Hingham Sisters Create Play Center For South Shore Kids

Hingham sisters Tamsin Garside and Amanda Zani, recently opened a new child’s play area on the Hingham/Cohasset line on Route 3A, Justice Cushing Highway.

Playdipity is a place for children to play, and caregivers to spend time with their peers, in a clean and safe indoor environment.

The Hingham sisters believe time spent at home with little ones can be wonderful but also incredibly lonely and isolating. Juggling nap times, scheduled feedings, and siblings’ activities can make it hard to get out of the house. As mothers, Tamsin and Amanda have experienced this problem firsthand. From their own experiences, the idea for Playdipity was born and the business opened at 132 Justice Cushing Highway in Cohasset on June 18. 

Tamsin has a history working in insurance and has earned her Masters in accounting while Amanda previously worked for a Boston firm that designed interactive exhibits for museums. For both sisters, this is their first time starting a new business.

Patch sat down with the sisters to ask them to share a little bit about themselves and their new fun spot:

Where are you from?

TG & AZ: We grew up on the North Shore but we lived here for sometime when we were kids. We came back to Hingham because of the commute for our husbands, the beach, and it’s just a great place to raise kids.

What led you to open this business?           

TG & AZ: When you’re a new parent, you spend a lot of time at home with young children, especially infants and toddlers and early preschoolers, and there’s  just not a lot of outlets for kids to play in a safe and clean environment outside of the home.  And because it can be so isolating to be a new parent, we found it would be great to create a space to let the kids do what’s age appropriate for them but also have an opportunity to talk to other adults

Do parents have to stay while their kid is playing?

TG & AZ: Yes, parents or caregivers have to stay on site while their children are playing. We are not a babysitting service and we are not a daycare.

Is your new business totally play based?

TG & AZ: It’s totally play based.  We have no battery-operated toys. Everything is an educationally derived toy.  What’s different about us is there is no required schedule.  We are just open for play, which is great for parents that have young children of multiple ages.

What type of educational toys do you have?

TG & AZ: We have divided the play area like a preschool would do it.  We have dramatic play areas where the kids can dress up and pretend to be a pirate or use their imaginations to be a fairy. We have gross-motor areas where toddlers that are just learning to walk can practice going up and down stairs in a really safe structure specifically scaled for toddlers. We have animal creatures where kids can created their own zoo.  We have a table with rotating toys that they can build with and create structures, we have giant blocks that they can build a castle out of.

What is the age group of children who come to Playdipity?

TG & AZ: We are designed for children ages, 0-5.  It’s not a strict rule, but the toys we have on site may not keep kids over the age of 5 as entertained.  The reason we do that, is because the toys we have on site have to be safe for babies as well as for big kids, so we have to be very aware of choking hazards.

What is it like being a new business owner?

TG & AZ: Intimidating ( Both sisters laugh).

What advice would you give to someone starting a new business on the South Shore?

TG & AZ: You have to be really strongly motivated and in the belief that what you are doing is for a really good purpose, and that you’re fitting a need that you truly believe in within the community.  That’s what drove us to do it.  It took us two years to create Playdipity and bring this idea to life and we’re having a really good response.  We’ve had a lot of dads and moms coming on Saturday mornings to sit back and socialize while their kids are playing with others their own age.  We have a lot of customers from the Avalon apartments who are looking to create roots here and find homes in Hingham and Cohasset and this is a great outlet for them. We just believe that this is something that these communities truly need.

What advice would you give to young mothers looking to start a business?

TG & AZ:You need to have a good support system, a flexible schedule.  And that it is possible,  there is opportunities outside of the home.

Why did you choose to open you business on the Hingham/ Cohasset line?

TG & AZ: We felt that on Route 53 and Route 3 that there were a number of opportunities for scheduled play outside of the home and that this area getting to 53 can be a far drive.  We wanted t provide a more local 3A based opportunity for structured play.

If you had to choose a tag line for your business, what would it be?

TG & AZ: Our tag line is “a playroom for pretend,” but what we’ve been  laughing about lately is how kids keep calling us different things like “Playdipily, and ”Fundipity” so it’s a place we’re everyone can come and have fun- they can call it anything they want as long as they think Playdipity is super fun.

How much does it cost to bring a child to Playdipity?

TG & AZ:Admission for a child is $9 for the day.  Playdipity also hosts birthday parties and private rentals. 

To scheduled a party, contact the play center at (781) 923-1749.