Families will be able to pick up more than just their shopping when they visit Queensgate Shopping Centre this week, as a special pop-up literacy shop comes to the city.
A temporarily empty shop unit in Queensgate Shopping Centre has been transformed into an exciting hub of literacy activity as part of the Peterborough Celebrates Reading campaign. For two weeks in August the shop will be home to a wide array of fun activities, including storytelling sessions, arts and crafts, free books to take home and even a visit from the Gruffalo. The activities will help to boost families’ reading, writing, speaking and listening skills, and also signpost to literacy support available in the area. The pop-up shop can be found underneath the escalator by John Lewis, next to the sensory room.
Key activities include:
- A visit from the Gruffalo on Monday 12 August
- Daily arts and crafts sessions with different themes
- Sessions with local storytellers
- Activities for little ones, delivered by the expert early years team from Small Talk on Friday 9, Wednesday 14 and Friday 16 August.
The Small Talk project from the National Literacy Trust aims to help parents turn the things they are already doing with their children every day into new opportunities to fill their child’s world with words. There’s no need to book – families can just turn up and join in!
Sally Atkinson, Manager of the National Literacy Trust Hub in Peterborough said; “After the wonderful success of our pop-up literacy shop in recent years, we’re delighted to be working with City College Peterborough to pop up in a new location – making it available to even more families.
“With such a fun and diverse programme of activities, families can immerse themselves in imaginative arts and crafts, celebrate their favourite books and spend time together. ”
Sarah McDermott, Small Talk Project Manager at the National Literacy Trust, said: “We are excited to be supporting the Peterborough pop-up shop with our Small Talk activities and hope to see lots of families having a go at some of our chat, play and read activities! It’s completely free and families will get to take home some fantastic goodies – including a brand new book and activity sheets – to help them carry on the fun and learning at home.”
Peterborough Celebrates Reading is a campaign that will see a year of activity devoted to events celebrating literature across the city, running from June 2019. This celebration year is hosted by the National Literacy Trust (known locally as Peterborough Reads), Vivacity and Peterborough City Council.