Do you come into contact with families who have children under 5?

Are there concerns about their diet and lack of exercise?

Could they do with some new ideas on activity play and basic healthy eating?

Do you feel they could be at risk of obesity or are they already overweight?

Toyhouse has been commission by Tower Hamlets Primary Care Trust to provide activities which support and enable families with young children to build physical activity and healthy eating into their lives and for children aged 0-4 years to enjoy regular play. To achieve this Toyhouse will introduce a range of services to support families to become more active and understand the need for a healthier diet and lifestyle with consideration to the limited space and resources many families have within the home.  The contract will run until March 2012 (subject to successful reviews)

Active Play & Healthy Eating Courses

Toyhouse will offer a course of workshops at The Toyhouse Centre (and possibly one other location within the borough, tba) for a small group of parents and their children 0-4yr together.  Families will attend a 3 hour session, once a week for 6 weeks. using a whole family approach to offer the opportunity for parents to take part in a range of practical, hands on play activities to promote physical play with their children, while increasing their understanding of the importance of a healthy diet.  The course will include basic food preparation, shared lunches and outings to local outside play space.  With the support of the workers sessions will also provide a forum for families to share ideas, concerns and information surrounding physical activities and diet. 

Workers will work closely and liaise with health professionals, both to ensure that consistent information is given to families and where necessary to offer a referral route to other services. Sessions will be underpinned by the use of Active Play activity bags which will contain a range of physical play resources which each family will keep at the end of the course. Toyhouse will deliver 6 courses across the year with one running each half term.

Julie Morgan, Deputy Manager

Email:   julie.morgan@toyhouselibraries.org.uk

Phone: 020 7987 7399

Fax:      020 7537 1355

This project is Line Managed by Julie Morgan

The project workers are:  Petra Jallow, yumiko Enokido-Lineham & Dilara Begum