Where can i find Simple play area indoor at Espoo

[carolinemaher]

Scuba, yes the toys were dirt cheap, but what a strange slant your putting on things, the kitchen is fairly pricey new, but you were a seller on this Forum and I bought at the prices you advertised!! Anyway, I certainly don't have any room in my life for this nonesense. So goodbye to you.

To the original poster here are a couple of other indoor play areas, not free, but about EUR 5. Good to go to with a group of friends.

www.leikkiluola.fi/english/ or hoplop.fi

[Rosamunda]

The British Women's Association used to run a playgroup in conjunction with Nokia in the Nokia gym at Kilo. As far as I know this group still exists but no longer meets in Kilo(???) Maybe someone on this board knows more about it. Or you could try contacting the BWA to see if you can join (if I remember correctly, you don't have to be British and you don't have to work for Nokia but I think you need to belong to the BWA, or know someone who does).).

Then check out the librairies such as Sello. They have child-friendly spaces (and also notice-boards where you might find some interesting events being organised). Do you belong to a church? Sometimes they organise playgroups for children (I remember seeing one advertised in Iso Omena library a couple of years ago).

It's true that there are not many INDOOR places that are FREE and specifically designed for SMALL children =tall order!!!). I guess there is not much demand. Kids are either at home, outdoors, or at päiväkoti or maybe in the pram going round the shops. I would agree what some of the others have said about clothing and outdoors. If you are saying here permanently, you really need to get the right gear and get your child used to spending time outside. As soon as she goes to daycare she will spend several hours outdoors every day.

[sahboo]

the bwa meet every tue in lautasaari from 9.30 onwards.i had suggested and started a thread of things to do with children here in helsinki,espoo.its here somewhere just search for it.its a shame people dont add to it as i am sure people know of things going on in their aera,some costing money some free....people need to come forward with the info ,its a topis asked all the time here.

[RA]

Would these be those threads Sahboo?

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=33261&p=297425#p297425

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=33262&p=297426#p297426

Maybe we could ask Neil to put them together and make them a sticky?

[sahboo]

yep that would be them!but it would be great to see people add to it,things they have done in helsinki ,espoo or things going on now.lets share the info people!
s

[CH]

What we locals do, if one doesn't have the child in a daycare...

There are asukaspuisto's at least in the greater Helsinki area in most areas. They have both indoor and outdoor play areas, with usually some pre-planned activities. During summer at least some of them serve a hot meal for free (bring your own plate and eating utensils). This is a great place to meet local families! The indoor area is open only daytime, so check the times for your local asukaspuisto on your city's web page. This is free.

Avoin päiväkoti (open daycare). The name is a bit misleading, as one usually cannot leave the child unattended, although some might have this service too. Indoor, with free play and some pre-planned activities. Also a great place to meet local families! This is also free.

Churches have "kerho" (play clubs) for a small fee a couple of mornings a week. Quite a lot of the children that don't go to daycare attend these. These are in Finnish or Swedish, but ask your local parish if there are any in English (I really don't know if there are or not). Note, that one doesn't have to belong to the church/parish to attend the club.

Muskari is music, rhymes, rythmic dancing etc. The smaller ones (usually 0-3 I think) attend with their parents. Different organisations organize these, so do some creative googling (like "muskari espoo"). Most are in Finnish or Swedish, though. Usually the fee is pretty nominal.

There are lots of "mommy and me" type of activities, like "vauvajumppa" and baby swim, but for a fee. Libraries usually have at least once a week something for the small ones, check with your local library. Then there are lots of informal meetings, where mommies gather with their babies for a cup of coffee. Check out forums for parents on where and when parents gather, and just go!

For English activities one needs to do a bit more searching, but here is at least one: http://www.familiaclub.fi/children_and_families.html

[bavarian-girl]

I would also recommend the open day care centers in Espoo.
There are places (hosted by the church) in Iso Omena and Tapiola (Wed mornings an international group).
There is a playgroup in Lauttasaari Tuesday mornings.
These are for young kids. I did not see the age of yours in the post.
There is something called MLL perhe kahvila. Never been there (times did not fit), but sounds good.
(if you are interested to have more details, please send a PM)
Libraries are also a good place to visit. The big ones have foreign language sections. And you can order lots of books online to pick them up at the place next to you.

