Terra relies on volunteers, financial and in-kind donations to offer services and support our teen parents.
At Terra, our specialized team tailors programs and services to meet the needs of each teen parent. Always safe, never judgemental. Learn more about what we have to offer our young families.
Each week during the summer months Terra hosts a meet-up group with our young parents. These get-togethers focus on budget-friendly activities that can be fun for the whole family, as many teen parents feel they do not have the funds to go out and enjoy our city the way many of their non-parenting friends can. Our Summer of Fun activities provide our moms and dads with a chance to connect with one another, experience new things with their children, and reduce the likelihood of feeling socially isolated.
On July 7th, we held our first Summer of Fun Day with activities that included books, songs, painting, snacks, and fun at Ottewell spray park!
Our Books, Babies, and More! facilitators came by and led a reading of a story book along with an activity related to the book. The book selected was The Very Hungry Catepillar, a popular children’s picture book with strong educational themes! Children learn about counting, the days of the week, different types of food and even a butterfly’s life stages – all in one book! We also sang a song and little ones loved doing the actions that went along with it!
A young mom and her son reading A Very Hungry Caterpillar together in the park.
Tons of fun singing songs and dancing during story time!
This book costs $8.75 from most book stores or online, however, our facilitators were gracious enough to let each parent take home a copy for their child! It is a fantastic budget-friendly book that promotes early childhood development and mostly importantly, that children love!
Painting is a budget-friendly activity that is almost always well-received by children! We simply bought white roll paper and a variety of colored paints from a local dollar store. Children were encouraged to mix the paint colors together with their hands (an ooey-gooey task they were more than happy to do!) and create rainbow hand-prints on the paper – a great sensory exploration activity. Children love the feeling of the paint between their fingers and watching the colors transfer onto the paper!
Adding more colors of paint to create even more vibrant hand prints. Some little ones even tried making foot prints too!
Forming friendships while making foot art!
Our moms enjoyed chatting at the picnic tables while their little ones took advantage of all the fun to be had at the spray park! This enables parents to connect with other young adults with similar life experiences in a stigma-free environment. Young parents often experience social isolation during summer months when they are not attending school and are often at home with their children for the majority of the day. Parents enjoyed soaking in the sun and getting to know one another while their children were being watched by Terra staff members just feet away. Sometimes it is the simple things that mean the most!
Smiles and sunlight!