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

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…

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

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

Children across Peterborough are being urged to join in with New Ark Play’s Celebration of Playday, which takes place on Saturday 2^nd 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.

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.

** 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

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

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

Our annual report for 2012-13 is now available to view online as a low res PDF document – please click the link below.

New Ark Guide and annual report 2012-13

If you wish to receive a printed copy, please contact us on 01733 340605 or info@newarkplay.co.uk

Here’s what Jenny from Cummins Business Services said about this year’s report: “The dedication of every one of you comes across in this report – it is a credit to everyone at New Ark Play Association.” Thank you for your kind words Jenny, and thank you Cummins for sponsoring the report’s printing costs!