FEBRUARY 2017

Welcome to 2017!
A new year full of fun and learning through play

By: Karen Bevan, Playgroup NSW CEO.

We’re already into February with the majority of our playgroups starting back up for the year this week. So, a belated happy new year and welcome back to all our playgroupers.

Here at head office, we’re already deep into planning a full suite of exciting new initiatives and events for playgroup families. 

You’ll see in our “What’s On” section that we’ve booked Tumbalong Park in Sydney for our World’s Biggest Playgroup Day in March. This free community event will feature performances by major children’s entertainers, a super exciting and huge interactive exhibit by our LEGO® DUPLO® partners and much, much more. Plus, we’re supporting playgroups in Mudgee, Morpeth and Bathurst to hold community events during National Playgroup Week.

In a couple weeks, we’ll be announcing an exciting initiative for families with babies. 

We’ve recently updated our website with our new branding and improved the navigation to make it even easier for you to find information. You can discover all the new features at playgroupnsw.org.au

To keep you up-to-date, in addition to reading this monthly eNewsletter, we encourage you join our 8,000+ Facebook followers.

Four ways playtime helps children’s learning

With a new year of playgroup, it’s a timely to think about the many ways playtime helps our children to learn.  

Play is the work of children. It's how they begin to engage and make sense of their world and how they start to understand the world around them.  Play is an intrinsic part of what it means to be a child.

It’s important for children to have playful experiences on a daily basis, as often as possible, and from a very early age. A child can start to play when they are only a few weeks old; play helps them make sense of their surroundings.

Speaking about the educational role of play, how exactly does it help a child’s development? In a recent interview with our friends at Kinderling Radio, I talked about four ways playtime helps children’s learning.

Play Activity - What's the Time Mr Wolf?

This is a great game to play outdoors, but if it is raining, you can also be play in a spacious indoor area.

Did you know you can rate the play and craft activities on our website? Helen, from Arncliffe gave “What’s the Time Mr Wolf” five stars, saying, “Another favourite we play at the Monday Monkeys in Arncliffe. Even the under two's get excited trying to hold their fingers up and saying the correct time. But of course the best part is running away screaming before the wolf catches them.”

Check out this fun game!