Today, Peterborough Reads launched our brand new Hungry Little Minds digital campaign on the Peterborough Reads Facebook Page to help parents in the local area turn the everyday activities they are already doing with their child into new opportunities to build their child’s language skills.
The digital campaign launches following our research which found that 1 in 2 (50.1%) parents would like more digital resources to help their child’s literacy at home [1].
Hungry Little Minds, which is funded by the Department for Education and supported by the National Literacy Trust, is currently being rolled out locally across 12 areas of the country, including Peterborough. It will provide families of children under five with lots of simple and fun activities to build their child’s speech and language skills at home, which families can easily slot into their daily routines and that children love!
We launched with a Facebook Live event for local families where Lisa read We’re Going on a Lion Hunt by David Axtell and published by Macmillan Children’s Books. We also taught little ones how to make their own binoculars for their own lion hunt out of bits and bobs you can find around the house.
Over the next six months, the campaign will continue to share activities, events, news and videos around the themes of chat, play and read on the Peterborough Reads Facebook Page.
Hungry Little Minds and Peterborough Reads will also partner with early years’ settings, food banks, women’s refuges and more local organisations to provide physical home learning packs, containing books, chat, play and read resources and craft materials to families with children under five who have been most seriously affected by COVID-19.
Lisa Clissett, Events and Volunteering Officer at the National Literacy Trust, said:
“I am thrilled to be launching the campaign through our Facebook Live on Thursday. This will be a very fun, engaging and interactive session for families, where they can come along, enjoy a reading of ‘We’re Going on a Lion Hunt’ and get involved in some great activities. Children soak up every little bit of stimulation we give them, and all of these little activities make a big difference to their language and speaking development.”
Sally Atkinson, Peterborough Reads Manager said:
“The development of young children’s speaking and listening skills is crucial to support lifelong learning. Supporting parents and carers at home to talk, play and read alongside their child through accessible play-based activities will provide firm foundations for children to ensure they achieve their full potential when they start school.”