Toddle & Waddle activity class to start in November
Communicare is to launch an exciting new pilot study combining older less mobile people and young toddlers in a weekly class with the aim to improve fitness and activity levels.
What the sessions, aptly named Toddle & Waddle, will involve are essentially a meeting of the two groups – the toddlers and the older people – who will follow their own activities and then join together in a shared activity, followed by tea and squash afterwards.
There is already a weekly activity group organised for toddlers called ‘Little Sports’ run at The Quays in Southampton which prepares young children to enter into any sport they choose and a chair-based exercise group ‘Sit and Get Fit’ for older people with mobility problems which was set up as a way of helping these people maintain their fitness. Toddle & Waddle will be a mix of these groups with the addition of the shared activity.
The idea has largely come from Annie Clewlow, manager of Communicare in Southampton and who happens to be the Diving Programme under Active Nation at The Quays, and Sue Tizard, the teacher for ‘Sit and Get Fit’ classes, who will be heading up Toddle & Waddle.
Sue said: “Bringing these two diverse groups together promises to offer a whole new approach to getting moving…We are hoping that this will lead to a reduction in social isolation and that it will encourage both age groups to improve their fitness for life.”
A recent Channel 4 programme ‘Old People’s Home for 4 year Olds’ tracked the progress of residential home residents taking part in an experiment to work with a pre-school, which showed a range of benefits for those joining in.
Toddle & Waddle is to be funded by a grant from Southampton Healthy Living.
To find out about taking part email divingatthequays@activenation.org.uk or call 023 8072 0922. Alternatively further info and application form if needed can be accessed by clicking on the following links: