pre-preschool playgroup

Since Sebastian is in kindergarten this fall, I decided to look for some activities for Liesl to do as well, to fill our days and find children for her to play with and to learn new things. One of my ideas was to start a regular weekly playgroup within the Meetup group we are part of, intended for 2-3 year olds, that would be moderately structured. A sort of pre-preschool experience. And so Monday was our first meeting - we hosted eight moms and kids here for a morning of playtime, snack, stories, songs, and coloring. It went really, really well. Liesl was thrilled to have friends over to play - it gave her something to look forward to after the sadness of dropping off Sebastian - and she did a wonderful job of sharing her toys.

Every time someone arrived Liesl ran to the front door to say hello; she shared all of her toys without incident, even taking down bins and showing children new toys to explore; she loved having snack foods together at our table and singing songs in circle time; and she stood on our stoop in order to wave goodbye to all of our guests. She was absolutely perfect. When I told her that all of these friends would be back next Monday again for a repeat playgroup, she was super excited. She made me sing the welcome/name song over and over to her today, repeating the names of her friends.

I read a couple of stories - Little Blue Truck and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom - and some of the other moms directed the singing of a few songs. The children responded really positively to the experience, playing nicely together, eating together at the table, and diving into the craft box when directed to draw pictures. I think it's going to be a fantastic Monday activity that Liesl and I are both going to look forward to, and I'm really excited about the moms that joined in and are helping me make this happen. (Yay for Portland!)