Community
14 May, 2025
Timboon Playgroup is back in town
A NEW iteration of the Timboon Playgroup has been launched after local families felt an integral part of their daily lives had been missing when the previous group disbanded.
The original Timboon playgroup shut down in February earlier this year but a community-led effort to get a new playgroup up and running has enjoyed early success.
Dubbed the Timboon Tikes Playgroup, coordinator Amber Love said parents and volunteers had thrown their support behind the initiative after it opened following Term One of the school holidays.
The playgroup drew in children from seven families last Wednesday, its second week running, giving the children an opportunity to build new friendships while working on crafts to make a surprise for Mother’s Day.
Ms Love said she was thrilled to see a playgroup make a return to support families during the school term.
“We realised there was still a need for it in town and in the area, so we started up again earlier this month once we had officially set it up with Playgroup Victoria,” she said.
“We already have a consistent number of children attending as the last playgroup but it varies from week-to-week as well.”
Costs are being kept to a minimum to ensure the playgroup is accessible to all families.
“We’ve changed to a $2 weekly fee, just to minimise the cost on families, as it was previously $5 in the last playgroup,” Ms Love said.
“We do now ask families to additionally bring a piece of fruit to share for morning tea but I think $2 is a bit more reasonable for people.
“But the new playgroup still runs during the school term at the Timboon Recreation Reserve, the same as the previous playgroup, and is scheduled every Wednesday from 9.30am to 11.30am, with updates able to be found on the Timboon Tikes Playgroup Facebook page.”
Ms Love said the playgroup was available to children from newborns until age five, and all necessary steps were being taken to ensure the group operates in a safe and happy environment.
“I’ve just done enrolment with Playgroup Victoria which covers all the families that are attending for public liability,” she said.
“We are asking that all of the families actually register themselves online as well, as that’s a requirement, but I’ve just printed out paperwork for them.
“We’ve got plenty of supplies and we will be doing a term activity so people can jump onto the Facebook page and actually see what we’re doing each week.”
Ms Love said she had also secured funding to support Timboon Tikes in getting the best start possible.
“I applied for a grant through Playgroup Victoria that is available for all new playgroups across the state, and they’ve granted us that application so we actually do get monetary value to buy new supplies, which is great because a lot of them are quite dated,” she said.
“We’ve looked at a lot of stuff and thought we can really replace it with some new fresh equipment and then keep some money in there as well for special activities throughout the year.
“There are instances sometimes where the venue may not be available and we’re usually told by the manager of the recreation reserve in advance, but we can then either meet up down at the park or skip a week if it’s not available otherwise.
“I know Port Campbell are running their playgroup outdoors, so I was going to get in contact with them as well and let them know we have this indoor venue available.
“On the nicer days we’ve also got a fully enclosed playground outside so the kids can go out when the weather is nicer.”
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