Memory Box Workshops

A child and a senior will compare life today with a senior’s life at the child’s age.  Together they will write a story of the similarities and differences  in their lives.  This story will be placed in a small wooden memory box which they build together. 

 At our West End Seniors Network (WESN) Men's Shed wood workshop seniors will  prepare a memory box kit. The pieces  in the kit will be sawn from a solid block of red cedar.  The CNC machine will drill holes so that when assembled the pieces  will be aligned to show the continuous grain of the wood.  The original block will seemingly reappear.  

At the Writers’ Exchange ( a non-profit for children’s literacy) the children from 7 to 10 years old will be introduced to the project during the first weekly session.

In the second  week session at the Writers’ Exchange, a senior will meet one on one with a child. They (aided by a tutor from the Writers’ Exchange) will write a story comparing their lives.  They will also decide upon an engraving for the lid of the box and choose two photos, one from the senior’s era and one from the child’s. These will be sent to our wood workshop for processing. On the top of the box, the seniors will carve the child’s wish using our CNC machine.  The digital photos will be sized and prepared on picture transfer paper.

At the third week session at the Writers’ Exchange the memory box will be assembled  from the kit by the child,  aided by the senior.  This involves joining the pieces, gluing and sanding. 

At the fourth week session, the box will be finished with transference of the chosen photos and decorations. A coat of water soluble varnish will be added to preserve the box.  The written story and memorabilia will be placed in the memory box.  

At the last session we will have a “creation party” with refreshments at the Writers Exchange where the boxes will be displayed and their stories read by the children. Seniors, children and their families will be at this celebration.

Three classes of twenty students each will make a memory box, one in the Spring and two in the Fall. This intergenerational project will bring pleasure , skills, confidence and literacy to the children and seniors.