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Writer's pictureTamara Botting

Toy friends visit Lansdowne Children’s Centre in Brantford

A group of stuffies – Chance the Dog, Fortune the Reindeer, Lucky the Cat, Wish the Pig and Charm the Cow – visited Lansdowne Children's Centre, and learned more about what happens at the centre.


The first thing the friends from PetSmart noticed was how bright and colourful it was inside Lansdowne. That’s because Lansdowne has a new Smilezone in its main entrance and gymnasium. The ribbon cutting was in September.


All of the friends tried out the one kind of seats before they went exploring more.













Wish and Charm tried out the beanbag chairs.














Fortune looked at the sensory table.










Chance and Lucky saw a lot of information in the Caregiver Corner, where families of kids who go to Lansdowne can learn about upcoming activities and events, and get some resources to take home.











Speaking of resources, the friends also found some emotional gauge cards in the lobby. These can help kids express how they’re feeling, like sad, angry, silly, happy and more. There are two beads on the cards, because sometimes people have more than one feeling at a time.





Some people don’t know that Lansdowne has a lot of helpful resources, like books, games and puzzles, educational toys and more.



























The friends decided they wanted to explore the centre more. Lansdowne is shaped like a big triangle, and they decided to go to the left first.






Chance noticed right away that there are special stickers on the floors, that show people how to move in active and creative ways when they visit Lansdowne.











The friends also saw a lot of cool artwork on the walls. These had been done by kids who had gone to Lansdowne over the years, and had won the Terry Fisher Art Student of the Year Award. The friends each had a different one that they liked best, and that’s OK.






The next place the friends visited was the Entry to School room. This is where kids who have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and will be going to school soon can practice what that’s like ahead of time, so it’s more familiar when they get there.





Across the hall, the friends checked out the gym. They all took a turn on the swing together, but only Wish and Fortune wanted to play on the teeter-totter.












The next area the friends visited was Speech and Language. Fortune saw that there was a lot of books in this area, too, just like in the resource room.








Lucky liked the construction vehicle decorations on the wall in one of the rooms.











Charm felt right at home with the mat on the floor, because it had pictures of the farm. They both saw the core board, which is one type of AACs or augmentative and alternative communication device. If a person doesn’t use words, they can still communicate with things like pictures, sign language and/ or a tablet.





The physiotherapy room had a lot of interesting things to look at and play with.







There was a kid-sized trampoline (it was still a bit too big for Charm to use, but that was OK).
















Wish found some toys that were a better fit in size.













Chance’s favourite thing was the bucket of cubes. They weren’t too soft, but they weren’t super hard, either.














Fortune thought the most interesting thing in the room was the ramp and stairs set. It’s been at Lansdowne for a long, long time. Physiotherapy is where people work on their gross motor skills, like walking, crawling and bending over (here, ‘gross’ means ‘big,’ not ‘yucky’).





Next door was the occupational therapy room. This is where people work on their fine motor skills, which are things like holding a spoon, cutting with scissors, and writing. Lucky sat in a highchair while Charm tried out one of the wheelchairs.


















The friends saw something interesting outside, in the centre of the building's triangle. There was a courtyard with playground equipment and some toys.


Chance liked the slide, and Wish thought it was a great idea to have a core board outside, so kids could communicate with each other and their caregivers.


















On their way back to the lobby, the friends stopped to look at some artwork that was done at a Sibshops event. Sibshops are for the brothers and sisters of kids who go to Lansdowne, so that they can have some time to meet new friends, learn more about the services their sibling is receiving at Lansdowne, and talk about the great and not-so-great parts of having a sibling with special needs with others who understand.


Back in the lobby, Lucky and Charm decided they wanted to go into the planes up high, so they did.













The friends had a great time visiting Lansdowne, and learning a little bit more about what’s happens there.


If you would like to bring home any of the PetSmart 2024 holiday collection stuffies, please contact the Lansdowne Children’s Centre Foundation office for more information.

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