Spring hasn’t quite sprung in our beautiful little village, but its youngest residents have already been out enjoying all that our area has to offer, rain or shine! Kippen Playgroup has always been an advocate of outdoor learning, but recently we have decided to make that a core ethos of what we do. Our new Play Leader, Heidi Docherty, has over 12 years of Early Years experience and is also an Outdoor Learning Specialist. Needless to say, we are absolutely over the moon to have her working alongside Pam at Kippen Playgroup and hope her knowledge and passion will create a wonderful learning experience for all the children lucky enough to live in and around the village.
Our little Attenborough’s are regularly out researching all the natural world has to offer; the changing seasons, our local mini-beasts, not to mention their trail blazing research on the depths of all the puddles in Kippen and the optimum mud viscosity for losing your welly! We make regular use of our country lanes, the Church grounds and the gardens of some of our very kind residents. June Waley and John Smith regularly invite our little scientists to conduct their field studies, and we are incredibly grateful for their generosity.
We have also recently decided to make Burnside Woods a “forest kindergarten” base for the Playgroup. Kippen Community Woodland Group have very kindly offered to clear fallen debris and branches in a space opposite the pond, where the children can set up their camp. We can then begin to develop the base and extend the children’s outdoor experiences even further, by using a shelter, tools, and a fire pit for outdoor cooking! By using this as our base, the children will become familiar with the setting and develop a deeper understanding of the natural world around them, as well as learning new skills such as tree climbing, den building, foraging and tracking. The opportunities to teach literacy and numeracy in the outdoor environment are endless, so our tiny explorers will be learning as they play, just how they like it! The children have already had quite a few mornings at our new patch, and they go home buzzing with confidence and excitement about all they’ve seen and discovered.
Playgroup sessions run on Tuesdays and Fridays 9.30–12pm. We still use the Village Hall as a base, but often we’re either in our Playgroup garden or out and about around Kippen! We currently have spaces in our Friday sessions so please contact Heidi Docherty via kippenplaygroup@gmail.com for more information or to arrange a ‘taster’ visit.
Kippen Toddlers is the place to come when everyone just needs out of the house on a Thursday morning! There’s plenty of toys, snacks and little friends for the kids and a plethora of tea, cake and giggles for the adults. We welcome children from birth to pre-school and we’re open every Thursday, even during school holidays, from 10:15-12pm in the Village Hall, just drop in!
The Wee Vine 