Kippen Playgroup & Toddlers’ annual Christmas Market was a resounding success again this year, managing to raise an astounding £3,000 to keep our service up and running. Our stall holders provided a cornucopia of beautiful products and gifts, our Santa’s Grotto had a serious upgrade and the cafe was fit to burst with everyone raring to get at the cakes! A huge thank you to the community for donating prizes, buying raffle tickets, baking delicious treats and coming down on the day to support us. It is greatly appreciated, we couldn’t do it without the help of the fine people of Kippen, so thank you!
With the Scottish winter in full swing, the Playgroup children have been busy, splitting their time between Monkey Camp, the orchard and the Village Hall. They’ve been using tools to cut wood, using ropes as fire hoses, lion traps and for “emergency rescues”, they’ve been climbing trees, going on treasure hunts and using our new mud kitchen. In the Hall there’s plenty of imaginative play and crafty stuff to be getting on with, so there’s never a dull moment and the children are generally tired, muddy and happy at the end of each session.
We recently had our inspection by the Care Inspectorate. They found that “children were developing their social and physical skills, confidence and self-esteem through a balance of organised and freely chosen extended play experiences”. The inspector noted our major strengths were the quality of learning, the quality of the children’s experiences and the phenomenal use of our outdoor environment. We scored “Very Good” on the two categories we were assessed on; the quality of care and support and the quality of environment. We are so proud, especially because we have radically changed our ethos this year to be more outdoor based. A big thank you to our Play Leaders Heidi and Pam for providing such a great learning and play environment for our little ones.
Unfortunately, we are having to say goodbye to Heidi as she is moving back to Auld Reekie for some more urban adventures! We wish her all the best and are forever grateful for all her hard work this year. Thankfully Heidi’s departure will not be disrupting things too much at Playgroup as we already have Morna lined up to take the reins. Morna has plenty of experience, having worked at Gargunnock Playgroup for some time, and is keen to continue with the same outdoor focus.
If you would like to support our service and get your little one booked in for a taster session, then please contact Morna via kippenplaygroup@gmail.com. We run on a Tuesday and Friday (9:30-12pm), and we take little ones from 2 years old up to school age.
Toddlers is continuing to welcome the village’s youngest residents and their weary carers with open arms and lashings of cake and tea. We are hoping to start regularly inviting various baby and toddler companies to come along and entertain the little ones in the new year, as well as investing in some new toys and equipment, so please feel free to pop in and meet everyone. We run every Thursday (10:15-12pm) in the Village Hall.
Suzanne Lorraine
The Wee Vine 