Playgroup at Freeling P-6

31/08/2026

T3 W6

📚🎶 Playgroup at Freeling – Book Week! 🎶📚

Excitement was high for Book Week, as we joined in with the school’s 2026 theme, Symphony of Stories! ✨

We had a smaller group of friends this week, meeting on the COLA ready to watch the school classes parade past in their delightful Book Week costumes. We had some wonderful dress-ups of our own too, with little Wild Things, dinosaurs and even a Very Hungry Caterpillar joining us for the morning! 🐛🦖📖

Following the parade, some of our families joined the school on their community walk, while others stayed behind to continue the Book Week fun within the school grounds.

And what better way than to go on a Bear Hunt! 🐻

We ventured into Nature Play, making our way through the swishy swashy grass, squelching through the thick, oozy mud and continuing our search until, finally… we found the cave — and the BEAR! 😮🐻

There was time for a little free play too, with the tyres quickly becoming a source of entertainment. Our friends worked together to roll them up the slope before watching them race and tumble back down again. There was even some serious contemplation about whether it might be possible to sit inside a tyre and roll down the hill… 🤔😂 Thankfully, after a little more thought, it was decided that watching the tyres roll was probably the better idea!

Before finishing our morning, we headed into the library to explore the incredible Book Week display windows and admire the decorations that had transformed the space for such a special week. ✨📚

There were plenty of wide eyes and smiles as our little friends observed, searched and discovered all the wonderful details hidden within each display.

It was a lovely morning of stories, costumes, adventure and discovery — a very fitting way for Playgroup to celebrate Book Week 2026! 🌈📖

We’re looking forward to seeing everyone back in our usual Playgroup space this Friday for some Father’s Day fun and activities! 💙

And Dads — if you’re available, you are very welcome to come along and join us too!

26/08/2026

22/08/2026

Term 3 Week 5 Zoo Fun Highlights

A relaxed morning at Playgroup this week, with 13 little friends out to play. 🦒🦁🐘

The light drizzle moved on quickly, and after a quick towel-dry of the slippery dip, our outdoor space was ready for play! The cars and bikes were popular once again, with lots of little wheels making their way around the yard.

The biggest highlight of the morning was our three brand-new diggers! Thankyou to the Lyons family (Tegan Lyons and Richard) for collecting and assembling these!
Some made their way into the sandpit, while others got busy amongst the bark chips. There were loads to lift, scoop, manoeuvre, relocate and dump! Along with all the smiles and excitement came some wonderful learning moments as our friends practised waiting patiently, sharing and taking turns.

A few children showed an immense interest in the outdoor water taps, so we followed their lead and quickly pulled a water table from the shed. It wasn’t long before there was plenty of splashing, pouring and water play happening!

Inside, lots of plush zoo friends had arrived for our Zoo Fun week. A few cheeky animals even made their way outside and hid around the yard, encouraging our little friends to explore, search and check off the animals on their activity hunt.
🐅 🦒 🐒 🦓 🐍

This week was also a lovely reminder that many of our youngest friends are still building their capacity for a busy morning of play. As the morning went on, some tired little bodies needed a snack, a rest and a quiet reset before coming together again for our circle and story time. ❤️

During our morning circle, we talked about Book Week next Friday and what our morning will look like.

📚 Next week, we will meet in the Playgroup yard before moving across to the school COLA to join the school at 9am. If you arrive after 9am, you will find us at the COLA enjoying the school parade.

Following the school parade, families can choose to walk in the community parade behind the Preschool group, or find a spot along the street to watch the school classes parade by.

Children — and adults too, if they wish! — are encouraged to dress as a favourite book character. We also have a collection of dress-up costumes available in the Playgroup space if anyone needs a little inspiration.

While Book Week is a wonderfully fun morning, it can also be busy, loud and overwhelming. For any little friends who feel things deeply or experience sensory discomfort, please feel very welcome to bring headphones, comfort items or anything else that may help make the morning feel safe and comfortable for them.

