Gold Award Winner in OHbaby Awards 2024
Playcentre has won the Gold Award for Best Preschooler Activity Centre/Class in the OHbaby Awards 2024.
This year has been the awards biggest and best yet, with over 14,500 participants casting an incredible 1.15 million votes!
This is the second time that Playcentre has been awarded gold in this category. They also won gold in the 2022 Awards, where parents cast their votes for their favourite products and services in the pregnancy and parenting world.
Giving Tuesday
Playcentre Aotearoa called on individuals and businesses to support Playcentres in their local communities on Giving Tuesday (3 December).
Thanks to all the centres who shared the social media posts.
12 days of Christmas video
We’d love to make a 12 days of Christmas video to share on all our social media channels, and was wondering if anyone would like to be a part of it?
We need 12 centres to each take a day and send us:
- a video of tamariki acting out their day (or anything you can dream up really!)
- a separate sound (or video) file with tamariki singing their part of the song.
We’d like to start posting 13 December (yes we know that’s not the correct day traditionally but we think it’s more fun as a countdown!)
Does this sound like something you’d be keen to help with? If so, email [email protected] and we’ll get planning!
Already taken:
- 12 drummers drumming
- 9 ladies dancing
Christmas – Editable social media templates
We’ve made some editable social media templates in Canva that you can edit and download to use on your own channels. Including a few options for a Christmas post!
Social media tiles: https://www.playcentre.org.nz/…/social-media-templates/
- It’s important to remember that everyone will be accessing the same templates, so please follow the instructions carefully to avoid chaos!
- You’ll see that some elements are locked, so please don’t try to edit those.
- If you’re not familiar with Canva, you can find their learning content here: https://www.canva.com/designschool/
This is a trial to see if this works for everyone, so please be patient and share any constructive criticism (or ideas for new templates) with us at [email protected]
Playcentre Community Leaders Facebook Group
A reminder that we have a new Facebook group for leaders of local Playcentre communities to discuss ideas, ask questions and support each other as a wider leadership community across Aotearoa.
If you hold a leadership position at your local centre, we encourage you to join the Playcentre Community Leaders group.
Contact us
Not sure who to contact for support at Playcentre Aotearoa? Check out our Communications Pathway.
You can also find both National Team and Regional Team contact details on our website.
For queries regarding the day-to-day running of your centre, please contact your Centre Advisor. If you are unsure who your Centre Advisor is, please contact your Regional Support Lead.
Planning for 2025
To support centres with their planning for 2025 we now have the Playcentre Term Dates and our Playcentre Events available on our website.
Events coming up:
- 6 Feb 2025 – Waitangi Day
- 2 March 2025 -National Children’s Day
- 3-7 March 2025 – Playcentre Messy Play Week
After receiving feedback from centres, we have decided to swap the dates for Messy Play Week and Playcentre Open Week around, so that Messy Play Week will be held in the warmer month of March 2025 and Playcentre Open Week will be held in August 2025.
We have also included Outdoor Play Week in November 2025, to tie in with Sport NZ’s Play Week Aotearoa held at the same time and a new event in May 2025 to celebrate Playcentre Education, to tie in the with International Day of Families on Thursday 15 May.
The aim of these events is to engage with new whānau and encourage them to visit your centre, as part of the overall Grow your Centre campaign. We hope these national campaigns will support new enrolments and increased funding, to help your centre grow and thrive!
