Rural Outreach Program

Not everyone lives in the larger town centres! We know families enjoy life in the dozens of villages and hamlets in our riding as well. But this can feel isolating for parents with young children at home who may not be able to travel to our permanent sites. So we bring the Early Learning Centre to you!


Our mobile van visits locations in the City of Kawartha Lakes, North Kawartha (in Peterborough Co.) and Haliburton County (see below). The van is full of toys and children’s equipment which we set up as an Early Learning Centre in churches and community centres. A fully equipped child based play centre is set up once or twice a month for parents, grandparents and caregivers to bring babies, toddlers, preschoolers or kindergarten-aged children. Different learning ‘stations’ are carefully planned around themes – always with specific child-learning goals, or outcomes, in mind.

• Interactive Circle Time – See a science experiment or learn the numbers on a calendar -you never know what’ll be part of the daily circle time. Ontario Early Years program staff lead a circle each morning when the mobile van outreach site is open. Adults and children sit together in a circle to learn songs & fingerplays and hear stories. Sequencing, colours, math skills, early literacy and counting are all part of the learning that takes place during the fun.
  
  
• Field trips – Parent/child excursions are organized by OEYC staff regularly. Visit the pumpkin patch, the zoo, farms, the maple syrup bush, agricultural fair, or a giant OEYC picnic in the park. Check our website or the centres to check what’s new every season.
  
  
• Special Guests come right to the rural outreach sites, such as dental health professionals to check your child’s baby teeth.

We currently visit the following towns:

Apsley Community Centre
Bobcaygeon Baptist Church
Kinmount Community Centre
Kirkfied - St. John's School
Omemee Trinity United Church
Pontypool Community Centre
Wilberforce Lloyd Watson Centre

MONTHLY CALENDAR
February & March 2011

Please note that the calendar is subject to change.

• play opportunities
  
  
• pre-math skills like matching, grouping, sorting
  
  
• peer interaction, learning to play well
  
  
• creative arts & crafts
  
  
• physical activities for large and small muscles
  
  
• music and movement
  
  
• science for preschoolers
  
  
• story-telling, language games, rhymes, finger plays
  
  
• kindergarten preparation, and getting ready for school
  
  
• cultural events such holiday celebrations
  
  
• family social events such as potluck suppers, picnics
  
  
• toy lending library
  
  
• lending of children’s books/videos
  
  
• early literacy- getting ready to read, & to print your name
  
  
• social skills like learning to sit with a group at circle time
  
  
• parent education classes, books and pamphlets