The Lymes’ Senior Center was quiet last Wednesday, as about 30 residents sat around tables in small groups and concentrated intently on their bingo cards.

As the announcer called out letters and numbers, the attendees marked off their game cards. At times, murmurs of disappointment or shrieks of “I got this one!” filled the room.

At the front of the room two tables were stocked with prizes: one with toys — from a Scrabble game to a glitter lamp — and the other one with an assortment of flowers, purses, a scarecrow and a tea pot.

Each game would require two rounds: one for adults and one for children.

School-aged children, dressed casually in T-shirts and flip-flops, were spending time off from school with their grandparents and seniors from their communities.

This year, for the first time, the Lymes’ Senior Center, which serves both Lyme and Old Lyme residents, offered a ‘Spring School Vacation Week’ with cross-generational activities April 13-17 to coincide with students’ spring vacation.

“I always like getting the kids and seniors together,” said Stephanie Lyon, the director of the Lymes’ Senior Center. “There’s just something special about having them together.”

Last Tuesday, about 45 children and their grandparents took a trip to a touch tank at Mystic Aquarium, and last Friday the center hosted an African Drumming Circle for seniors and children. The center offered the programs for free.

Recently, the senior center officially became a non-profit organization and gained its 501(C)3 status, following pro bono help from the local Mentoring Corps for Community Development, according to Diane C. Blackwell, a member of the center’s board of directors. The center now has a fundraising arm, called “The Friends of the Lymes’ Senior Center, Inc.”

Lyon and the center’s board of directors have embraced a goal in the Lyme-Old Lyme school district’s strategic plan to expand partnerships between and among the global community, resulting in opportunities for students that include “cross-generational initiatives,” Blackwell said in an email.

Over the years, the center has expanded its programs and now offers summer concerts, hiking and additional exercise programs, as well as trips with the East Lyme Senior Center, Blackwell wrote.

At last week’s bingo game, Audrey Berry, 12, of Old Lyme, took the lead at calling the letters and numbers, after Lyon did the first round.

Audrey, who also volunteers for the fire department in town and other organizations, attended the event with her 9-year-old brother, Oliver, and her grandmother, Sue Campbell.

Campbell said she was very proud of Audrey, who announced the numbers clearly to the room. For years, Audrey’s great-grandparents had called the numbers during bingo games for the fire department in west Pennsylvania, she said.

“It’s a family tradition,” Campbell said.

Audrey and Oliver said they enjoyed playing bingo at the senior center.

“You get to see another side of her with her friends,” said Audrey about her grandmother. “She has awesome friends.”

Lyme resident Beverly Rand also said she enjoyed playing the game with her sister, Lori Krech, from Meriden, and her 8-year-old great-niece, Riley LaBombard. Riley came very close to winning the game, they said.

“It’s a fun and relaxing game,” said Krech.

“Well, I don’t know how relaxing it was!” Krech added, as if reflecting on second thought on the moments of nervous anticipation involved in the game. Rand and Krech chuckled.

“It was very nice to have the children,” said Betty Christopher, an Old Lyme resident, who was sitting at a table at the senior center with her friends on Wednesday. “They seemed to really enjoy it.”

k.drelich@theday.com

Twitter: @KimberlyDrelich