Crawling babies and curious toddlers can be hard work, especially when the wintery weather isn’t great.
In a bid to offer parents some light relief whilst keeping the little ones entertained, Whitehouse Farm Centre, near Morpeth, has come up with a fun-packed solution for everyone, providing weekly activity sessions for babies, toddlers and their parents.
Dawn Peters, Events Coordinator at Whitehouse Farm Centre, explains:
“The concept of Farm Tots is to encourage babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers to come and visit us. The common thread with all our sessions is getting mums together, out of the house and socialising.
“For some, having little ones can be quite an isolating time, so it’s great to be able to help out in this area and provide social interaction and fun for families with the added benefit of increasing our mid-week visitor numbers.”
The Farm teamed up with several local businesses to help deliver activities for six pilot sessions. They included Tiny Talk, which uses singing and fun to teach babies basic signs, Jo Jingles which introduces little ones to music and ARTventurers, a creative and often messy, art class for babies, toddlers and pre-school children.
The pilot sessions were promoted through the Farm’s website and social media platforms. The level of demand resulted in the last three sessions selling out.
Dawn adds: “It was essential for us to partner with established, reputable local companies with plenty of experience in delivering fantastic activities for little ones that were good quality, safe and fun.
“We were staggered by the popularity of the early sessions, so when we sold out it made sense to create a regular Farm Tots programme and also to introduce some weekend dates so that working parents don’t miss out on all the fun!
“I really love these sessions, the little ones have such a good time and get to experience new things. It’s truly wonderful watching them develop their skills and to see the Farm busier through the week.”
The success of the Farm Tots activity programme has led to a 30 per cent increase in weekday visitor numbers for Whitehouse Farm since October. The ticket price includes entry to the Farm so after the session, which normally lasts an hour, families are free to stay and play on the Farm all day.
“We have received enquiries from several other local businesses who are interested in getting involved with Farm Tots as word is spreading about the sessions and their success. We are already working on next year’s programme which is shaping up to be very exciting,” said Dawn.
If you’re looking for a fun day out for you and your little ones, there’s no shortage of tot-friendly activities to try. Farm Tot sessions coming up include:
- Tuesday 28 November – Tiny Talk – Christmas Special
- Tuesday 5 December – Messy Play with ARTventurers
- Tuesday 12 December – Jo Jingles – Christmas Special
- Tuesday 19 December – Big Farm Tots Christmas Party
Local mum Georgina Drape from Morpeth is a regular at Farm Tots. She said: “I attend Farm Tots with my son who is 9 months old. The sessions are really welcoming and we’re both enjoying making new friends, trying new things and really making the most of the precious time we have together while I am on Maternity Leave.”
On Saturday 18 November Whitehouse Farm Centre also launched Santa’s Winter Wonderland to get visitors into the festive spirit. Running from 18 November to 24 December, Santa’s Winter Wonderland sees Santa, Mrs Claus and their cheeky elves on the Farm to meet visitors tall and small and find out who’s been naughty or nice!
A family business, in 20 years Whitehouse Farm Centre has grown from a small farm attraction into a popular visitor attraction and home to an impressive range of native and exotic animals.
The Farm’s furry, feathered and scaly residents include snakes, skinny pigs, meerkats, skunk, marmoset monkeys, deer, wallabies, llamas, Shetland ponies, owls and parrots, all living happily alongside the more typical farm animals you would expect to find in the Northumberland countryside; sheep, goats, pigs, rabbits and cattle.
To find out more go to www.whitehousefarmcentre.co.uk, Facebook: whitehousefarm or Twitter @WhitehouseFarm_.