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Playcentre last week celebrated 85 years since it first started in the Wellington suburb of Karori.
On 24 April 1941 – on what would turn out to be the eve of Anzac Day – a group of mothers did something that would quietly outlast the war and every government since. They started Playcentre – a simple and radical idea that parents, together, could be their children’s first and best educators.
What began in Karori has grown into a movement of more than 400 rural and urban centres supporting over 14,000 families across Aotearoa.
Emerging during wartime when many fathers were absent, it was a time when many mothers were facing financial strain, social isolation and the weight of raising their children mostly alone.
Those founding women recognised something essential – the issue was not just early learning, it was about families, connection and community.
“Eighty‑five years is not just a number – it’s a living legacy,” chief executive Nepia Winiata says.
“It’s generations of parents who have shown up, given their time and grown alongside their tamariki.
Together, they built a connection, a community and something strong enough to endure.”
He says the Playcentre story is not only historical.
“In 2026, one in seven children in Aotearoa lives in material hardship and 44 per cent of New
Zealanders report feeling lonely. Postnatal depression affects 10 to 20 per cent of mothers who have recently given birth.
“Parents still face the same essential pressures that moved those first Karori women to act – isolation, hardship and the deep human need for community and connection.”
According to Winiata, the model those women created in 1941 is more relevant now than it has ever been.
“As other forms of social support and connection have dropped away over the decades, Playcentre’s role as the village raising our tamariki and supporting their whanau makes it more relevant than ever.”
