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Rotary supports sensory garden

Thursday 4 December 2014, 8:34PM

By Rotary Club of Fairfield

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Rotary supports sensory garden
Rotary supports sensory garden Credit: Rotary Club of Fairfield

HAMILTON

Whānau tupu ngātihi  -  Families growing together


Fairfield Rotary Club president Mike Cahill and New Generations Director Mary Jones travelled to St Andrews Playcentre to present a cheque for £2,500 to the SPACE organisation, which is an inspirational programme that is building a sensory garden for the infants and toddlers at St Andrews Playcentre.


SPACE (Supporting Parents alongside Children’s Education) is a programme mainly for first time parents and their babies. Parents and Babies meet weekly for 30-40 weeks in a relaxed, baby friendly environment. The length of the SPACE session times may vary but are typically around 2 1/2 hours.

Groups meet every week during the school term and sessions are run by SPACE trained facilitators.


A sensory garden is a specialized garden for infants and toddlers to learn about the world through their senses; touch, sight, sound, taste, and smell.


SPACE provides for both parents and infants with its unique programme. It has three key objectives.

Improve the well-being of children - Valuing and enhancing children's holistic learning and development.
Enhance support for parents - Easing the transition to parenthood by delivering quality and responsive group parenting sessions, while recognising and acknowledging parents as the most important nurturers and educators of their children.


Contribute to building stronger communities - Providing opportunities to connect with other parents; and enhancing the connectedness between families and community groups as they share the journey through their child's early months.

Programme and Enrolment Information
Enrolments are currently being taken for new SPACE programmes starting throughout each term. There are opportunities for older babies to join in with an existing SPACE or Playcentre session depending on the availability of places.

For more information regarding SPACE or to enrol in a SPACE programme, please visit www.SPACE.org.nz   or contact Catherine at   space@waikatoplaycentre.org.nz