Fife parents are being urged to support cash-strapped local playgroups before they disappear.
Playgroups throughout Scotland have been closing in recent years as they struggle amid financial pressures.
Many parents choose to send their children to nursery, instead of a playgroup, at three years.
When this happens, the playgroup loses its funding for the three-year-old’s place.
One of the playgroups under threat is the Linton Lane Centre group in Kirkcaldy, where parents are trying to raise £1,500 by the end of June to keep it running.
Centre manager Mandy Henderson said: ”We don’t know if parents understand that they have the choice to do a year at playgroup and a year at nursery.
”We’re not trying to compete with nurseries all we’re saying is that playgroups give parents a choice.
”And without the support of parents and fundraising, then playgroups are struggling.”’Very important’Linton Lane gives parents opportunities to gain childcare qualifications and get involved as volunteers.
Mother Susan Taylor became a playworker as a result of sending her children to the centre.
She said as well as providing a stepping stone to nursery for children, the playgroup also benefited parents.
She said: ”There is definitely room for both playgroups and nurseries. I think playgroups are very important.
”I went on courses as a result of going there and ended up being a playworker.”
She added: ”I also met new friends. It’s a place you can sit and have a coffee and talk, and meet the staff.”
Playgroups offer the same educational benefits as nurseries, said the Scottish Pre-School Play Association (SPPA), a voluntary sector provider of support to community-led childcare organisations.
Bernadette Kelleher, an SPPA development worker in central Fife, said: ”The majority of playgroups in Fife work in partnership with the council to provide pre-school education that complies with the same regulation and inspection process as local authorities.
”These partner provider playgroups are inspected by Education Scotland as well as the Quality Assurance Team, made up of head teachers from Fife nurseries, who have built good relationships with playgroup staff.
”SPPA feels it is important that parents continue to have true parental choice over where they would like their children to receive their pre school education.
”Many playgroups have closed over the last 10 years, due to the expansion of local authority nursery provision to include three-year-olds.
”Other playgroups have become parent and toddler groups, but the surviving playgroups provide first-class learning opportunities through play.”Community involvementShe added: ”Playgroups are run by parents for their children and funding is totally dependent on partnership funding and fees paid for non-funded children.
”Sadly a lot of families don’t realise that children receive the same learning opportunities in a playgroup as they would in a local authority nursery or they think that children have to attend the local authority nursery provision.
”Playgroups provide parents within local communities with the opportunity to make new friends, receive peer support and have access to playgroup sessions which helps them to understand how their children learn and develop through play and to develop new parenting skills.
”Playgroups provide a forum to develop communities. When parents take their children to playgroup it is often the first time they become involved in a community group and a lot of these parents go on to become involved in other community groups.
”Most playgroups meet in community centres or church halls and often help to keep these centres viable and vibrant.”
Meanwhile, parents at Langtoun Tots are appealing for help to keep it afloat.
The parent and toddler group, which meets on Tuesdays and Fridays in the large hall of St Brycedale Kirk in Kirkcaldy, is facing a steep rent rise.
That, coupled with many vacancies for the 10am to noon sessions for youngsters from birth to nursery age, has left the group struggling.
Member Michelle Selbie said the lifeline service, run by parents for parents, could be in danger of closing without new members.