Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Playgroup break, returning 3 May

Hi everyone

I hope you all have a happy and safe holiday break before playgroup rejoins on 3 May. I have posted a few photos and the recipe for the egg dye we used last playgroup on the blog.

Informal meet-ups over the break

A few of you mentioned you'd like to meet up informally over the holidays. Unfortunately I won't be able to do a Tuesday at New Farm park, as I have already booked a play-date for that day, and Wednesday is out for me as well. However you will have each others' email addresses from the email updates you receive, so I'll let you coordinate between yourselves.

For my part, Toivo and I have the following things that we'll be doing next week. If you'd like to coordinate coming along to them, please send me a text so that I can let you know of any changes in my plans or if I have to cancel.

Mon 18 April: Fabulous Lemon drops

I'll be catching the 8.47 am train from Fairfield Station to Sunnybank Station to see the Fabulous Lemon Drops show at 9.30 am at Sunnybank Hall. The cost is $5. I've never been to one of these before but look interesting. You can find out more about them here.

Thursday 21 April: Dino Dig at the Queensland Museum

We'll be getting in early at 9.30 am as I saw that this activity was popular before the flood. Tickets are $10. We'll probably head by bus to the sushi train at Woolloongabba for lunch afterwards.

Upcoming family events in the neighbourhood

My apologies to anyone who tried to go to the Home Festival last week, it got cancelled, but will be rescheduled.

April 15 - 17, 2011 10:00 AM Easter eco-crafts: $20 craft using reclaimed rubbish, Reverse Garbage, 20 Burke st, Woolloongabba

Apr 16 - 26, 2011 21st Century Kids Festival, GoMA

April 16 - 21, 2011 11:00 AM Eggs Workshop: Handmade eggs and show, Queen Street main stage

April 16, 2011 2:00 PM Paint a collage: $4 Tour community farm and make a collage, Beelarong Community Farm

April 16, 2011 3:00 PM Clay critters and nature walk: Walk around the park and make clay sculptures, Les Atkinson Park Sunnybank

April 16, 2011 3:30 PM Vegetarian cooking: $4 Tour community farm and cook vegies, Beelarong Community Farm

Apr 18, 2011 Fabulous Lemon Drops: $5 Music and dance for kids, Sunnybank Hall Cnr Lister and Gager Sts

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Decorating Easter eggs

Here are some photos of the egg decorating activity from last playgroup, and instructions for doing them again yourselves.

Equipment:
  • Boiled egg
  • Rubber bands
  • Crayons
  • 1/4 teaspoon of food colouring
  • 1 tablespoon of vinegar
  • Half a cup of warm water
  • Tea towels for spills :-)

Mix the food colouring, vinegar, and warm water in a cup large enough to hold an egg.


Encourage the child to draw decorative patterns over the egg in crayon. The areas of eggshell with crayon won't absorb dye.


Wrap the egg in a few rubber bands. Places where the rubber band is flat against the egg will leave stripes of no colouring on the egg.


Dip the completed egg in the food colouring mix. The longer the egg is left in the dye, the deeper the colour will be.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Next playgroup, Tuesday 12 April

Hi everyone

I hope everyone enjoyed the mobiles last week. Next week will be the last playgroup before the holidays, and so if anyone is interested in proposing an outing or meet-up at a local park, please let me know next playgroup so that I can send an email and details out to everyone.


Next playgroup

The next playgroup is Tuesday 12 April, and it's scheduled to be a short activity followed by a play in the playground next door. As it's the last playgroup before Easter, the craft activity will be free-range egg dying, and I will set up an Fairtrade-chocolate Easter Egg hunt in the nature walk next to the playground. I've set it up so that the kids won't get more than a few mini eggs each, however if anyone doesn't want their child eating chocolate, please feel free to bring along an alternative that we can hide for your child to find, or we can use the coloured boiled eggs that get created that morning.

Upcoming family events in the neighbourhood

April 15 - 17, 2011 10:00 AM Easter eco-crafts: $20 craft using reclaimed rubbish, Reverse Garbage, 20 Burke st, Woolloongabba

Apr 16 - 26, 2011 21st Century Kids Festival, GoMA

April 16 - 21, 2011 11:00 AM Eggs Workshop: Handmade eggs and show, Queen Street main stage

April 16, 2011 2:00 PM Paint a collage: $4 Tour community farm and make a collage, Beelarong Community Farm

April 16, 2011 3:00 PM Clay critters and nature walk: Walk around the park and make clay sculptures, Les Atkinson Park Sunnybank

April 16, 2011 3:30 PM Vegetarian cooking: $4 Tour community farm and cook vegies, Beelarong Community Farm

Apr 18, 2011 Fabulous Lemon Drops: $5 Music and dance for kids, Sunnybank Hall Cnr Lister and Gager Sts

Monday, April 4, 2011

Next playgroup, Tuesday 4 April

Hi everyone

The museum visit went well last week so thank you to everyone who came. One of the members suggested that she could help out with preparing craft activities such as cutting-out pictures etc., so if anyone else would like to as well, please let me know and I'll start organising a way to split the load between us so we can do bigger and more interesting crafts.



Next playgroup

The next playgroup is a shared morning-tea, so please feel free to bring along a healthy snack to share if you can. The craft activity will be making paper animal models that you can hopefully take home to hang-up in the childrens' rooms.

Upcoming family events in the neighbourhood

April 6, 2011 6:00 PM Pyjama-rama bedtime stories and rhymes: Bedtime stories at the library, Coopers Plains Library

April 9, 2011 11:00 AM Home Festival: Grassroots festival incl. West African dance, storytelling and roving puppetry, Raymond Park Kangaroo Point

April 9, 2011 11:00 AM Rosalie Rising: Street festival, bands, kids theatre, rides, Rosalie Village Nash Street Paddington

April 10, 2011 7:00 AM Newmarket SS Trash 'n' Treasure: 50+ stalls, sausage sizzle, home bake, Newmarket State School

April 10, 2011 8:30 AM Paddle for Kids: Kayak relay races, carnival, face painting, rides, food, Captain Burke Park Kangaroo Point

Apr 11, 2011 Fabulous Lemon Drops: $5 Music and dance for kids, Sunnybank Hall Cnr Lister and Gager Sts

April 12, 2011 10:30 AM Kiddies Cushion Concerts: $9.50 musical fairytales, Ferry Road Studios, 53 Ferry Rd, West End

April 15 - 17, 2011 10:00 AM Easter eco-crafts: $20 craft using reclaimed rubbish, Reverse Garbage, 20 Burke st, Woolloongabba

Apr 16 - 26, 2011 21st Century Kids Festival, GoMA

April 16 - 21, 2011 11:00 AM Eggs Workshop: Handmade eggs and show, Queen Street main stage

April 16, 2011 2:00 PM Paint a collage: $4 Tour community farm and make a collage, Beelarong Community Farm

April 16, 2011 3:00 PM Clay critters and nature walk: Walk around the park and make clay sculptures, Les Atkinson Park Sunnybank

April 16, 2011 3:30 PM Vegetarian cooking: $4 Tour community farm and cook vegies, Beelarong Community Farm

Apr 18, 2011 Fabulous Lemon Drops: $5 Music and dance for kids, Sunnybank Hall Cnr Lister and Gager Sts