Opening of Moms Heart Cafe Sangdo 4-dong Branch in Dongjak-gu

Total floor area 107㎡, designed as an indoor play space for fine motor activities and a parent self-help group area... For Dongjak-gu residents and local office workers' immediate family preschool children, targeting daycare centers and institutions for young children

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Dongjak-gu (Mayor Changwoo Lee) will open Moms Heart Cafe Sangdo 4-dong branch (16-gil 21, Seongdae-ro), an indoor playground where children can run and play freely, on the 14th.

Since the 6th local government administration, the district has unified the names of three indoor children's playgrounds as Moms Heart Cafe. In 2017 and 2018, one each was opened in Heukseok-dong and Sindaebang 2-dong, respectively, and last year two locations were opened in Sadang 3-dong and Sangdo 1-dong. Currently, seven locations are in operation.

The newly opened Moms Heart Cafe Sangdo 4-dong branch was built as a complex building during the construction of a national and public daycare center for infants and toddlers. It has a total floor area of 107㎡ and is a small-scale space designed for play activities using fine motor skills such as blocks and role-playing, as well as a space for parent self-help groups.

The main programs include ▲ education for parents and grandparents ▲ operation of infant experience programs ▲ provision of role-playing spaces.

The operating hours of Moms Heart Cafe follow the social distancing level 2 quarantine guidelines due to COVID-19, with three time slots: ▲ 1st time (10:00 ~ 11:30) ▲ 2nd time (13:30 ~ 15:00) ▲ 3rd time (16:00 ~ 17:30). The number of users is limited to 30% of the playground’s capacity. However, the number of users and program participation may change depending on the social distancing level and the trend of confirmed cases.

Eligible users are ▲ direct family members of Dongjak-gu residents with preschool-aged children ▲ direct family members of workers in the area with preschool-aged children ▲ institutions serving local daycare centers and infants. Reservations can be made by accessing and logging into the Seoul Dongjak-gu Childcare Support Center website: from the 1st to the 15th of the previous month (for use in the 1st to 15th of the month) and from the 16th to the end of the previous month (for use in the 16th to the end of the month).

The usage fee is 2,000 KRW per individual and 1,000 KRW per person for groups, while guardians and supervisors are free of charge.

Additionally, one of the pledges of the 7th local government administration is to install at least one indoor children's playground per zone. An infant-centered play space where Moms Heart Cafe and a toy rental store can be used in one place is scheduled to open in July in the Sangdo zone (Sangdo-dong Lotte Castle management building). In 2022, the final year of the 7th administration, the national and public daycare complex building in Sangdo 3-dong will be remodeled to create an indoor play space.

Kim Kyung-ok, Head of the Childcare Division, said, “We expect that providing a space where children can play freely, share parenting information, and offer a self-help group space to promote communal childcare will make children happy and help relieve parenting burdens for parents.” She added, “We will do our best to promote projects to make Dongjak a great place to raise children.”

Meanwhile, as part of the ‘Daycare Infection Prevention Environment Construction Project,’ the district supports 190 local daycare centers with facial recognition thermal cameras and thermometers to protect children from harmful environments such as COVID-19 and provide a safe childcare environment.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.