heads together to answer a fun quiz.
A variety of activities were conducted during the visits, including string painting, lantern-making, puzzle and quiz games, and dance performances. Interacting with young children helped nursing home residents feel more engaged and connected to the community. In turn, the children gained opportunities to practise values like respect and empathy, as well as social skills such as communication and teamwork.
For kindergartener Caylie Ang, her favourite activity was the string painting session where she worked side-by-side with her elderly partner, Mr Tan. “Mr Tan dipped string into orange paint, while I used blue paint. I held the top paper and he pulled the string out,” she recalls. “I liked the picture we made because it looked like a flower. Mr Tan also helped wipe my dirty hands afterwards.”
Senior Teacher Ms Rachel Khoo saw the children grow in confidence with each visit. “At first, they were shy and only gave short replies to the seniors. But gradually, they initiated conversations and even asked thoughtful questions,” she shares. “Seeing them recognise familiar faces at each visit was heartwarming.”
Ms Khoo also observed how the children adjusted their communication styles to accommodate nursing home residents who were hard of hearing or less dexterous. For example, some spoke more slowly, repeated instructions and demonstrated the steps. Through these small gestures of care, the children showed empathy and active listening.
“Whether solving puzzles with seniors or collaborating on crafts, they learned to communicate, listen and work together towards a common goal,” notes Ms Khoo. “These are essential life skills.”
NURTURING COMPASSIONATE CITIZENS OF THE FUTURE
The SSDB project had a ripple effect on children at home. Caylie’s mother, Ms Pang Lai Kin, emphasised the importance of respect and empathy in her conversations with Caylie. “We talked about how seniors might feel and why kindness matters. It helped Caylie reflect on her experiences,” she says.
“I’ve definitely seen positive changes in Caylie since the project,” adds Ms Pang. “She has become more patient and considerate, especially with her grandparents. She takes the time to listen to them carefully and offers to help with little things.”
Through their interactions with nursing home residents, children learned the importance of being kind and respectful to elders.
As Little Skool-House embarks on its SSDB 2025 project — again, in partnership with NTUC Health Nursing Home — Ms Khoo and her team aim to involve parents more actively by inviting them on visits. This will foster a collaborative learning experience for both children and parents, strengthening family bonds.
Educators also plan to use AIC’s Bridging Generations guide to structure activities and reflections more intentionally. By building deeper, ongoing relationships between the same group of children — like Caylie, now in K2 — and seniors, the preschool hopes to foster a tight-knit community.