The Play Way

Group offerings

Group spaces offer opportunities for shared exploration, creativity, and connection.

Through individual and collaborative activities, group work offers something unique: the opportunity to encounter your own experiences alongside those of others.

In shared space, we can discover new perspectives, recognise common struggles, and experience the possibility of belonging.

Groups at The Play Way take different forms, depending on their purpose, participants, and rhythm.

A circle of simple wooden chairs in a warm sunlit room.

Who are groups for?

A circle of simple wooden chairs in a warm sunlit room.

Groups are offered for children, adolescents, or adults, depending on the group and its purpose.

Group work may support

  • Emotional expression and literacy
  • Relational awareness
  • Confidence in self-expression
  • Exploring identity and personal stories
  • Connection and belonging
  • Finding new perspectives through shared experience

Creative Sundays

A monthly gathering around making, connection and community.

Creative Sundays are an invitation to slow down, get your hands busy and enjoy the simple pleasure of making something.

Each month brings a different creative workshop, offering opportunities to explore materials, experiment with techniques and discover new ways of making. From clay and collage to textiles, printmaking and nature-inspired creations, there's always something new to try.

These are relaxed, welcoming spaces where curiosity matters more than experience, and where the process of making is just as important as what you take home.

Come on your own or with a friend, enjoy a cup of tea, and spend a few hours creating in good company.

Themes for each month are shared on Instagram.

  • Frequency Once a Month · First Sunday
  • Time 10:00–12:00
  • Group Size 5–10 participants
  • Fee R500 per person, per workshop
  • Includes Facilitated creative workshop, all materials and equipment, tea, coffee and light refreshments.
  • Location Emmarentia, Johannesburg
Booking & Cancellation Policy

Workshops require a minimum of 5 participants to proceed. If the minimum is not reached, the workshop will not go ahead and you will receive a full refund, or you may transfer to another date.

Cancellations require at least 24 hours' notice, except in emergencies, which must be communicated directly. Eligible cancellations may be refunded, less an administration fee of up to R50, or transferred to another available workshop date.

A workshop table laid out with paper, brushes, thread and clay.

Women's Circle

Hand-cut mosaic tiles arranged in a slow spiral.

A four-session journey, held with the same group of women throughout.

Women's Circle is a closed, seasonal therapeutic group designed for those wanting more time, continuity and depth. The same participants meet across four sessions, roughly three weeks apart, allowing space between gatherings for reflection, integration and whatever begins to unfold.

The circle is held in a spirit of relational safety, curiosity and shared experience, with room for conversation, reflection, and creation. Each evening also includes a shared meal, creating time around the table as well as within the circle.

This is an intimate, intentional and participatory space. There is no expectation to perform, produce or arrive with the right answers – only a willingness to take part and see what emerges.

  • Cohort One per season · Summer Cohort begins January 2027
  • Sessions Four gatherings · Spaced over three months
  • Time Wednesday evenings · 18:00–20:00
  • Group Size 6–8 participants
  • Fee R3 000 per cohort · Instalments Available
  • Includes All four facilitated gatherings, a shared dinner at each session, and all creative materials and resources.
  • Location Emmarentia, Johannesburg
Booking & Cancellation Policy

Each seasonal cohort requires a minimum of 6 participants to proceed. If the minimum is not reached, the cohort will not go ahead and you will receive a full refund, or you may transfer to a future cohort.

Bookings are for the full four-session cohort. Cancellations require at least 24 hours' notice before the first gathering, except in emergencies, which must be communicated directly. Eligible cancellations may be refunded, less an administration fee of up to R50, or transferred to a future cohort, subject to availability.

The Play Lab

School-holiday experiences, grouped by what suits children developmentally.

The Play Lab runs four age groups, each with its own approach. Every holiday introduces a new theme, adapted to meet each group where they are.

Ages 6–8

Little Play Lab

Sensory play, movement, imagination and making invite children to explore, experiment and create alongside one another. Activities are playful and open-ended, with plenty of room for curiosity and discovery.

  • Time 09:30–11:00
  • Group Size 5–8 children
  • Fee R500 per child
  • Includes Facilitated activities and all creative materials and equipment.
  • Location Emmarentia, Johannesburg
Ages 9–11

Play Lab

Imaginary worlds, characters and playful challenges become starting points for art-making and collaboration. There is room to invent, experiment, take on different roles and discover what unfolds along the way.

