ELDERLY residents at a care home in Clacton were left filled with joy after a group of tiny tots paid them a heart-warming visit.

Corner House welcomed eight babies and toddlers last week from the Mini Monkeys baby group, which looks after young children aged between one and four.

The idea came about after Sarah Margerison, 31, the volunteer who runs Mini Monkeys, suggested an interactive afternoon might benefit the home’s residents, who all suffer with dementia.

Decked out in their little outfits and brimming with nothing but affection, the adorable playmates, along with their new older friends, spent the uplifting visit singing songs, making necklaces and blowing bubbles.

They also all enjoyed snacks together, supplied by Asda’s community champion Amy Openshaw and fun goodie bags donated by Georgia Reed-Phillips from Baby Bank Tendring.

Mrs Margerison said: “Elderly people don’t really interact much with younger people and they don’t see the good side of young children.

“But here it just made them so happy because they saw real happiness and loved seeing the young babies playing and having them sitting on their laps.

“One lady was really happy about having the babies there and she was really ecstatic to play with the children.”

Mrs Margerison used to work as a carer at Corner House and has experienced first-hand the astonishing affect activities such as this can have on elderly people living with dementia.

She believes more care homes should be looking to host engaging visits or invigorating events to help combat the feeling of isolation and to uphold their quality of life.

Mrs Margerison added: “Activities like this are really good for the elderly because it really helps to stimulate them and more care homes should be organising them.

“People in care homes get forgotten and they often don’t get to see a lot of people.

“So having things like is really, really good for them and can make a difference.

“It is also lovely for the children, because they are really sociable and all love meeting new people - they were really happy to be there.”