Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Childcare

🎈🌍 Celebrate International Day of Play with NCN! 🌍🎈

Participating in the National Childhood Network’s “Stay and Play” session is a wonderful opportunity for Early Years, Childminders, and School Age Services to champion every child’s right to play 🧸✨

By opening your doors to families 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦, you help build strong partnerships between parents and educators while creating a warm sense of community 💛

💡 Each setting will receive a copy of our Non-Screen Play Tip Sheet information leaflet, featuring 31 practical play tips!🌈🧩🎨

This year’s theme is: “Protect Play, Protect Childhood”

Play is not “just play” 💫
It supports:
🧠 Cognitive development
💪 Physical wellbeing
❤️ Social & emotional growth
🎨 Creativity & imagination
🤝 Confidence, belonging & connection

Hosting a Stay and Play session is a fantastic way to:
✨ Showcase your play-based practice
✨ Promote screen-free exploration
✨ Support lifelong learning foundations
✨ Align with Aistear, Síolta & EDI
✨ Celebrate the incredible work educators do every day 🌟

Please join NCN and celebrate the power of Play together!
📅 International Day of Play, Thursday 11th June

To Register: https://ncn.ie/events/

Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, Norma Foley - TD today welcomed the publication of a new review which highlights the benefits of Government funding for parent and toddler groups.

The Parent and Toddler Group grants support weekly meet-ups for hundreds of parents, guardians, grandparents, childminders, and young children across the country.

In 2024, almost 400 parent and toddler groups received grants worth €912 on average to support their work.

The full press release can be found here: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-children-disability-and-equality/press-releases/minister-foley-welcomes-new-review-highlighting-the-social-benefits-of-funding-for-parent-and-toddler-groups/