Playgroup...

Now that I have been going for a couple of weeks and paid the fees yesterday for the term, I thought I'd let you all know about the playgroup we have joined. It is run by Chapel Hill Community Church (one of the churches we visited, but have decided not to attend), and they have 3 groups (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings). We go on Tuesday mornings from 9/9.30am - 11.30/12pm. The first half of the morning is free play time (with a variety of toys to choose from, both inside and outside), then there is a 'mat time' which is just announcements and singing a few songs, then morning tea, then creative time (playdough, craft, painting, sandpit etc. - see the photos).
Ben and Joanna have started to settle in well and are both happy to go off and play without me being right next to them (I really noticed this today, as I managed to have 2 cups of tea - it was our 3rd week). The mums are friendly and not all go to church or that particular church. I'm enjoying being able to talk to other mums and starting to build new friendships. There is one particular mum who I have talked to each week (my 1st week there was her 2nd week) and I've organised to meet up with her in the coming week so our kids can play together (Ben has been asking about making friends in NZ). Hopefully Ben will start to make some friends over the coming weeks, at the moment he is too interested in what he is playing with (as everything is new and exciting) to think about talking to other kids.
Playgroups are actually quite rare in NZ these days for 2 reasons. Firstly about a year ago the government brought in funding for 20hrs free early childhood education for 3-4year olds, so more parents are sending their kids to Kindy, so there isn't such a demand for playgroups (kids can actually go to Kindy from the age of 2 - if there are places available). The second reason is that in NZ there are places called 'Playcentres' (these have been around for a while) these are formally run, parent-led early childhood education centres. Parents can attend with their children from birth up to school age and they do the same sorts of activities that kindy/playgroups do.