Ōpoho Playcentre

Playcentre provides so many creative opportunities for tamariki!

How do you celebrate Matariki? We have a whānau pot luck night with a tamariki lantern procession

Our worm farm is soooooo interesting!

Invitations to play evolve into scenes of exploration, experimentation, and creativity!

For our tamariki, play is their mahi! ❤️

The weather was feeling a bit chilly so we had a teddy bears picnic inside!

A Wartime Beginning and Lasting Legacy 💪

Founded during World War II, a group of mothers had a simple and radical idea; that parents, together, could be their children’s first and best educators.

Playcentre emerged from a time of profound challenge. Fathers were absent, and mothers were raising tamariki through facing financial strain, social isolation, and the weight of doing it mostly alone.

Those founding women recognised something essential: the issue was not just early learning. It was about families, connection, and community.

Our story is not simply remembered. It is still being lived. Parents today face the same essential pressures that moved those first Karori women to act – isolation, hardship, and the deep human need for community and connection.

The model those women created in 1941 is more relevant now than it has ever been. As other forms of social support and connection have dropped away over the decades, our role as the village raising our tamariki and supporting their whānau is more relevant than ever.

Playcentre is not just about early learning. It’s about care, community, and collective strength – and about ensuring no whānau ever has to walk their journey alone.

Celebrate our anniversary with us: https://www.playcentre.org.nz/news-and-events/events/85-years-anniversary/

Donate today to help Power the Play for another 85 years: https://85years.raiselysite.com/

Image description: Black and white photo of mothers and children in the sandpit. Text reads: "A Wartime Beginning and Lasting Legacy". Playcentre 85 Years logo.

Creativity comes in many forms! 🍂🍁☀️