Celebrating 50 Years of Playgroup Victoria!
Meaningful Connections
Playgroup has been a part of so many of our lives. It weaves together fragments of our early years, our development, history, culture and identity. Spanning generations, we look forward to sharing memories of playgroup, right up to the present generation leading the way with enthusiasm and delight.
Playgroup holds an important place in our local communities and in building our future societies, ones that are connected and strong.
Playing with Purpose
For 50 years, Playgroup Victoria has been advocating for families in the early years.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s there became a need for cohesion and networking between local groups and parents wanting to start and join playgroups. In response to the need, a group of hard working volunteers came together and invited playgroups and interested people to ring in for advice and support. The response was so great that in 1974, the Victorian Playgroup Association was formed.
50 years on, Playgroup Victoria is still working to ensure families have access to, and can participate in, playgroup.
"I believe community playgroups are important as they provide a safe and enjoyable environment giving the children a place to socialise, learn and play together, preparing them for kinder and school and at the same time it gives their carers somewhere to spend a couple of hours a week sharing their experiences and supporting each other at times when they could otherwise become isolated from the community."
- Elizabeth Vescio, Avondale Heights Grandparents Playgroup
Significant Milestones
What are your memories of the Victorian Playgroup Association when it first began?
“The sense of palpable excitement and optimism in the hall of the old St Marks Church Fitzroy where we convened the first public meeting on ‘How to start a playgroup’. We expected about 20 but at least 100 turned up from everywhere. From then on, women were ringing us in our one-room office lent to Community Childcare by the Brotherhood of St Laurence, either to seek further information on how to get going – or to tell us excitedly that they were running a group and helping other playgroups get going as well. That’s how the movement spread – women who had set up any of the services mentioned previously became the catalysts and advisors to assist others to do likewise, because it had changed their lives for the better!”
- Winsome McCaughey AO, part of the 1970’s Women’s Movement
It Takes a Village to Raise a Child
In times gone by, cultures often bandied together intergenerationally to raise children. One only must look at historical images of societies to see families sitting together, learning together, living together. ‘It takes a child to raise a child’ is a proverb that supports the playgroup philosophy and we believe it to be true.
The thing that makes playgroup unique is that it is a shared experience. Parent and child come together with other parents, carers and children in their local community. In a time of newness, change and growth, the family unit needs additional support- playgroups act as a village, a community.
“It’s a bit like the village well of days gone by where people can come together in a naturalistic way and develop a feeling of belonging and enjoy interaction with one another, to experience the joy of children which is a great source of inspiration and happiness.”
- Playgroup Patron, Emeritus Professor Dorothy Scott AM
Enriching Early Experiences
0-5 years are a crucial period of development and lay the foundations for life. Early childhood development is intricately linked to bonding, connecting, talking, singing, playing- what Playgroup Victoria’s philosophy is built upon.
Playgroup is centres around relationships and learning through play.
So many parents tell us that playgroup is more for them than for their children during this time. As it turns out, playgroup is of mutual benefit.
We love to make the playgroup experience intergenerational, welcoming the broader community because as we know- it takes a village to raise a child.
“It is about being present in the child’s world and in the moment. Our hope is that it’s family centred, doing things outdoors all together, and that people will then replicate this outside of the playgroup setting.”
- Every Little Season Playgroup Facilitator
Celebrating 50 years of Playgroup in Victoria!
