Our Playday event

Did you come to our playday event last Saturday? We had a great time and raised almost £200 in refreshment sales and donations. Here are a few pictures taken on the day – there are more on our Facebook page – as well as some information on why play is so important.

“Freely-chosen play is an essential part of every child’s life and is vital to emotional and physical development. Children need a place where they can explore risk and adventure and where no-one expects a piece of work to be produced at the end of an activity.”
Nikki Anderson, New Ark playworker

playday montage

Playday is the UK’s national day for play, traditionally held on the first Wednesday in August. It is a celebration of children’s right to play, and a campaign that highlights the importance of play in children’s lives.

What is play?

Play is a wide range of activities and behaviours that a child freely chooses to take part in. Play may or may not involve equipment. Children may play alone or with others. Play may or may not have an end product. It may be boisterous and energetic or quiet and completive; light-hearted or very serious.

Why is play important?

  • Playing is fun: it is how children enjoy themselves, each other and families.
  • Play can promote development, learning, imagination, creativity and independence.
  • Play can help to keep children healthy and active.
  • Play allows children to experience and encounter boundaries, learning to assess and manage risk in their lives; both physical and social.
  • Play helps children to understand the people and places in their lives, learn about their environment and develop a sense of community.
  • Play allows children to find out about themselves, their abilities, their interests and the contribution they can make.
  • Play can be therapeutic. It helps children to deal with difficult or painful circumstances such as emotional stress or medical treatment.
  • Play can be a way of building and maintaining important relationships with friends, carers and family members.Source: Charter for Children’s Play, Play England, 2007

The UK government is signed up to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that all children and young people have the right to relax and play, and join in a wide range of activities.

Finally, you may also be interested in this BBC news item about a newly published report, which reviews a wide range of research into the importance of play in supporting children develop essential skills and knowledge as they grow up.

Help create a mud kitchen

Our eco centre staff are setting up a mud kitchen, to start using with the playgroup children in September.

mud kitchen

Do you have any old kitchen utensils that we can have? We prefer metal or wood but can accept some things that only come in plastic e.g. pipettes/turkey baster.

We are particularly looking for the following items in wood/metal. If you have any spare please drop them off at New Ark – either at the eco centre or the main building.
– muffin/cup cake trays
– bowls all sizes- metal/clay/wood
– cups/saucers/plates
– jugs/measuring jugs/other measuring utensils
– teapot/kettle
– saucepans/wok/mess tins/
– trays/baking trays
– sieve/colander/funnel
– pestle and mortar
– ice cream scoop/whisk/tongs/turkey baster
– anything a bit unusual or quirky
– an old microwave
– herbs eg parsley/chives/mint etc

And if you would like to help New Ark with donations or other items, here’s a list of items we are always grateful for…

 

can you donate

Repairs & Maintenance Week Sept 2014

We are closed between Monday 1st and Friday 5th September 2014 for our Repairs and Maintenance week – to undertake essential work on our buildings and land.

Can you help with any of the following?
• An hour or two of time to help us on any of the days. Unfortunately we cannot have any children on site during this week to help, due to health and safety.
• Donations of cleaning products including bleach, scourers, cleansers, cloths, etc.
• Board games in good condition or unused, to replace those that need to be retired.
• Any unwanted tins of paint – unopened or recently opened
• Money, so that we can repair/replace anything faulty as we find it. You can make an online donation at www.localgiving.com/charity/newarkplay

help

If you are able to volunteer to help during this week, please contact Charlotte on 01733 340605 and say when you can help, how long for and whether you have any mobility issues etc.

You will be asked to come wearing sensible clothing and you will be allocated a job to do, for example painting, cleaning, weeding, tidying games up, mending fences, feeding the animals, etc.

Here is some more information on our term dates and planned closures

 

Celebrating Playday – 2 August

Children across Peterborough are being urged to join in with New Ark Play’s Celebration of Playday, which takes place on Saturday 2nd August between 11am and 3pm.

The event is entry by donation and will include playing in New Ark’s unique adventure playground. Other activities will include chalks, water play, crafts and meeting animals on the city farm. Professional playworkers will support parents and children as they explore adventurous, outdoor play in the safe environment of New Ark.

All children are welcome to join in with the activities but must be accompanied by a responsible adult. Light refreshments will be on sale to help support the charity’s fundraising.

Playday is a celebration of children’s right to play, and a campaign that highlights the importance of play in children’s lives.

