Education Play Centre in Mangakino

Te Ao Hou, March 1963, Page 48

Education Play Centre in Mangakino by A. Grey One of the most pleasant features about a voluntary group working in a community is the natural way the people in the group mix together. Recently at Mangakino Play Centre on a Saturday we had a full morning session of children at play under the supervision of a Pakeha mother assisted by a Maori mother. Present also were Maori and Pakeha fathers, 16 of them. These with a few more mothers and around 20 children, Maori and Pakeha, enjoyed the morning play session. For some fathers this was their first sight of a Play Centre and the first sight of their children at play in a centre. For some fathers it was the first time in a long while that they had taken time off from the garden, the car, the races and the local to spend it with their young sons and daughters. How did the children react? Superbly. They showed what the equipment was for by using it all morning. No upsets, no squabbles, just 20 busy children at work playing with the equipment their fathers and mothers had helped to make.