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Need some time for yourself? 

Is your child ready for playschool?

 Check out our morning & full day drop off playschools; 

Grandma's Garden and Our Garden

Playgroup - Our Heart & Soul

 Playgroups are offered often during the week and we offer a weekly baby 
group for the under 12m kiddos.  

Being a parent and even a new parent or caregiver, can be an isolating experience. Playgroup is where you will be openly welcomed, given free coffee/tea and will start to form lasting relationships with like-minded families and grow your family's village and community. This is a great opportunity for parents, grandparents and caregivers to spend an hour and a half sharing quality time with their children whose ages range from birth to five. Come as you are and come on out and play!


Playgroups are loosely structured and include free play, circle time & snack. The adults get to learn new activities they can do at home, see what toys their child may be interested in, learn some parenting tips and tricks from staff and each other and observe their child with other children. Most importantly, they provide a unique opportunity for children and adults to play, learn, and socialize TOGETHER.  We ask folks to help defray some of our costs by contributing a suggested donation of $5 per Playgroup.  No one is ever turned away for lack of money.



One Grandmother who had been coming to playgroup with her grandson who is 18 months old for only a few months shared, "The family was amazed that as soon as I started singing the 'clean up' song, Ryan started putting his toys away without a fuss!"


One Mother states, "As a work-from-home mom I love how rooted my sons and I now are within the neighborhood. We are developing lasting friendships and our big city life often feels like a smaller tight-knit community. We love Ms. Teri!"


One stay-at-home Father said, "Teri is the 'grandma' of 'Grandma's Garden,' the 'My' of 'By My Side,' the 'hippie grandma' Fishtown didn't even know it needed but so did. She's the matriarch of all of the child-serving activities buzzing up from By My Side Neighborhood Parenting program and its fruitful relationship with Atonement Lutheran Church."