Learn From an Elder

With a parent, a kid visits a nursing home or assisted-living community, arranged by its activities staff, and learns something from a resident who'd like a visitor. Kids' stickers for this visit are coming soon.

Who: Families, Kids, Seniors
Ages: 5+ with a parent
Time: About an hour
Cost: Free
When: Any time of year
Show up: At a nursing home, assisted-living community or senior center, by arrangement with its staff.

How to do it

A parent or guardian calls the facility's activities (life-enrichment) staff and asks whether a short family visit would be welcome, and when.
Go on their terms: their visiting hours, health screening and visitor rules. If your child (or you) is sick, stay home and reschedule.
Get ready together: pick 3-4 questions from the prep sheet and make something to give: a drawing, a card, or a song to sing.
Visit for 20-30 minutes with the resident the staff introduce you to. Let the resident lead. Listen more than you talk.
Afterward, make a thank-you note for the resident (given through staff) and one for the staff.
Stickers coming soon: we're making a kids' sticker for this visit. For now, the visit itself is the reward. We never ask for residents' names.

What you’ll need

3-4 questions from the prep sheet
A drawing, a card, or a song to share

Prep sheet: questions to ask

Warm and respectful: ask about their life and the town, not about health, money or family troubles. If a question isn't welcome, smile and move on.

What was school like when you were my age? How did you get there?
What was your first job?
What games did you play outside?
What do you remember about the square in town?
What music did you like when you were young? Could you teach me a song?
What was a Saturday like when you were a kid?
What's something you know how to do that most people don't anymore?
What advice would you give a kid today?

Grown-ups’ part

You arrange the visit, not the child, and you stay for all of it.
Ask staff: best day and time, how long, health screening, what's OK to bring (some places limit food or flowers), any residents who'd especially enjoy a young visitor.
Prepare your child: some residents may tire quickly, not hear well, or forget; that's OK. Keep voices gentle and be ready to leave early.
No photos inside unless staff say yes, and never of residents without their written OK and the facility's.
Kids' stickers are coming soon; nothing to collect yet. We don't collect residents' names or the child's last name.
Want to go again? Ask staff about a regular time. Repeat visits are where friendships grow.

Publicly listed nursing homes, assisted-living communities and the senior center in Fayetteville and Lincoln County are in our research notes. Call the activities staff directly; the Almanac does not arrange visits.

Think about it

What's one thing you learned today that you couldn't have learned from a book or a screen?

Safety and respect

A parent or guardian stays with the child the whole visit. Follow the facility's visitor policy and health screening; stay home if anyone is sick. Never publish a resident's name, photo or story without written OK from the resident (or their legal representative) and the facility. Send photos or stories only with a parent's OK. We never print a child's last name, and no kids' faces or names without a parent's written OK.

Why it matters

Encourage communityPreserve historyHistorical contextReward good citizenshipGive backCreate engagementMake history fun for families & kids

No local facts on this page need a source; it works in any town.

Know better? If something here is wrong or out of date, tell us.

Did it? Send us your photo or story. We print kids’ first names, faces or photos only with a parent’s OK.