Big Voices From Little Humans
Annual Report 2025 – 2026
Children may be our youngest participants, but their views are just as important.
CRCS Family Foundations offers free community playgroups for children aged up to five and their parents, grandparents and carers. With no bookings or registration required, the playgroups provide welcoming spaces for families to play, meet others and build connections.
Feedback helps us understand what families enjoy and how we can improve our playgroups. But young children do not always have the words—or patience—to complete a survey. If we genuinely want to hear from them, we need to make sharing their ideas easy, age-appropriate and fun.
“Children’s voices matter. When we make feedback fun and age-appropriate, they can help shape the programs and experiences created for them.”
At the beginning of the term, children decorated colourful shoeboxes. Several weeks later, the boxes became part of a feedback activity during the playgroups’ Easter celebrations. Children chose pictures showing their favourite toys, activities and playgroup experiences and placed them inside their boxes, with support from their parents and carers.
The children were excited to see their creations again and enjoyed selecting the pictures. Their choices showed the Family Foundations team what they valued most, including the toys they loved, the spaces where they felt comfortable and the activities that made them happy and confident.
Parents and carers also responded positively, telling the team, “The kids loved this” and “What a good idea.”
The activity gave children a meaningful way to have a say in something that directly affects them. It showed them that their ideas are valued and helped the team see the playgroups through their eyes.
The feedback was used to help plan activities for the following term, ensuring the playgroups continued to reflect children’s interests and support their development, creativity and sense of belonging.
The team also learnt more about making feedback activities engaging and accessible. Clear explanations helped parents and carers support their children, while being open about how the feedback would be used encouraged families to take part.
By adapting the way feedback was collected, the Family Foundations team created space for little humans to share their big voices—and to help shape the playgroups they enjoy.
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