Derry~Londonderry Heroes Project YMCA

Today we had a guest facilitator in to tell us all about Chinese culture as it is Chinese New Year at the weekend. We learnt some facts about China, and got to try out some traditional Chinese activities like handkerchief spinning and using chopsticks. Some of the group tried on some authentic Chinese clothes and we must say they looked fabulous!  To finish the session off we had some curry and rice.

Today as part of HEROES kitchen we made cupcakes! The group split in two, with one half making chocolate cupcakes and one making vanilla cupcakes. We learnt today that it is always important to check our ovens are at the right setting, as we accidentally cooked the cupcakes under the grill for about 10 minutes!

Today we had a workshop at the YMCA with Bronagh from the Woodland trust. We made our own birdhouses, hammering nails into pieces of wood to make a home for the birds. These birdhouses will be placed in some of the local forests to make a home for our wildlife. We also helped Bronagh by planting some oak tree seedlings into planting trees. Some day these seedlings we planted will be big oak trees in our forests!

Today for HEROES Kitchen we made rainbow bread! This was a really fun bake as each young person got to make their own colour dough and then they were all combined together to make a rainbow. How cool does the finished product look! A big thumbs up from Andrew shows just how good it tasted!

Today we played lots of different Christmas games. Colm and Adam became human snowmen a we wrapped them up in toilet roll. To get more use of the toilet roll we also had a snowball fight which was lots of fun!  We ended the day with a Christmas gift game with a twist. Each young person had to roll the dice and when the got a 6 they got to choose a gift from the bag. However, all was not as it seemed as each present was wrapped to trick us into thinking that it was one thing but when it was opened it was actually something else!

Today as part of HEROES kitchen we learnt how to make chicken stir fry. The group learnt how to cut and prepare chicken and different vegetables.

Today we were invited along to Disability Sports Christmas party in the Foyle Arena. We got to try out lots of different activities like wheelchair basketball, Boccia, drums and bikes. The highlight was the big group zumba dance to some pop songs and even some christmas songs! We enjoyed a lovely lunch of sandwiches and biscuits and Conal was lucky enough to win a prize in the raffle!