La Jolla’s White Sands pairs residents and children for summertime activities and ‘a lot of joy’
Week of yarn crafts, ceramics, piano lessons, a talent show, beach trips and more spans generations.
If there’s one thing the White Sands senior-living community in La Jolla seems to have proved this week, it’s that some of the residents are really just a bunch of big kids.
To share their life skills with actual kids, a handful of residents are hosting some of the children of White Sands staff members and the grandchildren of some of the residents for various summertime activities.
Over three days — July 10, 12 and 14 — residents are making yarn crafts, pottery and clay figures with the eight participating children, along with teaching piano, organizing a talent show, taking beach trips and more.
John Urabec and Elizabeth Russell are two of the residents helping the children mold figurines of fish and dinosaurs out of clay, set them in a kiln and glaze and paint them before taking them home.
“When we first moved here, we had a kiln and the head of the art committee was talking about getting a potter’s wheel, so we got that and other supplies,” Urabec said. The ceramics room started as an offering for residents.
Because Urabec was “always in there playing with clay,” White Sands director of home health and fitness Nicole Scribner got the idea to invite children with family at the facility to come and play, too.
The concept was tested with a day of activities in June and then expanded to this week’s three-day iteration.
“It’s a pleasure to have them here,” Urabec said July 12. “When we started on Monday [July 10], we made the first craft and we still had time left, so they started making accessories and little baby creatures. They were really sweet. … I like to make things out of clay, so I got to share that process with them.”
Seeing the personal touches they came up with was “astounding,” Urabec said.
While the ceramics project is continuous over the three days, other activities have changed throughout the week. For example, one day some residents did projects that involved threading yarn through holes in paper plates to make different shapes. The next day they made the first letter of each child’s name.
Jim Jackson, a 103-year-old resident, has spent some of each day teaching a child to play piano. Toward the end of the week, the child could perform much of the baseball staple “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”
Others worked one on one with children on a performance piece for the talent show to be performed Friday, July 14, for other residents.
“You would think the kids would get bored or they would be too much for these residents,” Scribner said. “But everyone was having such a great time. These kids are going away asking when the next one is, and the residents are asking …”
“When is the next one for us?” Urabec chimed in.
Laughing, Scribner added that some of the participating residents “have never worked with kids before or never had children, and the talent coming from these residents is unreal.”
Residents Judy and Dennis McNeely led ocean-based activities both on the grounds and on the beach nearby.
“We began with a … lesson about finding awe in nature, and I had books with pictures of hidden nature in it,” Judy said. “Part of that was a lesson in cooperation. When we build a sandcastle, is it better to build it together or alone? So we also read a book in which a group [of fish] only makes it because they swim together.”
Testing that theory, the McNeelys took their group to the beach behind White Sands to build a sandcastle and dip their toes in the ocean.
Judy is a former teacher and librarian, “so it’s been a delight to reconnect with young people,” she said. “It’s been really remarkable reinforcing the fact that adults underestimate what children can do. We had a group of 6- to 11-year-olds, but we were able to challenge them and they rose to the occasion. I was happy to see that. There has also been a lot of joy.”
As part of the ocean activities, they taught the children about fishing, Dennis said.
“I do a lot of fishing, so I showed the group pictures of the sea life out there,” he said. “I also brought my fishing poles that I used out here and told them, ‘Remember those fish we saw; this is the pole we used to catch them.’”
Then the children played a fishing game in which they held a pole without a hook and tried to “catch” the adults.
“They had to pull together to reel us in,” Dennis said.
“It’s nice to be around young people,” he added. “And these are neat kids.” ◆
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