Culture and sports services begin summer tour of public playgrounds
Services of the City of Helsinki’s Culture and Leisure Division will make regular stops at seven public playgrounds this June to brighten the days of local families. The tour will include pop-up art workshops, music-making and guided exercise, as well as visits from Helsinki’s library buses.
A summer tour of seven public playgrounds in Helsinki this June will offer local families rousing opportunities to engage in cultural activities and exercise. The tour will involve municipal services making several visits to the playgrounds of Filpus in the Malmi-Latokartano neighbourhood, Kimmo in the Kallio-Pasila-Vallila neighbourhood, Kipinä Park in the districts of Kivikko-Kontula, Puuskakulma in southeast Helsinki, Soihtu in the Maunula-Oulukylä neighbourhood, Seppä in the area of Kampinmalmi-Lauttasaari-Töölö and the Vähätupa playground in the Kaarela district.
Different services from Helsinki’s Culture and Leisure Division will make visits to each of the playgrounds during this period. The June tour will target playgrounds in the city that are located in popular areas and will not be offering mid-day meal services. It aims to entertain families in the parks with pop up-style art workshops, book presentations, and exercise groups that carefully observe the new social distancing recommendations. During the visits, city employees will also distribute a list of fun summer activities that the whole family can enjoy together.
"This will be the first time we undertake a summer tour of the playgrounds. Because the coronavirus crisis has put a crimp in all of our lives, we wanted to do something that would bring cheer to Helsinki’s families. It’ll be a pop-up kind of tour, so it should be a nice surprise for everyone. We’ll learn as much as we can from this summer’s first run, because we are planning to offer fun activities in public playgrounds in the summers to come. We also hope to extend the tour to service homes, shopping centres, and health care centre plazas in the future,” says the City of Helsinki’s Sport Services Director Tuuli Salospohja.
Summer tour dates and places:
Monday 1 June - Kimmo (guided exercise), Kipinä (library bus)
Tuesday 2 June - Filpus (guided exercise), Puuskakulma (library bus)
Wednesday 3 June - Soihtu (guided exercise), Vähätupa (library bus)
Thursday 4 June - Seppä (guided exercise), Kimmo (library bus)
Friday 5 June - Filpus (library bus)
Monday 8 June - Kipinä (guided exercise), Puuskakulma (art & music), Soihtu (library bus)
Tuesday 9 June - Puuskakulma (guided exercise), Vähätupa (art & music), Seppä (library bus)
Wednesday 10 June - Vähätupa (guided exercise), Kimmo (art & music), Kipinä (library bus)
Thursday 11 June - Kimmo (guided exercise), Filpus (art & music), Puuskakulma (library bus)
Friday 12 June - Filpus (guided exercise), Soihtu (art & music), Vähätupa (library bus)
Monday 15 June - Seppä (art & music), Kimmo (library bus)
Tuesday 16 June - Kipinä (art & music), Filpus (library bus)
Wednesday 17 June - Puuskakulma (art & music), Soihtu (library bus)
Thursday 18 June - Vähätupa (art & music), Seppä (library bus)
Monday 22 June - Soihtu (guided exercise), Kimmo (art & music)
Tuesday 23 June - Seppä (guided exercise), Filpus (art & music)
Wednesday 24 June - Kipinä (guided exercise), Soihtu (art & music)
Thursday 25 June - Puuskakulma (guided exercise), Seppä (art & music)
Friday 26 June - Vähätupa (guided exercise), Kipinä (art & music)
Photo: Maarit Hohteri