Wolverhampton cafe supporting hundreds of children during lockdown
A play centre for under-fives in Wolverhampton is providing free activity packs to help children and families at home during lockdown.
Wolves Play Cafe, founded by Lisa Stallard and mum Helen in 2018, provides themed ‘stay and play’ groups for pre-school youngsters at community venues across the city.
Since having to close during lockdown, the cafe has been focusing on delivering play packs to families it feels will benefit the most from play at home activities.
Play cafe director Lisa said: “Our interactive packs have different themes, such as jungle, minibeasts or dinosaurs, and contain books and activity cards. They are also fully reusable, so if a family has more than one child they can all use them.
“With the help of our partnership organisations and funding from the council’s Holiday Squad programme and Rotary Club, we have been able to develop and distribute packs to nurseries, health visitors and also The Haven.
“By May we will have distributed 185 packs to families with children under-five, with 50 being shared through current Postcode Lottery Trust funding, where we are working with the Refugee and Migrant Centre to help make packs accessible to families where English is a second language.
“What we are continually working towards is reducing feelings of loneliness and isolation for parents and caregivers, whilst enabling young children to enjoy play-time.”
Councillor Beverley Momenabadi (Lab. Ettingshall) has worked with the cafe over the last few months to help secure funding and also to distribute packs to The Haven and to families in her ward.
She said: “It’s been great to team up with Wolves Play Cafe to get these play packs and sensory packs to children and families in Ettingshall. I will be distributing these alongside Windsor Nursery School to families that need them.
“We know Covid-19 has hit families hard and with many children having missed months of being in schools, these packs will go a long way in helping support their development.”
Anyone wishing to find out more about Wolves Play Cafe, obtain a play at home pack or support play for young children across the city, can visit the website at www.wolvesplaycafe.org/supportus