Eastern Suburbs Playgroups (ESP) hosted our ninth annual event on Sunday, October 26, 2008 at Waverley Park, the Eastern Suburbs Children's Festival.

Our tenth festival will be hosted in October 2010.

This annual Children's Festival is designed to promote imagination, creativity and free-play to children aged 0-5 at this critical time of their development. The Festival is also designed to engage parents and carers to participate in fun activities with their children.

Affiliated with the Playgroup Association of NSW, Eastern Suburbs Playgroups (ESP) is a non-profit, volunteer and community-based organization that supports the 28 playgroups located in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs which represents over 1100 member families. ESP continually strives to offer a range of events and activities to celebrate free play, children and their families while raising awareness of playgroup within the community.

Objectives:

• Provide a fun event targeted at local families and playgroup members giving them an opportunity to socialise and have fun, encouraging a stronger sense of community.
• Raise awareness and increase the profile of Playgroup within the community and the general public.
• Showcase the opportunity for parents and carers to obtain support through the Playgroup network
• Showcase the benefits of Playgroup and the importance of free-play by providing age appropriate activities (0-5 yrs) which stimulate play, enhancing creativity and social, cognitive and physical development.
• Encourage long-term, working relationships with appropriate sponsors and community organisations to promote a variety of programs and services targeted at families with young children.