On the other hand: the finnish lifestyle also has it's good sides.
The children usually don't bother about the weather outside if dressed up.
Building with snow can be as much fun as with sand.

[FlyJay]

I found a neighborhood park in the Espoo, which is the Viherakallio. But I am afraid they only have outdoor park. You can still bring your kids there, the place is safe, lots of activities to do. Commercial Playground Equipment

[biscayne]

There are workmen doing things in the house the last few days and I've been on the forum a lot (shows how tiny my life is...............) 'cos I've been off work as I don't feel like leaving them alone in the house...............

Reading over this topic, it really shows how different we all are and how life in one place or another will really suit you, or not, depending on what it is that you like and how you are as a person. That English lady which I met recently and posted about on the Swedish school topic, is absolutely hating it here. She finds it the most boring place she has ever been to and although has hardly been a wet weekend here is already thinking of jumping ship. She also feels that there is nothing for kids to do here, whereas I would feel it is a kids' paradise - every kind of outdoor activity you can imagine. Her boy played football (soccer!!!) in the UK and she brought him to the practices and it seems they were as much of a social thing for the parents as for the kids, they all went for drinks after (do the pubs in the Uk have play areas for kids?!!!!) and she was a housewife and as there are still far more housewives in the UK than in Finland, it seemed to be a constant round of meeting for coffee and going from one house to the other for the kids to play and the mothers to meet up. There also seemed to be a lot of "girls nights out" (I HATE that phrase). To be honest, she made it sound like the husbands were somewhat inconsequential and really quite secondary. She feels that families in Finland live very much in their own cocoons. I was chatting with her and trying to explain that people go walking in the forest, berry picking, swimming in the lakes, winter-sports in season, go to their summer cottages etc. She said "I don't do nature". So I suppose what I am trying to say, is that, for me, although I don't have as many friends as I would like (Sean Canary would likely say he's not surprised), because all the readily available outdoor stuff in Finland is paradise to me, I love it, whereas if you are the sort of "surburban" type where it is all about driving round from one organised activity to the next, then it won't suit so well. If you had a nice flat, you could live a really good "urban" life here, Hki is big enough, but that sort of middle England suburban life doesn't seem to really exist on the same level here.

Ok, these people need to finish the work here, so I can get on with normal life, 'cos philosophising on FF is really the living proof of intese boredom. I can't sort of do chores either, in case anyone suggest that, because they and their stuff are all over the place..................

[Mook]

There also seemed to be a lot of "girls nights out" (I HATE that phrase).

The Kruununhaka mothers seem to do that quite a lot. (if you make it to the "inner circle")

[biscayne]

Mook wrote:

The Kruununhaka mothers seem to do that quite a lot. (if you make it to the "inner circle")


what/who/where is that exactly? I know that the Vantaa single-mothers have a reputation, heard SO's divorced friends boasting about how many times they woke up in Vantaa......................(very unfair, 'cos there where there is a single mother, there is a single father.............) but is Kruununhaka on the upper or lower echelons of the social scale...........?

[Mook]

Mook wrote:

The Kruununhaka mothers seem to do that quite a lot. (if you make it to the "inner circle")


what/who/where is that exactly? I know that the Vantaa single-mothers have a reputation, heard SO's divorced friends boasting about how many times they woke up in Vantaa......................(very unfair, 'cos there where there is a single mother, there is a single father.............) but is Kruununhaka on the upper or lower echelons of the social scale...........?

Where: http://kartta.hel.fi/opas/main/default. ... 31&e=53136

er, they get together and go out for a drinks and maybe to Kalle - nothing seedy. (I doubt they'd go to Hotelli Vantaa). I don't know about social scale, but you can always check the apartment prices in oikotie:

(this is the cheapest at the mo): http://www2.oikotie.fi/myytavat+asunnot ... ki/1932604

[inkku]

Sunday afternoons at 4-8pm Salsa for kids in Copacabana

http://www.copa.fi/showPage.php?page_id=33