PLAYTIME EXPRESS Winter Edition

June 11th, 2010

Dear Members, Welcome to our winter edition toy library news!

Important date for your diary:

Mudcakes concert, 3pm Saturday July 10th @ The Substation, Newport.

Come and join us for an afternoon of family musical fun, 3pm Saturday 10th July at The Substation, 1 Market Street, Newport. Tickets: $12 for children aged 1 year and over, adults free! Pre-purchase your tickets to avoid disappointment. Tickets available at the toy library, or call Megan on 0407 325 442.

New Toys: Three balance bikes have been added to our outdoor toy collection …borrowers, let the bike riding begin! And we have a number of new toys entering the toy collection over the next 4 weeks so keep your eyes open for them!

Party Packs: Perfect for kid’s birthday parties! The toy library has five fun party packs available for hire for only $30 for one week. Why not book one for your child’s next party? Kid’s tables and chairs are also available for hire.

Missing Pieces: If you find a missing piece from a toy library toy, please bring it in, no matter how old it is. We’d love to re-unite it with its toy set and return the toy to the shelves for other children to enjoy.

Donations of pre-loved toys: If you have pre-loved toys in good order, please consider donating them to the toy library. We will either add them to our collection, or donate them to children in need. Many thanks to those who have already donated pre-loved toys to the toy library.

Fund-raising update: Thanks to our member’s enthusiastic support, our 2009 Christmas Family Fun Day raised $1,500, and our 2010 Bunnings Sausage Sizzle raised $1,000. A big thank you to everyone who helped out. These valuable funds will be used to purchase toys and assist with other operating costs of the library.

Mural: Over coming months, a fabulous wall mural is being painted in our toy library. This exciting project is being led by committee member, Megan Slattery, who kindly donates her time and graphic design talents to the toy library. Many thanks to Megan and to “The Paint Spot” in Footscray and “Paint Right” in Williamstown for donating paint for the mural.

Whiteboards and Pinboards: A huge thank you to “Mr. Whiteboards” for generously donating 3 new whiteboards and 3 new pin boards to the toy library. One whiteboard is now dedicated to your new toy suggestions, so if you would like to see a particular toy added to the toy collection, make sure you write it on the whiteboard next time you visit. We are also seeking a sign writer to write key messages on the main two information whiteboards, so if you have beautiful writing skills please let one of the Coordinators know.

Autumn Leaf Activity Idea: Go for a walk with your child and collect a selection of colourful autumn leaves. Draw the outline of a tree trunk on a blank piece of paper (white crayon on black paper is especially effective). Then let your child paste the leaves onto the tree trunk. Use this as an opportunity to talk with your child about the four seasons. You could also draw and decorate other trees representing the seasons: Summer= green leaves, autumn= autumn leaves, winter= no leaves, spring= blossom (scrunched up tissue paper).

That’s all for now! Keep warm and well over winter and send in your recipes and activity ideas to: hobsonsbaytoylibrary@gmail.com

Toy Library Re-opens Saturday 13 February

January 29th, 2010

Hi Members,

Happy New Year!

Please note the following change of dates for Stocktake and Toy Library re-opening

The Council is currently undertaking building works within the Toy Library to make room for more toys. This is exciting news as there will be a number of toys joining the toy collection that we don’t currently own. This means more choice and more to go round!

Due to these building works the Annual Stocktake that was due to take place this Sunday 31st January has been postponed until late February/early March (we will advise the exact date closer to the time). The Toy Library will now re-open for the year on Saturday 13th February (instead of Saturday 6th February).

We look forward to seeing you on the 13th, and apologise for any inconvenience this one week delay may cause. The great news is that the toy library collection will be bigger and better this year than ever before.

See you soon,
Your toy library team.

PLAYTIME EXPRESS November 2009

November 18th, 2009

All aboard for the count down to Christmas at the Toy Library!

Important dates for your diary 2009
• Saturday 21st November, 9am –2pm: Christmas fun day @ the Hobsons Bay Toy Library, Cnr Laurie and Woods Street, Newport.
• December: toy returns only.
• Saturday 12th December: Last day toy library is open for year.
• Borrowing over summer break: pay $10 and borrow 3 large toys (with <5 pieces) over summer, returning at stock take on Sun 31st Jan 09

Important dates for your diary 2010
• Sunday 31st January: Toy library stock take
• Saturday 6th February 2010: Toy library re-opens.
• Saturday 6th February 2010: Fund-raising sausage sizzle @ Bunnings, Millers Road, Altona North (Dads and Mums needed for roster – if you would like to help please email us at hobsonsbaytoylibrary@gmail.com)

Member survey
Thanks to all members who returned their surveys and congratulations to the prize winners!  Your feedback will help us to improve the toy library service we offer you.   94% of survey respondents requested a quarterly newsletter so here is the first one.  Full survey results are available to read at the toy library on the Roster board.

Christmas fun day
We hope to see you at our fabulous Christmas Fun Day on Saturday 21st November. Bring the family along and share in a range of fun-filled activities. Please invite friends and spread the word!
Activities include:
• jumping castle
• animal farm
• visit from Santa on fire truck
• craft activities
• face painting
• and many more fun activities

Entry cost:
• Adults and babies under 12 months FREE
• Children’s activity ticket (allowing unlimited access to all activities):
o $15

***Volunteers needed: We still need last-minute parent volunteers to help make the Christmas Fun Day a success. If you can help please email hobsonsbaytoylibrary@gmail.com

Costa’s hardware offer
All Hobsons Bay Toy Library members are entitled to a 5% discount at Costa’s Mitre 10 Home & Trade Hardware (Hoppers Crossing, Brooklyn & Werribee). To sign up for a discount card, fill out a form at the toy library. Each time you shop there, hand your card to the cashier and you will receive a 5% discount off retail prices plus 5% of sales will go back to the Toy Library!

New toys
A big thank you to Williamstown Motorcycle Club for generously sponsoring the purchase of a number of action-packed new ride-on toys! Brrrmmmm!  Look out for them in the toy library.

Activity corner: Play dough recipe
Here’s an idea for keeping little hands busy on rainy, Spring days. Once you’ve made the play dough, keep it in an airtight, plastic container and it will last for several months!
Ingredients:
• 2 cups plain flour
• 4 tbs Cream of Tartar
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 cup salt
• Food colouring
• 2 cups water • Mix the ingredients in a saucepan.
Adult: Stir over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, or until the mixture congeals. Allow to cool.
Kids: Now it’s ready to play with!
Hint: For added interest, use with kid-safe cookie cutters & rolling pin.

That’s all for now! Send in your recipes & activity ideas to: hobsonsbaytoylibrary@gmail.com