Wednesday, September 21, 2022 Vol. 45, No. 38
$1 includes GST
Your LOCAL Paper!
Stay and Play
Children and their moms have fun with a wide variety of play activities during the first “Stay and Play” in Bruce last Thursday morning. PATRICIA HARCOURT PHOTO
Patricia Harcourt Editor
Young children learn about their surroundings in highly tactile ways, by playing with toys and participating in activities with other youngsters. Parents of these children now have a place to go where activities are available free of charge, with no pre-registration required. Children ages 0-6 years can come to the Bruce Community Hall for “Stay and Play,” an inter-active hour of playing, hearing stories and
singing. There are also crafts and other activities to keep the young ones happily engaged. And parents are offered resources and supports, should they want them. The place for all this fun is courtesy of the Bruce Stampede Association, in the hamlet’s community hall, plus two other sponsors. “The program started last year,” explained Dawn Chrystian. Viking/Beaver Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) which is also helping sponsor the program.
“This is the first one so far this year,” she said, while helping out at the hall on Thursday, September 15. “This year, it runs every second Thursday of the month until December.” And, although it takes place in the Beaver County East area, the program itself is for anyone to come and enjoy. “It’s for everyone,” said Chrystian. “People can come from wherever, from far afield.” But at the Stay and Play program, “We see a lot of little guys simply because children also have kinder-
garten and playschool (to attend).” Vanessa Simonot from the Camrose Family Resource Centre was being a busy facilitator at the September 15 Stay and Play in Bruce. The resource centre is another sponsor for the fun time devoted to young children. This particular program started in January 2021 but had to be held outside at first due to pandemic restrictions, recalls Simonot. Once the restrictions relaxed, they were able to bring their activities inside. The program was a joint project Continued on Page 2