There was a lot of love in the room this week. The children were so excited to visit their older friends and as we arrived we realised that one of our friends had returned from a long hospital stay. One of the children who had built up a particularly strong bond with her was very excited to finally see her friend. There were huge hugs all round.

Sadly one of our friends was feeling unwell this week and needed to stay inside their flat. Again, one of the children who has worked with the resident since their first trip to the care village was a little sad that they couldn't see their friend. We talked through what we could do to make him and his friend feel better. He decided to make a card which one of the care staff kindly delivered. The resident was quite overwhelmed and even more so when the child waited outside his window so he could wave. These are the moments when you see just how much it means to both the children and their older friends to have developed these close friendships.

New friendships are blossoming constantly and one child has made a special new friend who has been teaching her how to operate her mobility walker. She even asked if the child could help her put her brakes on and then off before praising her. The child desperately wanted to sit on the walker, as she had seen several of her friends do before. After speaking with a practitioner, she wondered if she would be able to. The practitioner encouraged her to ask the resident and of course the resident was thrilled to help her sit on the walker and proceeded to read her a story. The child displayed the biggest smile of delight we have ever seen!

The children thoroughly enjoyed their day and from paper plane making to tower building, everyone was feeling very creative!