How to Start an Allergy Safe & Friendly Playgroup

My son Nathan inspired me to start a playgroup which caters for children with allergies and anaphylaxis, because we were not successful in finding a playgroup which met all his medical requirements.

However, I did find some other activities which I could take my son and there were no food involved:

•Library story time (at the local library)

•Kinder kinder ( a kinder programe run by Victoria Uiversity)

My son attended these activities from the time he was an infant and in both settings it was mentioned as a food free event.

I am grateful to all the people who cared to keep my son safe in the hard years where babies turn to toddlers and touch and feel everything they see.

When he turned 3 though, I wanted some thing more for him. I started my research, trying to find a kinder/school for him and found there were no nut free schools or Kinders in my area. The people whom I spoke knew a bit of every thing and not a lot of anything. This made us decide in 2012 that as a family we wanted to raise awareness in the community about allergies and anaphylaxis, so we made a video clip about our journey during the World Allergy and Anaphylaxis Week.

This can be viewed here: http://youtu.be/xKJCl80n5IU

I rang the local newspaper and spoke to them about the World Allergy and Anaphylaxis Day and they wanted to do an article about our life's experience, which we did.

We also created a Facebook page called scribbles and giggles which post activities safe for children with allergies and anaphylaxis.

Click here to follow this page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Scribbles-and-Giggles/

Also I sent my Video clip to the local council members asking for help to raise awareness.

Some replied, some didn't and some like Cr Kathy Majdlik went the extra stepand introduced me the events team at my local council.

As a way of starting a support group and to raise awareness I came up with the idea of a Comfort Playgroup (safe for children with allergies and anaphalaxis). I know how much my son missed going to one.

After few meetings with the council they said I should apply for a grant to establish this worthy cause. Applying for a grant was not easy, as it is a bit of paper work, but luckily my husband helped me and in December 2012 they approved the grant, which paid for facility rent, toys etc.

But....IT is easy to start a playgroup with or without a grant. All you need to have 3 or more families and you can run it via the Playgroup Association in your state (http://playgroupaustralia.org.au/). Ours was through Playgroup Victoria: http://www.playgroup.org.au/

To promote the playgroup I placed flyers at shopping centres, had few articles done via the local newspaper and local radio station and placed our playgroup information on council events calender for publicity.

How do I run Comfort playgroup?

• It is activity based playing
• I use few tables and chairs. Before the start of playgroup all tables and chairs are cleaned through and wiped.
• All the playgroup items are kept in a lockable cupboard.
• All items are cleaned on a monthly basic .(by the families)
• We finish the playgroup with songs and a story.
• Have a theme for each term
• All activities are planed with the other families
• Each family is given a chance to organise the songs and to bring in there favourite story book to share.
• We run the playgroup for 1hr.
• There is no food including baby food and formula.

We've been running the playgroup for few months. It started with 2 families and now we have added 5 families which makes 7 in total. We all look forward to it each week and share our stories. For me it is a great comfort to see Nathan enjoying the company of kids of different ages and learning life skills.

Comfort Playgroup runs during the school term on a Friday from 9.15am – 10.45am.

We are at Arnold’s Creek Community Centre , MeltonVictoria 3337.

If you need more details please call Mihiri on 0400087186 or email comfortplaygroup@outlook.com

Hope this information will be helpful if you are interested in starting a playgroup.

- Mihiri