The benefits of playgroups for children

1. Develops social skills, especially before they go to kindy or school,
2. Develops an understanding of structured time and activities before they go to kindy or school,
3. Develops language skills,
4. Develops new skills, especially motor and fine motor skills, through a range of activities,
5. Creates an opportunity to try activities that they couldn't do at home,
6. Creates an opportunity to play with different toys,
7. Creates a regular positive playtime with their carer,
8. Creates a routine for their week or fortnight,
9. Creates opportunity to go to new places on excursions,
10. Creates an understanding of environments outside of the home.

The benefits of playgroups for parents and carers

1. Creates quality positive time with their child,
2. Assists in builing relationships with new people and creates a support network,
3. Develops parenting skills from observing and talking with other parents and carers,
4. Develops an understanding of child development stages and how to deal with them,
5. Creates an opportunity for carers to share their ideas, concerns and experiences,
6. Creates a regular time to leave the home,
7. Creates a regular time to have adult conversation
8. Creates another opportunity to praise their child.

Why does the Uniting Church have so many playgroups?

The Uniting Church connects with families through camps, events, festivals, small groups, services and so on. We meet lots of families so when we tell them that we have a playgroup running, lots of families want to join! Our playgroups are so much fun that word of mouth spreads and we find that we need to run more and more playgroups. 

The Uniting Church loves to serve the community. Hosting playgroups is one way that the Uniting Church can serve families by providing a great place to catch up with other families from the community, get support through the tough times, build on skills, make friends and most of all have a great time.

In this article:

• Why would a church start a playgroup?
• Types of playgroups
• Who do I go to start a playgroup?
• Contact details
• A step by step guide to starting a playgroup

Why would churches start a playgroup?

1. To witness God's love through service.
2. To provide a service for families from the church and the community.
3. To initiate relationships between church goers and people from the community.
4. A non threatening invitation into a church building.
5. To bless a playgroup already established with the churches facilities.

Types of playgroups:

1. Parents and carers group: This is a general type of playgroup where there are a mixture of adults and children from different backgrounds.
2. Mums groups: This is a group specifically targeted at mums and allows mums to discuss and compare issues that relate specifically to them.
3. Dads groups: This is a group specifically targeted at dad and allows dads to discuss and compare issues that relate specifically to them.
4. Blended family groups: This is a group specifically targeted at blended families and allows parents and step parents to discuss and compare issues that relate specifically to them.
5. Grandparents group: This is a group specifically targeted at grandparents and allows grandparents to discuss and compare issues that relate specifically to them.
6. Family day care group: This allows children in family day care to meet with other children outside of their regular day care setting and for the family day care worker to meet others working in the same field.
7. Young mums groups: This is a group specifically targeted at young mums and allows young mums to discuss and compare issues that relate specifically to them.
8. Ethno-specific playgroups: This is a group that encourages people with similar culture to come together and support each other.
9. Special needs group: This is a group that brings together children and/or parents and carers with special needs to support each other and learn and develop skills for the child and parents and carers.

Who do I go to start a playgroup?

Starting a playgroup may be an overwhelming thought but there is a lot of support for starting a playgroup. In the MRN we believe the Playgroups are an excellent way for churches to serve families in the community. We believe that playgroups can be an effective and authentic way for churches to connect with families in the community and to demonstrate God's grace and love. Therefore the Children's Mission Planner is committed to assist the development of playgroups as well as providing on going support through resources, networking and consulting with playgroup leaders. You can contact the Children's Mission Planner, Heidi Harding on (08) 8236 4281 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Heidi is able to meet with you, even if you live in a rural area or talk over the phone or email about how to take the first steps as well as on going support.

A step by step guide to starting a playgroup:

1. Discuss with your church what type of playgroup they would like to run. Assess what the needs are in your local community and who you will be targeting. Think about the purpose of your group. You may want to contact the MRN Children's Mission Planner to assist you in this initial process.
2. Promote the playgroup and encourage families to become your members. The Children's Mission Planner has a marketing and advertising resource specifically designed for playgroups available on request.
3. Meet with families to define the purpose of the playgroup and find a place to meet and a time for your session.
4. Allocate adult roles or duties to spread the workload fairly.
5. Work out a budget.
6. Choose activities to be offered and begin to gather toys and equipment.
7. Write a playgroup policy with the group's values and expectations clearly represented. Refer back to your discussion with your church and the families about the purpose of this playgroup. Begin to formulate some ideas on how the group will address any problems or issues that may occur during playgroup.
8. Set the starting date and how often you will run the sessions.
9. Run your first playgroup session!