NURSERY PLAY CENTRES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 728, 26 June 1953, Page 19

NURSERY PLAY CENTRES

A PROGRAMME "" which should be of considerable interest to mothers of young children. will be broadcast from 1YA in the Feminine Viewpoint hour at 10.30 a.m. on Monday, June 19. The programme, which is’ called Nursery Play Centres, is, in two parts, the first consisting of a _ radio visit to "Ferndale," a well-known play centre in the Mount Albert district of Atickland, and the second béing an interview by Cynthia Dale with Eleanor Bolster, a committee member of the Auckland Nursery Play Centres’ Association, and Lex Grey, the Auckland _ Association’s president. In the visit to "Ferndale," the commentator moves around among the children at play, recording the sounds of their activity and "tht babble of childish voices,’ and describes what _ the physical surroundings of the children are, and what they+do from day to day.

In the discussion which follows, Mrs. Bolster, who is a mother helper herself, talks about the theories behind the Nursery Play Centre movement with Mr. Grey, who is a Lecturer in the Principles and Practice of Teaching at the Auckland Teachers’ Training College. Mrs. Bolster told The Listener something about the movement last week. She said that there were 92 centres throughout New Zealand, and that the movement had been going here for from eight to nine years. The National Ad-

visor at the moment is Mrs. H. C. D. Somerset, of Wellington. "It is a co-operative movement of parents and highly-trained educators, aimed at providing the best conditions for the play and development of young children," she said. "It fulfils a need for parents with small children who want them to mix with others. The centre is regarded as an extension of the home, not just a dumping ground.- The mothers take turns in running it, and the movement receives a small grant from the Government."