Destructive Play

Smash it, bang it, whack it, break it...

For sometime now we have been storing alot of  old broken eqipment in our sheds. Needing the room for other items two older boys helped to set up an area so that other children could take their frustration out on the equipment.

Before we started destroying everything children were given a briefing regarding safety measures. Each child wanting to smash something was allocated safety goggles and gloves. They then got to choose what tool they wished to use from sledge hammers, small hammers and screw drivers.

 This play action attracted more children but we soon ran out of items to smash! 

Carrots & Greens

Phew, Spring is finally here! 

So this means only one thing ...lets start to plant this years vegetable garden! We have given the club a name this year 'Carrots & Greens' Garden Club and lots of children have already signed up to help.

Our plan is to do gardening every Thursday and the first Saturday of every month. This will hopefully mean we will get lots planted this year and have a bumper crop of goodies

.

We started by planting lettuces and carrot seeds in rows and preparing the soil for the further seeds we have planted inside the play hut. Once they have germinated we will plant them out in the other beds too.

'E' helps to make a tyre barrel for potatoes

Ice, Ice baby!!!

Next to our playground is a skate park know locally as 'the humps and bumps'.  The following day after we had the bon- fire children were playing over at the park.  'Arrh come and look...' screamed some of the children. As we ran over to the humps a small group of children had discovered a rather large frozen puddle. As they walked and skidded across you could hear the ice cracking under foot and air bubbles popping. 'Lets smash it!', 'what a brilliant idea'...We ran back to our play hut collected up a number of small hammers and shovels and made our way back...

It wasn't long before we were joined by other children and soon after some patience the top layer was broken up. The children continued to play in this area for the rest of the evening. Some adventureous children challenegd each other to stand in the cold water, 'yieks' freeezing!

Disco Inferno

As the cold weather descended on us the children at the playground helped to build a large bonfire down in our fire-pit. Around the fire we placed tea light lanterns, cooked marshmallows, drank tea & hot chocolate and I'm sure a couple of packets of biscuits where shared out too! 

At the same time some of the younger boys discovered a huge block of ice that had formed in our very small pond. They broke up the block and brought it to the fire. It didn't last long before all the blocks were throw into the fire and watched as they slowly melted,  
almost putting out the 
fire we built!

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!