Our Mission
We believe that as children play, they develop social and interpersonal skills, fine and gross motor abilities, self- help skills, language, and cognitive abilities.
We strive to provide each child with a secure and enriching group experience while building curiosity, self-confidence, trust, and self-expression.
The History
In 1969, five families from the Trinity Memorial Church (TMC) began a small cooperative where children could play together under the watchful eyes of parent volunteers. In 1979, Trinity Playgroup incorporated as a separate non-profit corporation, maintaining our name to reflect the origin and history of our beloved school. Today, Trinity Playgroup is a hallmark of the neighborhood, inviting families and children to grow and experience the magic that happens every day behind the red doors.
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“Red Doors At Trinity”
by TPG Teacher Stevie Schlotzhauer
The School
Trinity Playgroup is located in a large, architecturally beautiful space. In addition to our classrooms, we have a spacious gross-motor area for dancing, climbing, biking, and other stimulating exercise.
Outside, there are sandboxes, picnic benches, a log cabin, blocks, ramps, tunnels, tubes, and balls to encourage open ended, limitless, discovery play. For summer, we have a cascading water table and sprinklers! We also take advantage of our superb location by visiting nearby parks, playgrounds, and the local public library.
50+
YEARS SINCE OUR FOUNDING
Our school is built on a strong tradition dating back to 1969. View archive photos from the early years here.
150+
years of experience
Together our team of teachers has over 150 years of experience in early childhood education. It’s what we do!
2000+
children Impacted
We hope your heart will always be joyful and your song will always be sung and we hope too that some part of you will stay forever young.
Christa Cywinski
Christa Cywinski (she/her) has been the Director of TPG since 1998. In addition to minding the office, Christa enjoys collaborating with the teacher and parent communities that make TPG the special place that it is. She adores the preschool age group - the running hugs, the clever discoveries, and all the sweet, goofy moments.
Our Classes & Programs
We are a play-based school committed to fostering relationships, self-awareness, collaboration, attention, reflection, resilience, and lifelong learning. We offer a cross curriculum education steeped in hands-on, creative play to support child development and learning.
MUSIC
We keep it rockin’ with Joe Morris from Laroe Music Company. Classes expose children to meaningful and enriching musical experiences while promoting cooperative play, language enrichment and expression, and supporting development, all while singing along, playing instruments, and having fun.
SCIENCE
Robert Matcovich is our science teacher. Professor Bob introduces the children to the world of solids, liquids, gases, experiments, and more.
CREATIVE MOVEMENT
We contract with Can Do, Inc. for two 15-week creative movement sessions each year. In this class, the children stretch, balance, leap, strike a pose, and boogie down! Dance classes with Chrystie Cannon introduce body awareness, physical fitness, creativity, and the fun of movement.
THEATER ARTS
Storytelling, improv, puppet shows, theater, and more round out our specialty programs. For these events we engage talented artists for single performances and series work.
Toddler
Our team of three teachers lovingly guides our Toddler group. The daily program provides a variety of age-appropriate activities for individual and group creativity.
Intermediate
In the Intermediate Group, we emphasize socialization and independence and offer alternatives as frequently as possible in order to foster self-motivation and to give each child a sense of responsibilities for his or her own behavior.
Pre-K
Pre-K emphasizes skills such as reading, math readiness, early social studies and science awareness. Daily activities are designed to increase socialization skills, enhance fine and gross motor development, and improve language and reasoning abilities.
Post Day
Our after school program is designed for children in all three age groups. Post Day is a secure, harmonious atmosphere for play and socialization that encourages creativity and learning through meeting time, storytelling, mindfulness and yoga, and messy, artful experiences.
Get Involved
Parent involvement is part of the Trinity Playgroup philosophy and is crucial to our success. A close relationship is maintained and encouraged with each family so that parents can share in their child's early education and development.
Volunteer opportunities
All parents volunteer at least six hours per school year in some way. Parents assist in classroom activities, share time and special talents or skills, and participate in Board planning, Fundraising, and other committee meetings.
Make a Donation
Fundraising allows us to fulfill our commitment to maintain a high quality school with enriching specialty programs while keeping the school’s expenses and tuition as low as possible. This is how we fund the wonderful Arts and Science Programs at TPG - all of our specialty classes, in-house performances, and art, music, and science supplies for the classrooms.
Additionally, thanks to parent donations over the years, we have been able to renovate the classroom spaces and play yard, add storage cabinets and shelves, purchase cubbies, cots, classroom supplies, install air conditioning, lighting, and security doors and cameras.
Gifts to TPG are tax deductible and vital to the school's annual needs.