New Ark playworker Nikki Anderson says: “Freely-chosen play is an essential part of every child’s life and is vital to emotional and physical development. Children need a place where they can explore risk and adventure and where no-one expects a piece of work to be produced at the end of an activity. Our professional playworker staff are skilled at knowing when to help children and when to step back and watch.”

For further information about Playday visit www.playday.org.uk

We are grateful to The Wakeham Trust for providing funding to help run this event.

playday poster A4

Summer Eco Sessions (Forest School)

We are delighted to announce that our popular Forest School Eco Sessions will run again this summer holidays. The sessions will run 9.30am-12noon, every Tuesday and Thursday morning between 22 July 2014 and 21 August 2014.

Our Forest School trained staff will supervise children attending these sessions in our Eco Centre. As well as exploring and playing in the forest, organised activities will include:

  • Woodland crafts
  • Shelter building
  • Charcoal making
  • Bug hunts
  • Pond dipping
  • Outdoor cooking
  • Water play
  • Cooking on a fire
  • Mud play

Priority will be given to school-aged children under 8 years old who have registered for New Ark’s 2014-15 playground holiday sessions. There will be some places available for children up to age 11.

The charge is £3 a session per child, including a snack. Places are limited and these sessions are normally over subscribed, so please book early using this form.

You can download New Ark’s summer holiday registration forms from www.newarkplay.co.uk/registrations2014-15. Remember that we also offer additional childcare outside of our normal session times for registered children.

eco sessions 2014 poster

Register now for playground sessions

Registrations are now due for the summer holiday playground sessions. To avoid lengthy queues at the start of the summer holidays please pay by Friday 18th July.

You will require the following documents…

  1. Playground registration form 2014-15 (if you have 4+ children please use a continuation form)
  2. Summary of playground fees 2014-15. We have kept most of our fees the same but increased registrations slightly to keep pace with rising costs.
  3. List of opening dates 2014-15
  4. Playground information sheet 2014-15
  5. If you wish to book additional childcare, please complete a playground additional childcare form – places are limited and must be booked/paid for in advance.

Please do read the Playground Information Sheet as there have been some changes – we would like to draw your attention to the following items in particular:

  • Write your full contact details including up to date email address on the registration form – our phone bill is high and we can save money by emailing you about non-urgent matters.
  • Please arrive to collect your children 15 minutes before we are due to close, especially if you need to make a payment, speak to a manager, etc. Our late charge is £10 per 15 minutes or part thereof, and your registration will be reviewed if you are late 3 times in any term. Please put our number into your mobile now so that you have it handy in case you are unavoidably delayed – it is 01733 340605.
  • To avoid lengthy queues please pay fees by the following dates. Unfortunately we are unable to accept payments during our repairs and maintenance weeks in September and April.
    – Holiday registration fees pay by Friday 18 July 2014
    – Afterschool autumn term registration fees pay by Friday 29 August 2014
    – Afterschool spring term registration fees pay by Monday 5 January 2015
    – Afterschool summer term registration fees pay by Friday 10 April 2015

We are grateful for your continued support. If our fees prevent your family from accessing New Ark please do talk to a manager in confidence.

Playground taster session – 19 July

***UPDATE*** We raised £114 from donations and refreshment sales during this event – thank you everyone who donated cakes etc to sell

We are throwing our doors open from 11am-3pm on Saturday 19 July 2014, to give parents and children a taster of our holiday playground sessions. Come to try out the fun of New Ark before deciding to register for our 2014-15 holiday sessions.

A typical holiday play session at New Ark Play
A typical holiday play session at New Ark Play

Entry is £2 per child aged over 5, which will be refunded if you register for our 2014-15 holiday sessions within 7 days. If you have already registered for our 2014-15 holiday sessions then entry is free!

All children must be accompanied by a parent on this taster day.

We also welcome under 5s with their parents, and encourage you to make a donation on entry which will help us to keep running all our services 🙂

Activities will include:

  • Adventure Playground
  • Cooking dampers on an open fire
  • City farm open
  • Tuck shop
  • Puppet making craft
  • Construction toys
  • Refreshments for sale including cuppas and cakes

Come join the fun, and help us to spread the word by displaying up this poster advertising the session or by inviting your Facebook friends to the event 🙂

We are grateful to The Wakeham Trust for providing funding towards help us open on this weekend

taster day 19 july 2014

Summer festival 21 June 2014

** We’re delighted to confirm that the final total raised at our Summer Festival was £1,945.61. On our Facebook page you will find lots of photographs of the day. Thank you everyone for your support **

Saturday 21 June 2014 11am-4pm

Our annual summer fete gains a festival feel with live music, hot food and lots more. Our city farm and adventure playground will be open and there will be lots of fundraising games, crafts and our summer raffle. Entry by donation.

