Local Events - Part 9

[smallhobbit]

It is cold, frosty and misty and generally miserable, so there's not been many events going on - and frankly staying inside in the warm is considerably preferrable.

However, for this month's post I decided to share another church activity:



Run in the school hall, we begin with toddlers and preschool children and carers:

   

Lots of activities for toddlers: cars and a carriage, the very popular kitchen, ride on toys, things to push, plenty of space in the church hall to run around.  Playdoh to make things.  Tea, coffee, squash and snacks.  And all free.

We then move into the after school session:



where we provide a craft activity of the week (yesterday was junk modelling) plus board games and other drawing/colouring activities.  Yesterday we had 24 children plus carers - mostly primary age (5-11) although some come with younger siblings, who play with the other toys.  Originally we had planned two separate sessions but we found there was an overlap so we leave out many of the toys.  Tea, coffee, hot chocolate, squash, snacks, mini cakes.  And again, all free.

It's not a care provision, and parent/family friend/grandparent comes with them, but they enjoy the time to chat and relax and let the children do things, like messy crafts, which they don't do at home.  We do have a few Y7s (11 year olds who moved up to secondary school this year) who come by themselves, but we have specific permission from parents for them to do so.  They enjoy a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, and one even created a popcorn machine out of cardboard boxes.

Comments

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Lovely!

[smallhobbit]

Thank you!

[debriswoman]

This is such a welcoming and sociable set up to offer:-)

[smallhobbit]

Thank you. That's what we're aiming for - and people seem very happy coming.

[therealsnape]

What a welcoming thing to do!

[smallhobbit]

Thank you 😀

[adafrog]

Fun!

[smallhobbit]

Yes, it is.

[rusty_armour]

I'm playing catch up once again, so apologies for not commenting sooner. I think that the church is providing a great service with Fun and Free Tuesdays. It sounds like a lot of fun for the kids and a good opportunity for the adults to be able to relax and chat. I'm glad that older kids are also welcome as they would enjoy the crafts and goodies as well.

[smallhobbit]

Thank you. It's a service which is clearly needed and popular - last Tuesday we had 27 children (not including the 7 toddlers who had left earlier). We seem to have found the right mix.