Our story this week was the classic favourite Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae. 🦒🎶 A beautiful reminder to be true to ourselves and recognise our own worth. We are all different, but when we find the music that’s right for us, we can all dance!

Our sticker line continues to be an important part of our closing routine, and our friends are doing such a wonderful job of building their patience as they wait in line to say goodbye and choose their special sticker for the week.
A few families took home a Community Words Grow Minds Literacy Bag, for those who didn’t get them they will be available to take in coming weeks.

Next week: 📚 BOOK WEEK PARADE!

Come along a little earlier if you can, ready for us to move across to the school COLA for the 9am parade.

We can’t wait to see all our little book characters!

18/08/2026

Looking for a Bookweek Costume - check out the Library!

Book Week Costume Collection

With Book Week just around the corner (22–28 August), we are excited to announce that our libraries will be offering a Book Week Costume Collection!

Families will be able to visit our Freeling, Kapunda and Hewett libraries to browse and borrow a range of pre-loved costumes, character outfits and dress-up accessories.

✨A collection will be available at Greenock Library on Wednesday 19 August from 5:00pm to 6:00pm

We encourage children to visit with their caregivers so they can choose a costume they are excited to wear and check the fit where possible.

Simply drop in during normal library opening hours to see what's available.

Please note that costumes are available on a first come, first served basis and holds cannot be placed.

We look forward to helping your favourite book characters come to life this book week!

14/08/2026

Term 3 Week 4 Highlights

✈️ Playgroup at Freeling – Planes & Airports ✈️

What a lovely morning of play with 15 Playgroup friends today! It’s been wonderful to continue welcoming new families through our gates and seeing new little faces joining in the fun. 💛

The morning began with a little drizzle outside, encouraging many of our friends to start their play indoors. Before long, the clouds cleared and we were treated to beautiful sunshine, even if there was still a definite chill in the air!

Inside, there was some wonderful construction and imaginative play happening. Wooden play sets and blocks from different sets were brought together as children created their own little worlds. Roads and runways stretched across the play space, ready for all kinds of vehicles and transport to zoom, drive and fly through their creations. ✈️🚗

As the morning brightened, the outside play space quickly grew with energy. Bikes, trikes and our much-loved cars travelled around the yard, while the sandpit became a hive of activity. There was plenty of scooping, shovelling, digging and, of course, adding water to create just the right mixtures!

☕ The Playgroup Café was open for business!

Our little chefs and café workers made great use of some of the wonderful toys donated to Playgroup last week. Microwaves were busy cooking, phones were ringing and plenty of conversations and interactions unfolded as children played alongside one another.

One of the simplest activities brought some of the biggest smiles of the morning! Balls were sent spinning and rolling around the play tunnel, with children fascinated as they watched them loop around and around. The anticipation of where they would go next lit up little faces with smiles and giggles. ❤️

And speaking of cafés… our grown-ups now have a café of their own!

A new addition to our Friday mornings is coffee delivery from Grazy Dayz Café. ☕ Orders can be placed online and the lovely staff will bring the coffee drop straight to the Playgroup yard — a very welcome addition to a chilly Friday morning!

Before long, it was time to pack away. Once again, everything was tidied quickly with everyone pitching in to help. Many hands really do make light work, and we are so grateful to our families for helping care for our Playgroup space each week.

📚 We then gathered together for our group story. Today’s fun board book followed a chicken searching for the animal who says “MOO!” There were plenty of animal noises, guesses and smiles as we worked our way through the pages until we finally found the cow! 🐄

Naturally, we had to finish with a quick sing-along of Old MacDonald Had a Farm, bringing even more animal sounds, smiles and some very enthusiastic bouncing dance moves. 🎶

Then our Playgroup friends formed a line to collect their weekly sticker before heading home.

Another beautiful morning of playing, creating, imagining and connecting together. 💛

🦁 NEXT WEEK: ZOO FUN! 🐒🦒

We can’t wait to see what adventures await our little Playgroup friends next Friday!