Confirmed activities so far include:

  • African Heritage Centre will be performing and running workshops for children between 12 & 2pm
  • Exotic Pet Refuge bringing animals between 1-3pm
  • City College Peterborough will be running a children’s arts and crafts stall for us
  • Refreshments include hot and cold drinks, biscuits, picnic bags, burgers and hot dogs, ice cream van, homemade cakes
  • Activities including face painting, glitter tattoos, bouncy castle, medium & tarot card readings, jam jar tombola, bottle hoopla
  • Stalls include: fairground sweeties, bottle hoopla, children’s toy tombola, lucky dip
  • Just for fun: wellie wanging, World Cup shoot out, face painting, glitter tattoos, bouncy castle, medium & tarot card readings
  • In our Eco Centre you can make dream catchers, stick men, fairy wands / pirate sticks, and buy garden plants & produce
  • Summer raffle will be drawn – see underneath picture below for the prize list
  • Plus our city farm will be open and children can play freely in our adventure playground and eco centre

 

If you can volunteer to help at this event please contact Charlotte on 01733 340605

Summer raffle prize draw

Here are confirmed prizes for our summer draw raffle which will be drawn on Saturday 1st Prize: £100 John Lewis voucher
2nd Prize: Luxury Picnic Hamper including family days out vouchers to Skylark Maze & Funyard, and Pigeons Farm
3rd Prize: PURE Digital & FM clock radio

Other confirmed raffle prizes
* 6 weeks Kung Fu classes for kids and adults and 1 hour private lesson for Adults Wing Chun (Kung Fu Schools Peterborough)
* Skate session including skate hire for family of 4 (Planet Ice)
* Spray Tan (Inspiration Beauty and Wellbeing) * Postman Pat DVD (Game)
* New Ark voucher for a school holiday day pass or afterschool pass session

Also…
* Digital Movie Creator ~ make movies like they do in Hollywood with this digital movie creator. All you need is a PC and your imagination!
* Leap frog ~ ABCs write on floor puzzle
* David’s Dream Team ~ pop up blow football game and story book.
* Next ~ Men’s Signature gift set including eau de toilette
* Boots ~ White collection, mini travel collection gift set
* Bottle of Merlot Tannat 2011
* Courvoisier cognac chocolates
* Cadburys milk tray chocolates

Repairs & Maintenance week April 2014

We are closed 21-25 April 2014 to undertake Repairs and Maintenance on our buildings and land (and again 1-5 September).

Can you help with any of the following?

  • An hour or two of time to help us on any of the days. Unfortunately we cannot have any children on site during this week to help, due to health and safety.
  • Donations of cleaning products including bleach, scourers, cleansers, cloths, etc.
  • Any unwanted tins of paint – unopened or recently opened

tidying and painting

If you are able to volunteer to help during this week, please contact Charlotte on 01733 340605 and say when you can help, how long for and whether you have any mobility issues etc.

You will be asked to come wearing sensible clothing and you will be allocated a job to do, for example painting, cleaning, weeding, tidying games up, mending fences, feeding the animals, etc

We look forward to welcoming engineers from Cummins, to help us mend fences during our April Repairs and Maintenance week

 

New Ark Forest School

** All sessions are now fully booked and we are taking names for a reserve list via fundraising.newark@gmail.com. You can also register interest for future forest school sessions on that email address **

We are delighted to offer our weekend Forest School for families on Saturday 10 May 2014.

eco clay snail 8 Aug 2013

Children and parents will take part in the following activities in our Eco Centre, supported by our Forest School trained staff:
– Clay work in the forest
– Making & using natural paints
– Bug hunt and pond dipping
Plus exploring and playing in the woodland, orchard and city farm.

Sessions are at 11am or 2pm.
**Update – all sessions are now full and we are taking names for a reserve list **
Everyone attending either the morning or afternoon sessions is invited to join us for lunch between 12.15 and 2pm. Bring a picnic to eat in our garden – there’ll be hot drinks/cakes for sale in aid of New Ark, the picnic benches will be available to use, we may even get a fire going outdoors 🙂

Costs £5 per family (up to 2 adults/2 children, additional children £2 each).

These sessions are suitable for children from walking to early teens, and places are limited to 10 families per session

We acknowledge financial support from The Wakeham Trust to make these sessions possible
Wakeham Logo 2