A project developing parents' understanding about the importance of young children's play at an early years setting in Cardiff.
The team of educators at Ely and Caerau Children's Centre were awarded a Froebel Trust Practice Development Grant for a community engagement project which aims:
- to support families; helping them to gain a deeper understanding of how educators support children's play, development and learning
- to allow parents and carers to gain an understanding of why play is embedded in Froebelian principles.
Project leaders want to give local families the chance to develop a deeper understanding of practice within their setting, whilst gaining new ideas for activities and experiences to provide for their babies and children within the home environment.
Families will have opportunities to connect with each other, staff and children, and will learn about the importance of allowing children time to explore and experiment at their own pace.
The project will involve running family sessions which will include time for the adults to explore aspects of practice both with and without the children present, and the families will be given resources on aspects of the centre's provision.
The families will leave each session with a ‘goodie bag’ linked to the session of that day to help the child explore at home with their parent or carer, thus helping the bond between parent and child.
The educators aim to report on this project in Summer 2026.
About Ely and Cearau Children's Centre
Ely and Caerau Children’s Centre is Cardiff’s only Integrated Children's Centre. The centre welcomes babies from eight weeks old, has a toddler room for daycare (open from 8am till 6pm), has two nursery school classes on site for three and four year olds - and offers a wealth of services and groups for local families. The centre aims to improve the health, education and emotional development of young children through an integrated approach. The centre is located on the edge of one of Europe's largest council estates and is in an area which is listed within the 10% most deprived in terms of Income, Education and Community Safety (Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2019). Find out more...
