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Weekly camp tries to stay ahead of migrant worker’s kids’ needs
By Jean Dibble
MONITOR,
Four-year-old Junior Ibarra wasn’t saying, but his concentration was
evident as he struggled silently to squish a colored mass of dough
through a pint-sized sieve, creating … green hair? Spaghetti? The legs
of a sea monster?
Junior was joined by dozens of children Monday at the migrant worker
camp in Monitor for the Play and Learn group offered on site by Catholic
Family & Child Services. It was the first of weekly sessions that will
continue through the summer.
"Some of these kids will stay in
Northrup made it clear it doesn’t matter where the children eventually
go to school. As she watched an excited group form around a small water
tub, and boys and girls taking turns "fishing" for brightly colored
plastic fish using rods with magnets instead of hooks, she just smiled
and said, "We help them because they’re kids."
Apart from access to the colored Play-Doh and magnet fishing, children
of any age had the opportunity to paint freehand or with a little help
from stencils, roll balls at fat plastic bowling pins, draw on cement
sidewalks with giant pieces of colored chalk or simply blow bubbles, to
name just a few of the attractions. All activities are educational and
absolutely free and are designed to help young children navigate the
world of counting, color and shape identification, hand-eye coordination
and creative play, among other things.
"It’s preschool intended for children who don’t go to preschool," said
Northrup, although she allows any age child staying at the camp to join
in on the fun. The parent education component is encouraged but it’s not
a requirement. "In the other groups a caregiver must be present, but
here we just let them come and play," she said.
While encouraging a young artist in his attempt to handle a thick
paintbrush, Liliana Torres, the Play and Learn facilitator, explained
the group tries to attract parents as well as connect with children. "It
gets parents more involved in their children’s education," she said. "We
give the parents ideas about how to play with small children, when they
go home they’ll have ideas about different games."
Torres said the Play and Learn groups are for everyone, but migrant
farmworker families have a special need. "They move around every three
months and parents don’t have room to pack toys. They only bring what’s
absolutely necessary."
At the Monitor camp several moms sat nearby, keeping an eye on the
proceedings. Adela Corona, a young mother of three is pleased with the
Play and Learn group.
"This is a good program, it keeps the children occupied, you can see
they’re learning as they play," she said.
"It’s great for the kids," agreed Hilda Corona of
Funded by grants from the
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