Playgroup Fun!

For quite some time I’ve been hearing a lot about the Ontario Early Years Centres. One of my neigbours who is also a care provider for quite a few very your kids goes a few times a week and has wanted me to join her for months! Unfortunately my girls are late sleepers and we are not good at getting out the door early in the morning. The playgroup that she attends is at 9am and you need to be there at least 15 mins before to register otherwise it fills up and you cannot attend. That fact alone makes the whole thing seem even more daunting. I hate the thought of rushing the kids to get up, get dressed (or rather dress them) eat and get in the car. So I have not yet made the playgroup in the am. Last week my friend Amy and I were talking about playgroups and she informed me that they also have an afternoon group from 1-3 and that it is usually never full since most kids (ha! I wish!) nap then.

We showed up around 1:30 and to me, there were a lot of kids but apparently there is normally 5 or 6 times the number that were there (I would guess a dozen?) Lea immediately went off to play with K. and Amy and I brought the babies into the baby section. From that point on each adult kept watch over the kids in a different area of the room. It is really a great place with so much to do for kids. There are some riding/climbing toys, lots of different stations for the kids to play at (sand, snow, dress up, glue, paint), lots of new toys and books, and tons of great info for parents and care providers.

Leas glue art!

Halfway through the session, one of the ladies who was running the group called all the kids onto a mat for circle time and they talked about colours and sang some songs and just had some circle fun! After that it was snack time and then some more free play and then time to clean up and go home.

What I liked about the playgroup was that it had some structure but not so much that the kids can’t run around and do their own thing. I was really surprised that Lea seems to be becoming a little more independent. Whenever we have play dates with K. she normally follows her around and copies everything she does, but at the centre Lea was venturing off on her own to explore new things and I think she spent some time at every station. There was one incident with her taking blocks away from another little girl but I sat with her and explained that the other girl had them first and that they could play together and whatnot. It seemed to be ok until Lea knocked over the tower she had built with the blocks. Oops! Baby steps right! It was great to see her starting to do her own thing! She is growing up so fast! There wasn’t that much for Anna to do but I think she liked being out of the house and playing with J. and some new toys.

The centre is also conscious of germs and that’s something else that is important to me. I really don’t want the girls to get sick every time I take them out (is it inevitable?) They ask that you put any toys the kids put in their mouths into a bin for disinfecting and also clean all the surfaces down during clean up time. I know it may not seem like much but it’s more than I have seen any other playgroup do. However, there were a few kids there that made me uncomfortable, that were obviously sickly and I tried to keep the girls away from them as much as I could. I just don’t understand why the caregivers would bring those kids to playgroup, being sick like that. I guess they need the outing but that is my main concern with outside playgroups. I can honestly say that I prefer playgroups in a smaller setting where I can see the girls at all times and there are less kids but they had fun and I am sure that we will go back, especially with the cold weather coming.