Rolla Derby

This month we have witnessed a new fab down here at the playground - rolla skating, our children are hook!

Just before we closed for the Christmas break we had a small donation of a couple of pairs of rolla-skates. Since then nearly every week the supply of skates have grown. 

Lots of children who have never skated before are mastering it although learning to fall over without hurting themself has been a huge learning curve. Not so long ago a mother of a child who has a disability was surprised and amazed her daughter was able to skate around the playground. She shared that she had not thought this was something her daughter could manage or enjoy, little did she know what a brilliant skater her daughter was, this young girl was really fearless and willing to give it a go, turned out to be a real pro in the end!

Another boy aged 11 had been watching the children for a few days skate around and didn't really show any interest in joining in, then one day he put on a pair of skates and had a go. He shared with one of the playworkers that he didn't understand what all the fuss was about until now - yes he has the bug  and 'yep I get it' he shouted as he whizzed by.

Over a few days our play hut has spontaneously been turned into a rolla rink with a rolla disco atmosphere.

Here fishy, fishy, fishy...

"1,2,3,4,5 once I caught a fish a live..." How exciting,after lots of requests form the children we have just got our first pets at the playground. Well, three gold fish to be exact! The children where soooo excited about this, we took a small journey to the pet store  by bus and pick three different sizes and coloured  goldfish. One with black eyes now called Popeye, a standard goldfish called Sharky and a very small light yellow fish called Jasmine because she looks so petite.

Brrr! Freezing

Winter Ice Art

The temperature has defiantly dropped and the cold snap has finally reached Hackney Marsh Adventure Playground. This gave us an idea and children were invited to experiment with water and ice. 

Each child was given a disposable cake tin and they were asked to fill it with things they found within the playground. Some children picked natural things like leaves, berries and twigs while other children cut paper flowers, glitter and buttons. 

Once their tins were finished the children filled them with water, sealed with foil and placed them in the freezer over night.

Some children even added food colouring to their ice art blocks.  The next day we had lots of wonderful ice blocks but very cold hands!