07/08/2026

Term 3 Week 3 Weekly Summary ☀️
Visit #3 to Freeling Preschool

What a beautiful morning we shared together!

Fifteen Playgroup friends met in the Playgroup yard to begin the day, making the most of the sunshine with some fun in the sandpit before heading across to Freeling Preschool for our third visit of the year. It’s fabulous to keep meeting and welcoming new families to our community!

Before we left, there was enormous excitement when a local family arrived with four enormous boxes of toys generously donated for Playgroup. The incredible gift from the Strangways MJ Strangways family felt like an early Christmas morning as children eagerly peeked inside to discover train tracks, unicorns, dolls, play guitars and so many more treasures still waiting to be explored at future sessions. We are incredibly grateful for such a thoughtful and generous donation that will bring joy to our Playgroup families for years to come.

At 9:15am we made our way together to the Preschool, where we were warmly welcomed once again by the Preschool children and staff. It has been wonderful watching the friendships and familiarity continue to grow with each visit.

There was no shortage of engaging play both inside and out. The home corner was, as always, a favourite, with dolls lovingly tucked into prams and taken for walks around the center. Nearby, the sparkling blue playdough invited children to create with jewels, gems and trinkets, with many designing funny faces and imaginative creations.

Outside, children challenged themselves on the obstacle course by balancing, crawling and jumping, while the tuff tray became a prehistoric forest where dinosaurs roamed through the sand. The Preschool sandpit was another popular destination, introducing Playgroup friends to hand-held sand drills, brick-making moulds and building tools. Construction vehicles were kept busy scooping and pushing sand while water was pumped through channels, creating plenty of opportunities for collaborative play and problem solving.

The basketball hoop saw plenty of successful shots, footballs were happily kicked between friends, and the ute was loaded and unloaded with timber countless times throughout the morning.

The highlight for many, however, was the balancing frame and soft landing mats. Children patiently waited for their turn before launching themselves with increasing confidence, describing their jumps as “dives”, “jumps” and even “cannonballs!” It was heartwarming to watch hesitant first attempts grow into bold, confident leaps as courage and self-belief blossomed throughout the morning. A very special thank you to Miss Karma, who spent much of the session encouraging and supporting children as they challenged themselves.

Soon enough, the five-minute warning reminded everyone it was time to pack away. Once again, our Playgroup families worked together beautifully, helping tidy the play spaces before gathering for group story time.

A big thank you to Mrs Schultz for sharing today’s much-loved story, Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell. Many children knew exactly which animal was coming next, eagerly calling them out before each flap was lifted! We also discovered Mrs Schultz would happily keep the monkey if the zoo ever sent her one, although everyone agreed the story had the perfect ending—a puppy really is the perfect pet.

Morning tea was enjoyed together in the sunshine before we celebrated one of our Playgroup friends with a birthday song. Of course, there was just enough time for one last jump from the balancing frame before it was time to say goodbye and head home after another wonderful morning together.
Thankyou Freeling Preschool for having us again, and a huge thankyou to Mrs Schultz, Mrs Karma and Mrs Coombe for all your activities, guidance, support and friendly smiles across the morning with our friends and families. You are all extremely appreciated.

A heartfelt thank you to Kate Selleck and Rekiah Smith for staying behind to help sort through the generous toy donation, finding homes for everything in our cupboards and shed ready for future sessions.

We would also like to sincerely thank the Tanner family for generously donating a brand new change table. Thank you to Kate for assembling and setting this up in the middle toilet for families to use.
This is something our Playgroup has needed for quite some time, and we are incredibly grateful for your kindness and support. It will make a real difference for families with our youngest Playgroup friends.

Our Playgroup continues to thrive because of the generosity, encouragement and community spirit shown by so many families. Thank you to everyone who helps make Friday mornings such a special place to play, learn and belong.

Next Week: August 14th, Planes and Airports
All are Welcome

Playgroup at Freeling P-6
Freeling P-6 School