We’ve launched “Care-Free Thursdays” Family Playgroups in Oakley!
Last week was our very first playgroup in Oakley and we had 35 people join us! Our space is beautiful and ready to accommodate a larger group. We have safe play space and activities for kiddos 0-5 years old, and for their older siblings. Kids up to 8 years old were having fun climbing in the tree, picking black raspberries, and tart cherries from the tree. We helped Miss Brittany “walk the garden” and make a page for each plant to start tracking how the plants are growing. Later this summer/fall, we’ll have the chance to harvest tomatoes, peppers, squash, lettuce, cucumbers, herbs and more! We also enjoyed iced coffee and snacks ( a popular activity with our all events), stories about being in the garden, and we played in our new sensory bin while the adults made new friends and talked about life in the neighborhood.
Come help us learn how to grow our garden, learn about indigenous watering techniques, pick veggies to share, and more.
The best part of the morning for me, was seeing new faces leading and connecting with others. Brittany Rhoade is our new co-leader and partner in imagination at our Oakley Playgroup. She’s a member of Cincinnati Mennonite Fellowship, a mom of 4 awesome kiddos, a registered nurse, and co-founder of InnerTrek Guides, a non-profit committed to offering mental health support in nature. She’s also an amazing gardener and a homeschool mom who knows how to creatively engage kids and adults to build community and develop self-care awareness through the natural and spiritual realms. Our values align so much, and I’m thrilled to have her on board to be the primary leader of our “Care-Free Thursdays” rhythm.
Miss Brittany gathers the kids to observe nature under the tree.
Meeting a few new parents of babies was also a joy. We learned these folks had posted in the local Facebook group just the day before asking to make “mom friends” now that they are stay-at-home parents. Like so many of us in the early days of becoming a primary caregiver, we struggle to find the emotional, spiritual and mental support we need to be thriving adults. It’s a total identity shift to become a parent for the first time. Seeing lonely parents and caregivers posting in Facebook groups attempting to make friends was one of the primary reasons why I was inspired to start Imagine Cincinnati.
We are all created for connection. We need to be in connection with others, with nature, with a sense of our own deepest selves - and maybe that includes God for you, or maybe it includes a sense of something bigger than you. However you look at it, you were built for relationship. We hope that anyone experiencing isolation, overwhelm and the major shift in identity that comes with caregiving to littles, will feel welcome and comfortable in our playgroup spaces. Come join us in Oakley if you are looking for a rhythm to get you outside on Thursday mornings this summer (and beyond!)
New friends are waiting to meet you in our garden and play space here behind Cincinnati Mennonite Fellowship each Thursday.
“Care-Free Thursdays” is a family playgroup offered through Imagine Cincinnati on the grounds of Cincinnati Mennonite Fellowship. We’re there 46 weeks of the year from 9:30-10:30am. To learn more about our playgroups, visit here.
We owe a huge thank you to Charlie Patty and the team at Cincinnati Mennonite Fellowship for all the time, talent and resources they put into revitalizing an old garage for our beautiful new play space! Join us at 4229 Brownway Ave. in Oakley!
