The Regional Kiddies Games take place in Bram Fischerville
Children have fun at the preliminary Regional Kiddies Games.
On April 23, children from all over Region C in Roodepoort came together for the Regional Kiddies Games.
“Over 80 children from various pre-schools around the area took part in several games as part of the programme which is also a preliminary round to the city-wide edition of the games set to take place in May. The Kiddies Games are strategically targeted towards keeping children in early childhood development stages between the ages 3-6 active and teaching them fine motor skills through sports,” stated Thembelihle Radebe, City of Johannesburg’s communication specialist.
The Sport and Recreation Directorate makes its facilities available, each year, to teachers and learners to prepare for these games.
Also read: Preschool behaviours to watch out for
Acting Regional Director, Ntswaki Hlaba opened the programme by emphasising the ‘City’s state-of-the-art facilities and interdepartmental collaboration’.
“From a service delivery point of view, we collectively need to ensure that our facilities are well maintained so that they are used by communities to make such initiatives possible,” Hlaba stated.
She further added the importance of how joint efforts by the different departments create smooth running operations.
Also read: Tips on how to handle preschool drop-off
“Kiddies Games are vital in child growth as they develop children’s eye-hand coordination skills, and psychological awareness and improve the child’s cardiovascular fitness and endurance,” said Thato Motsitsi from the regional Sport and Recreation about the games.
Seventy of the 80 children will take part in the coming finals in Ruimsig.
Teachers from various pre-schools were also involved, as they believe physical development to be an important aspect of children’s growth. Nonkanyiso Mbhele, a teacher at Ebenezer Daycare stated her hopes for more projects such as this one.
“The physical and mental development aspects are interlinked which is why we instill them and would like these programs to happen at least quarterly,” she said.
“Region C is looking forward to hosting all the regions as they will be competing for the big trophy and bragging rights, next month,” concluded Radebe.
