Playcentre open week: all welcome

Parents, grandparents and children all interact at Aramoho Playcentre. Photo / Paul Brooks

This week is Playcentre Open Week, and people are welcome to visit any of Whanganui's four playcentres.

Aramoho Playcentre is right next to Churton School, on its own piece of land with its own purposed building.

There is lots of room to play and the place is well shaded with trees planted more than 25 years ago, an initiative instigated by Laurel Stowell, who was Playcentre mum at the time.

Cat Atkinson is one of the current crop of mums who make the playcentre what it is and she sees the value in having Playcentre Open Week.

"It's about getting the name out there ... it's run by parents, and we are the teachers, effectively." She says the building was moved on to the site in 1984. "It was moved here to be a playcentre. The parents made this happen.

"It's a really nice place to be."

Playcentre open week this year is a celebration of storytelling. While Playcentre is a large charity, with more than 420 local Playcentres around the country, it is an organisation made up of individuals.

At Aramoho Playcentre, they value child-led play and fostering a sense of belonging for the children.

The charity is an Early Childhood Education (ECE) provider with a difference; it is parents and whanau who care for the children attending.

Friendship and connection is important, but at no time is it more important than during early childhood; research indicates that social skills in pre-schoolers are more predictive of outcomes in adulthood than early academic achievement.

At Playcentre children get an opportunity to make friends with others outside of their own age group with mixed age play (0-6 years) being a predominant feature of every Playcentre session.

Cat has been involved with her children at Playcentre since moving from Levin nine years ago.

"We all come with our children, and we all play with our children, but we also develop relationships with other people's children. What that means is that our children grow up with friendships with other adults and have a community wrapped around them.
"It's the adults and children building a really strong community."

For Playcentre Open Week they intend to have "extra messy stuff out" and everyone is free to drop by, explore, play with their child and get a feel for the place.

Aramoho Playcentre is in Burmah St, Aramoho, with access next to Churton School or pedestrian access from Somme Parade.