Our story
The Playful Kind was created by two passionate professionals, Teneale and Preya, who believe that early childhood education and occupational therapy belong together, working towards the best outcome for children and their families.
Teneale holds a Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood) and has 15 years of experience teaching children aged from birth to 12 years, across many service types, including childcare centres, preschools, and primary schools. She has worked with children from a wide range of backgrounds and abilities, believing each child is unique and should be celebrated.
Teneale is also a mum of two and enjoys working out, reading, drinking coffee, and relaxing with her husband, daughters, and two dogs.
Preya is our qualified Occupational Therapist with over 10 years of experience working in clinic, home, school, and community settings. Preya has experience with all age groups including early intervention, teens, and adults in mental health, disability, and providing trauma informed care.
Prior to OT Preya completed a degree in sport studies and remains passionate about the benefits of physical activity on the overall development of the child.
Preya enjoys creating inclusive environments for kids to thrive, overcome barriers and build their strengths. When she is not at work Preya likes spending time with her husband and 3 children, dog Locky and rabbit named Hop.
Our philosophy
Our philosophy at The Playful Kind is to create a special place where children and their families can come together to grow and learn by exploring the world and making connections through meaningful play-based experiences.
Play allows children to enjoy activities that they are curious or excited about, which helps lay the foundation for building skills in all areas of literacy, numeracy, social skills, communication, problem solving, fine and gross motor skills, while fostering their creativity, imagination, sense of self, emotional regulation, and positive attitude to learning.
Our values
Our approach is always CHILD-CENTRED as we aim to create a safe, welcoming, inspiring place for children to take ownership of their learning, even from an early age.
PLAY-BASED is our core value which informs all that we do and encapsulates our goal – to give children the opportunity to learn through play by interacting with open-ended resources, participating in role play, and facilitating child-led experiences.
By providing MEANINGFUL experiences for children to connect with their world, families, educators, peers, and resources, we provide opportunities for growth and learning to take place.
EXPLORING, INVESTIGATING, THINKING are all essential parts of play and learning, and we ensure there are opportunities for these elements to be incorporated into each of our sessions.
Working in PARTNERSHIP with children, as well as their families and the community is a priority as we value the importance of the skills, knowledge, culture, and time family and community bring to a child’s life.
SUSTAINABILITY is especially important to us, and we will always try to source reusable and recyclable products and resources.
Our group sessions
The Playful Kind offers a fun, interactive, inclusive, sensory rich environment for children and their families. The educators provide opportunities, and encouragement, for children and their families to connect with each other, and peers, through play. Our group sessions support the development of the whole child, and build foundational skills such as literacy, numeracy, fine motor, gross motor, independence, and social skills.
Sessions are booked as a term block and occur on a weekly basis for one hour. Sessions are available in two age groups, 2 – 3 years, and 4 – 5 years to best cater for the children’s developmental stages.
Our early childhood development and occupational therapy services
Our Early Childhood Teacher and Occupational Therapist are available via appointment for one-on-one consultations; assessments; reporting; and ongoing sessions. These services are available to private and plan and self-managed NDIS clients. NDIS participants may be able to access their funding under either Capacity Building or Core Supports for these services.
Contact us
Location: The Ponds, Northwest Sydney – with some services mobile to The Hills and Blacktown local government areas
Email: enquiries@theplayfulkind.com.au