Intergenerational Kamishibai: A Community Fund Case Study
A group of University of York staff were awarded funding in 2022 to engage student volunteers and give their ‘Intergenerational Kamishibai’ project a go in a local nursing home.
Kamishibai is a Japanese form of storytelling using large picture cards, and this project sought to engage residents in a local nursing home in collective storytelling, and encourage them to share their own stories.
The Community Fund helped this project purchase materials needed to run Kamishibai sessions, which included reusable laminated paper backgrounds and story cards. The project leads within the University already had experience in delivering Kamishibai storytelling sessions, and provided training to the student volunteers going into the nursing home.
The Intergenerational Kamishibai session received excellent feedback from both nursing home staff and residents, and in 2023/24 the project leads are running similar sessions in a local primary school as well as a nursing home, with student volunteers leading the sessions.