We’re running new play sessions from Tuesday 1st November at the Bulwell Riverside – in partnership with Nottingham City Council’s Family Community Team.

The sessions will include after-school play sessions for children aged from 5 to 13 and also daytime play sessions for families with children under 5.

We’ll be running a special baby-play session too, which will use play to help develop children’s language and communication skills from an early age.

The after-school play sessions for 5 to 13 year olds are free and the sessions for under 5′s will cost just £1 per family.

We hope to see you at our first session on the 1st!

You’re welcome to call us on 0115 975 3898 to find out more about the sessions.

Bulwell Riverside is on Main Street and Coventry Road, close to the River Leen and Bulwell Bogs Park.

Read more here…

Check out our recent article in the Nottingham Evening Post – about the work children from the toy library have been doing with artists from the Nottingham Contemporary.

It’s worth a look for the lovely photo!

View the Evening Post article in full

Why not come down to the Nottingham Contemporary art gallery in Nottingham city centre this Saturday at 11.30am for the launch of our outdoor play resources – designed by children who attend the toy library’s sessions?

Children from our Play on the Wildside outdoor play sessions have been working with artists from the Contemporary to design the resources, which you’ll be able to borrow free from the toy library from next week.

The resources have been created to help families have fun playing in the woods at Bulwell Hall Park and are suitable for children of different ages.

The magic of outdoor play - courtesy of Jo Wheeler

The children’s work has also inspired a new Play & Learn Trail at the Contemporary which you’ll be able to try out on Saturday.

The launch coincides with the Contemporary’s free Family Extravaganza weekend, on from 11am to 3pm on Satuday 22nd and Sunday 23rd.

Hope to see you there!

A range of free play resources for families – created by children who attend the toy library’s ‘Play on the Wildside’ sessions – is being launched at the Nottingham Contemporary on Saturday 22nd October at 11.30am – to help families explore and enjoy playing in the woods at Bulwell Hall Park in Nottingham.

The magic of outdoor play - courtesy of Jo Wheeler

Anyone who’s interested is very welcome to come along – and you’ll also be able to join in with the Contemporary’s free Family Extravaganza event, which is on from 11am to 3pm.

The resources will be available to borrow from the toy library from Monday 24th October and they’ll include a storybook based on real families’ experiences of playing in the Bulwell Hall Park woods, together with hands-on play activities for children of different ages and creative maps designed by children to give other young people a ‘child’s eye view’ of the woods.

For example, the maps include children’s favourite trees, great spots for hide and seek and lots of ideas for making up your own stories.

Artists from the Contemporary have helped to make our resources and their work with the toy library has also inspired a new Play and Learn Trail at the Contemporary, which will help children to explore the gallery’s exhibitions in a fun, inspiring way. The Trail will feature the toy library’s logo and the wording ‘inspired by work done with children from Bulwell Community Toy Library.’

A slide show showing a selection of photographs capturing the children and artists in action will also be available to view at the Contemporary.

Hope to see you at the Contemporary on Saturday!

We’ve got a story in the Nottingham Evening Post (13th Oct) about the work we’ve been doing with local families and the Nottingham Contemporary art gallery.

Families who attend our play sessions have been working with artists from the Contemporary to make games and activities for other families to use – to help them enjoy playing in the woods at Bulwell Hall Park.

Families have also helped to make a special Play and Learn Trail for the Contemporary – which will be launched at the gallery on Saturday 22nd October.

The Trail includes hands-on play activities and interactive maps to help families explore the gallery.

Eventually, the Trail will be handed back to us, so we’ll be able to use it in Bulwell as well.

If you’d like to come along to the Contemporary on the 22nd, please feel free to let us know.

We’ll let you know more details about the launch very soon!

We’ll also let you know how you can get your hands on our wonderful new games and activities!

Read the story in full in the Nottingham Evening Post

Nottingham charity Playworks is holding an Open Day on Saturday 1st October from 10am to 1pm for families.

They’ll be free craft activities for children and parents/carers and you’ll also get the chance to look round Playworks’ Scrapstore.

The Scrapstore houses an amazing range of arts and crafts materials which you can buy for a fraction of the cost of similar materials sold in the shops.

Plus, Playworks can give you loads of hints and tips on how to do arts and crafts with your children at home.

The event will also include free refreshments.

To find out more please call Playworks on 0115 958 9199. Playworks is on Alfred Street North, off Mansfield Road, not far from the Victoria Centre. The postcode is NG3 1AE.

Please help us to win £6,000 worth of funding to help keep our Girls’ After School Club running next year by voting for us!

The money is up for grabs via NatWest bank’s CommunityForce initiative and we’re just one of many organisations competing for the funding so we really need your help.

Vote for us online or call 0800 2100 246. Anyone with hearing or speech impairments can contact CommunityForce on Minicom number 0800 0155 545.

Voting closes on 23rd October and you’re allowed to vote 3 times.

As you may know, our girls’ club gives girls aged from 9 to 13 the chance to get involved in activities after school such as arts, crafts, games and discussions about things that they choose.

Many thanks for your support – it’s always appreciated.

Don’t worry if you can’t make it along to our Annual General Meeting today, you can find out what the toy library’s been doing over the last year in our Annual Report.

It includes a report from our Chair, Judy Berry, news of our new projects including our nature-based play project ‘Play on the Wildside’ and a review of the services we provide for families.

Don’t worry, if you haven’t got time to read the whole thing, the Annual Report is full of photographs that really sum up the importance of play in children’s lives, for families and for the community as a whole.

Bulwell Community Toy Library Annual Report

We’re holding our Annual General Meeting on Friday 23rd September 2011 at 9.30am at Top Valley Community Centre (near Tesco).

To find out more please call us on 0115 975 3898.

Just a reminder that our term-time play sessions for children begin on Monday 12th September with a couple of changes to our usual timetable.

The ‘Play on the Wildside’ nature-inspired outdoor play sessions for little ones aged from 0 to 5 will now take place on Tuesday mornings at Bulwell Hall Park (behind the toy library’s offices) instead of Wednesday afternoons.

The outdoor play sessions replace the family learning sessions, which have now ended.

Click here for a full list of play sessions for children aged 0 to 5

If you have older children, please note that our after-school session at the Crabtree Community Centre on Tuesday is now for children aged from 5 to 8 years only (as we were getting over 70 children at this session!)

Click here for a full list of term-time sessions for older children aged from 5 to 13

Please feel free to give us a call on 0115 975 3898 for more information.