Sharing Creativity Across The Generations - Intergenerational Workshops To Inspire

At The Creation Station our core values include ‘Give Care’ and ‘Nurture Creativity’.  For many people being able to access our sessions and events simply isn’t feasible - for lots of different reasons - but to us this makes their creative journey even more important.

The benefits of crafting and creating have a far-reaching impact that we often don’t appreciate or aren’t even aware of.  A person’s physical and mental can be greatly improved by spending time with others.  Friendships can be made and relationships improved simply by spending time being more ‘present’ in what is now a very hectic and distracting world.  People who may be isolated find valuable  opportunities to re-connect and thrive…and all through the simplicity of creativity.

Through our intergenerational workshops, we have been able to create opportunities for children and older adults to learn new skills and engage with each other in a meaningful way.  These workshops have the potential to offer fulfilling experiences with benefits such as cognitive stimulation, improved self-worth and self-esteem, better mental health – and don’t forget the whole heap of creative fun!

Over the years The Creation Station has worked with so many different charities to bring our creative activities to the people that they support.  We have been part of events such as ‘Children’s Activities Week’ supporting Caudwell Children, facilitated activities for MIND, fundraised with Sheffield Children’s Hospital, Macmillan, Crohns & Colitis UK, Cystic Fibrosis Kids, PINNT, Marie Curie, British Heart Foundation, Sebastian Action trust, Eve’s Trust, Rays of Sunshine, National Autistic Society and many more amazing organisations. 

Thanks to Sarah Dunn of The Creation Station Barnsley West we were recently able to combine our award-winning creative sessions with the fantastic work of Age UK….this is her story…

“Before joining The Creation Station, I was a fan of a popular TV program showing the benefits of older and younger people sharing time and experiences with each other.  The television show warmed my heart and I knew it was something that I would love to do.

When I was considering running a Creation Station franchise, a huge factor in making my decision was that I would be able to run intergenerational sessions.  I contacted my local Age UK Inclusion Officer and we arranged our first intergenerational workshop in July this year.

During the session we played with the parachute and talked about all the colours of the rainbow. We used lots of different tools to paint the rainbow - some of the older people said they hadn’t used paints since they were at school and really enjoyed it. We also created butterfly window decorations with lovely bright tissue paper which is a good activity for developing and maintaining fine motor skills both for children and older adults.

It was really lovely to see the different generations all sat around the same table together enjoying their craft activities and talking about their creations. We are now planning to run more sessions around Barnsley, South Yorkshire soon so that more people can enjoy these special workshops together.”

If you would like to find out more about our award-winning sessions, parties and event entertainment please visit www.thecreationstation.co.uk