Central Avenue United Methodist Church hosted a Central Play Cafe at its uptown location in the middle of January and February and was met with good results.
A play cafe is a space of socialization, play and even work for parents and young children who may not have many opportunities to get out and socialize. Central Play Cafe was started by the church because many attendees of the church, as well as many other parents of young children, desired activities for their kids, especially during the winter months.
Each session costs from $3 to $5, with the next session being held at 9 a.m. on March 17 at 29 E Carpenter St.
“We wanted to create (a space) for parents, kids and caretakers of young kids during the day to come and play and work and connect,” Lauren Fuchs, associate pastor at Central Avenue United Methodist Church, said. “We wanted to make an indoor space, specifically, that kids could come and play while parents were able to talk and connect with one another or get some work done, or however they wanted to use the space.”
The space includes a number of different activities for kids to participate in.
“There's one bounce house right now that will always be blown up. There's blocks, there's play kitchens for dramatic play. There's a basketball hoop we have for older kids, we have hula hoops and different bead making games...really any kind of toy that you would find in any kind of play space.” Fuchs said. “There’s a little slide for toddlers, and there's a baby area with baby toys that has a mat on the floor that infants can play with.”
When the cafe is in session, there are two volunteers there to monitor the children at play so that the adults have a little more leeway to connect with each other while their children play.
“If you want to play and connect with your child, that's a space where you can do that as well,” Fuchs said.
The church hosted two preview events, one on Jan. 20, which had around 40 families attend and was held in the morning. The other was on Feb. 17 and hosted about 15 families and was held in the afternoon. Both previews were on days that school was not in session to make sure there was plenty of opportunity for students to come, Fuchs said.
Fuchs considered the preview days to be a success.
“We knew that this was a need that needed to be met in Athens, and so we were excited to see so many kids and so many parents, and so many of them stayed for so long.” Fuchs said. “The feedback that we got was so great.”
Many of the people who attended were not affiliated with the church, Fuchs said.
“The majority of people had no affiliation with Central, but they were community members and so it was great just to meet new friends and meet new faces and get to interact with them and play with their kids,” Fuchs said.
Attendees were mostly very happy with the experience. Volunteer and mom Beth Flick took her two children and received positive feedback from others who attended.
“I had an amazing turnout and with all the moms that I talked to, they just really seem to love it,” Flick said.
Even some Ohio University students are interested in the concept of the Play Cafe. Sydney Hansen, a freshman studying geology, said she wants to have kids in the future and she would be very interested in attending a play cafe one day.
“I think it's kind of cute,” Hansen said. “It's a good way to get kids to go out and socialize and the parents also… I would assume, would probably get socialized as well.”
After the success of the previews, the Central Play Cafe will be open more often and is aiming to hold regular hours by the fall.
“Hopefully this summer, surely by this fall, we'll have regular hours, two to three days a week where we're open to just for open play for parents, like I said, to come in and work and play and connect. However that looks to them,” Fuchs said.
