RAINY days make for a learning opportunity at Child at Street 11, a preschool and childcare centre in Ang Mo Kio.

On a recent rainy day, a group of poncho-clad preschoolers stood in the drizzle, playing excitedly with water in a large tub outside the centre under a teacher's supervision.

The nine-year-old centre, the brainchild of a group of professionals, exposes its young charges to experiences beyond the four classroom walls, with trips to the Istana, the zoo and even shopping malls.

The aim is to give the children exposure to the world outside, said Ms Benita Yeo, 40, a senior teacher at the centre.

These youngsters, who hail from low-income families, would not otherwise be enjoying such activities.

They might not even be in school if not for Child at Street 11 providing subsidised preschool places for them. A survey in 1995 had revealed that more than half of the 100 Ang Mo Kio residents interviewed did not put their children through preschool as they could ill afford the fees.

At Child at Street 11, monthly fees are actually $420 per child, but each family pays only what it can afford. The centre picks up the rest through fund-raising.

The centre, which takes its name from Ang Mo Kio Street 11, was started to help give children from needy families a head start through a preschool education which they may otherwise have missed, said centre director Murugaian Nirmala, 54.

Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times.