PLAYNET held it's organizational meeting last night, September 21,
2004 at Trinity Lutheran Chruch in Linton, IN. THANK YOU to all who
attended and we look forward to meeting more of you next month! We
hope last night was the seed from which our group will grow to reach
many more families. PLAYNET will thrive from the input, ideas, and
talents of all the members. We are in this together!

Last night's meeting consisted of a fun activity to help us get
talking, put on by Diane, a presentation describing the need for and
goals of PLAYNET, a needs assessment to aide in planning the topics of
greatest interest and determine the needs and talents of our members.
We also enjoyed a "Therapy Toy Box" where many ideas were shared for
inexpensive educational toys and activites you can make and use with
your child.

One of the favorites was a puzzle activity using two vinyl placemats
found at good old Wal-Mart for $1 each. Using the first placemat as
the base, cut out the major shapes from the second placemat. You may
then put velcro on the base placemat and the back of the cut outs so
they can be stuck together in the appropriate places. Very neat idea
for home or travel.

Another versatile idea uses a package of sponges from Pamida and a
platic storage box from Dollar General (total cost $3). The activty
mimics the "make a tower of blocks" that your child has likely been
asked to perform during evaluations. You can have your child stack
the sponges to build a tower, match or sort by color, or reproduce
tower or side to side patterns. For example, you build a tower with
red on the bottom, yellow in the middle and orange on top and ask you
child to make one that looks like yours using yours as a model.

Area representatives from various school districts are planning to
spread the word in their schools through brochures and the school
newsletters. Linton Stockton Elementary, Preschool-6th received a
total of 755 trifolds yesterday. PLAYNET received the approval from
Superintendant Bush on Monday to send the information to all grade
levels, after a few bumps in the road had originally delayed the
information going home through the school.

PLAYNET will have a table at the local KID's FAIR on Saturday, October
2, 10am-2pm. The theme is "Come Safari with Us!" PLAYNET is the
"Toucan Tree-house" I can - You can - Toucan! Come see us and the
rest of the presenters for lots of fun and information, prizes, and
activites for the kids.

Looks like a beautiful day -- get out and enjoy!

Best wishes to you all,

Ronda