  • Time 09:30–11:00
  • Group Size 5–8 children
  • Fee R500 per child
  • Includes Facilitated activities and all creative materials and equipment.
  • Location Emmarentia, Johannesburg
Ages 12–13

Preteen Play Lab

As childhood begins to shift towards adolescence, new questions and possibilities start to emerge. Through drama, movement, making and creative exploration, participants can play with perspective and explore who they are becoming alongside others.

  • Time 13:00–15:00
  • Group Size 5–8 participants
  • Fee R500 per participant
  • Includes Facilitated activities and all creative materials and equipment.
  • Location Emmarentia, Johannesburg
Ages 14–18

Teen Play Lab

Storytelling, movement, visual expression and collaborative theatre offer ways to experiment with voice, perspective and self-expression – while exploring the questions and complexities that come with growing up.

  • Time 13:00–15:00
  • Group Size 5–8 participants
  • Fee R500 per participant
  • Includes Facilitated activities and all creative materials and equipment.
  • Location Emmarentia, Johannesburg

The first Play Lab takes place during the December 2026/January 2027 summer holidays. Groups may run on different days.

Booking & Cancellation Policy

Each Play Lab session requires a minimum of 5 participants to proceed. If the minimum is not reached, the session will not go ahead and you will receive a full refund, or you may transfer to another session.

Cancellations require at least 24 hours' notice, except in emergencies, which must be communicated directly. Eligible cancellations may be refunded, less an administration fee of up to R50, or transferred to another available session.

Thresholds

An immersive exploration of shadow, self and transformation.

There are parts of ourselves we know well, and others that remain hidden, silenced or difficult to approach.

Thresholds is an intimate, immersive group experience that invites participants to explore these less familiar territories. Drawing on the symbolic language of myth and the transformative possibilities of the arts, we make space to encounter aspects of ourselves that may have been suppressed, overlooked or left without expression – including instinct, desire, anger, grief, power and inner knowing.

Rather than seeking to overcome or eliminate these parts, the invitation is to approach them with curiosity, allowing new relationships with ourselves to emerge.

The central question it circles is: what does it mean to belong fully to yourself?

This is a space for exploration rather than performance, encounter rather than correction, and possibility rather than prescribed outcomes.

  • Format Standalone · Themed
  • Location Emmarentia, Johannesburg
  • Details, Dates & Fees TBA

For those ready to go a little deeper, each experience offers a different doorway into aspects of the human journey.

An artist's palette thick with mixed paint, lit warmly against a dark background.

Is Thresholds right for me?

A quiet studio space with art materials laid out.

Thresholds is intended for adults who feel ready to engage in reflective, emotionally meaningful creative exploration.

No previous experience with the arts or creative practices is necessary. However, participants should feel sufficiently emotionally supported and stable to engage with potentially challenging material in a small-group setting.

This experience is not intended as crisis support or a substitute for ongoing individual therapy. You are welcome to get in touch if you are unsure about whether this is the right space for you at this time.

What's coming up

Group offerings currently open for registration or interest.

Find an upcoming gathering, explore the details, and follow the link to register or express your interest.

  • 14 Dec 2026

    Little Play Lab

    Monday, 09:30 – 11:00 Johannesburg Ages 6–8 R 500

    8 places left Book your Place
  • 14 Dec 2026

    Preteen Play Lab

    Monday, 13:00 – 15:00 Johannesburg Ages 12–13 R 500

    8 places left Book your Place
  • 15 Dec 2026

    Play Lab

    Tuesday, 09:30 – 11:00 Johannesburg Ages 9–11 R 500

    8 places left Book your Place
  • 15 Dec 2026

    Teen Play Lab

    Tuesday, 13:00 – 15:00 Johannesburg Ages 14–18 R 500

    8 places left Book your Place
  • 20 Jan 2027

    Women's Circle

    Wednesday, 18:00 – 20:00 Johannesburg Women, 18+ R 3 000 for all 4 gatherings

    1. First gathering · 20 January 2027, 18:00 – 20:00
    2. Second gathering · 3 February 2027, 18:00 – 20:00
    3. Third gathering · 24 February 2027, 18:00 – 20:00
    4. Fourth gathering · 17 March 2027, 18:00 – 20:00
    Registration opening Express your Interest
  • 7 Feb 2027

    Creative Sundays

    Sunday, 10:00 – 12:00 Johannesburg Adults, 18+ R 500

    Not yet open