Birdhouse Magic

By Sarah KernEvery Wednesday afternoon, the Autumn Room visits the Inver Glen Community Room. There, we do a variety of activities with the grandmas and grandpas, from Bingo to Balloon Ball to acting out our favorite stories. Last Wednesday, we painted birdhouses. Each child paired with a senior partner, and together they painted a single birdhouse.The results were beautiful – not just the birdhouses themselves, but in how the seniors and children worked together. Conversation was flowing, and collaboration was essential. Most seniors let the children take the lead. One boy wanted to paint his whole birdhouse blue, and his grandma was happy to help, leaving the orange and green paints untouched. Another pair took turns painting stripes on the roof of their birdhouse. One grandma painted her partner’s name on the roof of the birdhouse, and the two of them gingerly worked around it for the rest of the painting time.I noticed one grandpa had painted a smiley face on the roof of a birdhouse. I pointed out to his partner, “Look, Marty painted a smiley face!” The child replied, “That’s not a smiley face; that’s Grandpa Marty!” Grandpa Marty replied, “Yes, that’s me!” While admiring our finished birdhouses, we acknowledge the depth of all that was happening during this shared experience. Between the lines, what may appear as blobs of paint haphazardly dabbed on a birdhouse is actually carefully plotted polka dots. A simple smiley face is really a self-portrait.That afternoon, the best I could do as a teacher was to observe and learn from what I saw. Some things are not worth analyzing. The simplicity and depth of this shared experience exemplified the true magic of intergenerational learning.