Newlands Tamariki Playcentre

Great initiative for all the Dads in our community!

We has a great first session of Messy Play Week today!

Pop in to any of our sessions, from 10am Wednesday or 9.30am Thursday or Friday, to see what other messy play we get up to!

📍 134 Newlands Road, Newlands

We are back in action with a busy start to .

The week has been filled with arts and crafts, baking, waterplay, swinging and filling our cups with our mates after a break.

Term 3 runs until Sept 27 and we would love to have you to come and join us for a day or two (or three or four).

Get in touch to organise the first of your three free visits ☎️

We hope you all enjoy the long weekend with your whānau and find time to reflect, enjoy the present and set your sights on what's to come ✨

‘Ooh, fizzy!’

The diversity of cultures at our centre is one of the best things about Playcentre! It's so valuable for our children to learn from each other and for our adults to be able to support each other 💜

Chinese immigrant Tang Peiming (Cherry Tong) encourages parents of other ethnicities and other Asian origins to participate in Playcentre.

"As a Chinese immigrant in New Zealand, I am extremely grateful and cherish the lifelong friendships, relationships, sense of belonging and trust that I have built with friends and family at Playcentre," she said.

"For immigrants, especially with children, it can be very isolating. Playcentre gives you a 'second home."

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/chinese/519774/article

Ko Rāapa te rā o te reo māori me te ao māori ki o tātou Playcentre, haere mai i takaro ki a mātou!
Wednesday is our weekly bilingual session where we celebrate and endeavour to practice our reo and explore all things te ao māori!

We make fun play experiences for all tamariki from 0 to six years old!

Get in touch to book your first visit - we would love to hang out with you!

Did you know that today is the very first International Day of Play?
The day is part of an effort to recognise the vital role of play in human development and well being! At Playcentre we’re experts in play and we’d love to share that joy with your family too 💜

We’re hosting a new Space group for parents and babies on Monday afternoons in term three – register here to book your spot!

Space at Hutt, Wellington and Wairarapa Playcentres - Booking by Bookwhen Space for you and your baby at Playcentre would love to share in your parenting journey. At Space, you and your baby will connect with other new parents & their babies as you explore parenting & children's development in a safe, facilitated environment. Your Space group will meet weekly, giving you....

🍳 PROCESS COOKING 👨‍🍳

Ngā tamariki develop socially as they work alongside their peers, watching how others perform the required tasks, practice their patience while waiting for their turn.
Ngā tamariki develop emotionally as they increase their confidence through their increased independence and achievements in making food themselves that they can share with the adults on session - and indulge in themselves of course!
Ngā tamariki develop their literacy and comprehension as they listen to the instructions and have to scoop and pour the measurements.
And above all else, our tamariki have fun!

Come and join us on a Friday where cooking as a group is always built into our plans 👩‍🍳
Feel free to get in touch to organise the first of your three free visits 📞

After nearly ten years as the Kaiarahi Māoritanga on our Wednesday bilingual session, our wonderful Pippa Cubey is retiring from the role. If you've ever attended the session you'll know how much we're going to miss her enthusiasm, support and knowledge! Please message us if you'd like to come along to her farewell at the end of term.

This also means we're searching for someone new to champion te reo Māori on the session – helping parents and children learn together. If that sounds like you (or someone you know!) please take a look at the advertisement:
https://www.playcentre.org.nz/vacancies/session-facilitator-newlands-tamariki-playcentre/

Please feel free to email us directly at [email protected] if you have any questions

We're opening up our Playcentre for public hire!
Please email us if you'd like more information 🙂

We got a jump start on with some pink snow to play in today!

We're sending love and gratitude to all the mamas, grandmas and caregivers in our community, today and everyday 💜

Child-led play and learning mean our tamariki sometimes take our activities in unexpected directions! 🎨

Newlands Tamariki Playcentre is back open for Term Two! Yay!!

If you and your tamariki are looking for a fun, whānau lead ECE space to spend your days, why not get in touch with us!

We run sessions Tuesday - Friday and would love to have you with us!

Get in touch to organise your three free visits 🌺

Term two begins tomorrow!
We're looking forward to a new term of mixed-age play at our lovely centre.

Please get in touch to book a visit if you're interested in getting involved in your child's early education and being part of our friendly community. You can message us or email [email protected] to book your three free visits 🥰

And just like that, it's the end of Term One!
A busy term for our tamariki full of things like
🎨 painting in all forms
👩‍🎨 crafting
👨‍🍳 baking and cooking
⛱️ excursions to beaches and reserves
👫 strengthening our friendships with our peers and bolstering our relationships with our playcentre adults
🗣 bilingual sessions to enhance our Te Reo Māori

And way more!

We are closed for the holidays and return with bells on for a another action and fun filled Term Two starting 30 April.

Happy holidays 🤩

Today we did some very serious experimenting with ice 🧊

Recently the children have been exploring transformation with face paint & role play – they’ve moved from requesting adults paint their designs to painting their own creations! 🐯

Happy Easter to all our whānau celebrating today!
We'll be back on session from Tuesday 2 April – please message us or email [email protected] if you'd like to book a visit 🐣

Thanks so much to everyone who supported our bake sale and sausage sizzle yesterday!

It was lovely to see so many graduates and former members, our current tamariki out waving signs and so many friendly new faces.

We were blown away by the generosity of our community, with many people making donations to support development of our new play space 😍

Extra special thanks to New World Newlands who donated some sausages and to Newlands Scouts, New Zealand who lent us a table!

Today we visited Johnsonville Library at Waitohi to listen to Storytime & for a spot of quiet reading
📚

Epilepsy New Zealand support one of our treasured kōtiro and her whānau, so this week we held a PURPLE WEEK to learn more about epilepsy, immerse ourselves in purple play and raise funds for their important work 💜

We're fundraising to develop an exciting new play space for the children at Playcentre!
Please come along to support us next Thursday afternoon 😍

Today’s reo rua (bilingual) session explored Mākara Beach, where the tamariki enjoyed spotting kōtore (anemone, or neneme as they were often called this morning!) in the rock pools, hunting for pāpaka (crabs) in the shallows, climbing the rocks, drawing in the sand and wading in the water. And of course practising kaitiakitanga (conservation/stewardship) by picking up all the rubbish we could spot!

Ramadan Mubarak to all our whānau marking Ramadan! ☪️

This is what literacy looks like at Playcentre: countless hours of play developing gross and fine motor skills; resources to use in an age-appropriate manner and high adult to child ratios supporting children to follow their own interests ✍️

Thanks to everyone who came along to Open Week – it was lovely to meet you all!

If you didn’t make it during the week we’d love to book a day for you to visit – please message us or email [email protected] 🥰

Last chance to pop in for our open week! Newlands Tamariki Playcentre, 134 Newlands Road.