With the help of parents, some of whomwere teachers, the ideas were drawntogether and a list of required books andequipment was posted out to parents. We allfelt strongly that getting parents involved atevery stage was our best hope of engagingthem in the use of the project in the longterm. Donations rolled in and the projectbags started to come together. I’ll neverforget our excitement as we looked at ourfirst library bag – it looked really exciting andinviting, and we knew then that the childrenwould want to use them.

Parents were sent an explanatory letteroutlining the aims of the project andthanking them for their support in making ithappen, and two months after the initialmeeting, at the start of the autumn term,2011, our first ever Play To Learn Library waslaunched. It was full of colourful bags laid outfor parents and children to browse as theycame into the setting. Parents were asked tosign an agreement promising to look afterthe bags and return them in the state theywere taken in, and to supervise their use andensure they were kept away from smallchildren for safety purposes. We had beenaware of safety issues from the verybeginning and used a combination of signedparental agreement and clear safety labelson the bags to cover the assessed risks.

More to come The feedback we’ve received over the pasttwo years has been amazing, with talk ofspaceships, gruffalo cakes, insect hunts andmud pies. The children are really enjoying thechance to try something new at home withtheir parents, and the parents are really loving

30 Teach Nursery

Treehouse Preschool’s Play to LearnLibrary is helping staff to engage withparents, and parents to support theirchildren’s learning, says Kirstine Beeley...

BAGS

We’re all familiar with theimportance of working inpartnership with parents tohelp children’s development– the revised EYFS states

that ‘Parents are children’s first and mostenduring educators’, after all. The question ishow to go about it; settings are continuouslysearching for ways to engage parents, to helpbridge the gap between home and setting.

One setting I’ve worked closely withrecently has developed a unique projectwhich is not only run by parents butspecifically designed for parents and childrento share at home.

Treehouse Preschool in Winslow,Buckinghamshire has always had goodrelationships with its parents. However, staffhad identified an increasing need to informparents about the way learning took place atthe setting, as they found many were askingfor more formal ‘reading and writing’approaches and displaying a lack ofawareness of the daily approach within thesetting. This situation was not helped by thefact that the preschool shares its building with

a separate before- and after-school club,meaning that for many parents the settingwas packed away or just being set up whenthey came to drop off or collect their children.

One member of staff, Sarah Laws, hadattended ECaT (Every Child a Talker) trainingand was keen to start sharing herexperiences with the parents. She developeda series of simple activity sheets with talkingactivities specifically for parents to share withtheir children at home. She could not haveforeseen how popular they would be, norhow they would lead to the development ofa project which is now recommended acrossthe county as a way of engaging parents intheir child’s learning.

Developing the projectThe positive response Sarah received aboutthe activities, which included a numberpicture hunt, listening games and nurseryrhyme activities, was overwhelming. Someparents suggested that they would like moreideas of things they could do at home withtheir children, and so the idea of the Play toLearn Library was born.

Determined that the project should bedriven by the parents, Sarah approached a fewto see if they would be interested in setting upa lending library of books and activities, whichwould provide other mums and dads withideas about learning through play whilehighlighting the principles of the ECaT project.The response was positive, and a meeting tookplace to decide how to get started.

Initially, we looked at developing about 30bags (enough to cover all of the children ineven the busiest of sessions) with a view toeventually developing 60 bags so that everychild on roll by the end of the summer couldtake part in the project.

It was agreed that the system needed tobe simple and fun if it was to engage parentsand children alike, and we settled on a formatof a clear bag containing a book, a related toyand an activity, as well as a card with bothtalking and learning through play ideas.

to borrow

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the chance to experience a little of what thesetting does at home with their children. It’sreally nice to see the children enjoying thestories and the activities, and many comeback to the same bag time and time again –we’re even looking at doubling up on someof the more popular bags! Each term bringsnew opportunities to introduce the project tonew families and to continue to promote thebenefits of learning through play.

The number of bags continues to grow;the library is now up to about 60 bags, butplans for development of the projectcontinue, and ideas now being discussedinclude the possibility of replicating some of

the more popular bags for parents topurchase and keep at home, thedevelopment of some ‘traditional story’ bagsto boost children’s knowledge of these fast-fading tales, and the possibility of lending outlibrary bags to local childminders for usewith their children as well. We recently held aParent Play week with each day basedaround a familiar book and promoting lots ofthe fun ideas from within our bags. It wasgreat to see parents mixing up magicporridge in pots and playing with DirtyBertie’s slime bogies!

Within the setting, the idea of a lendinglibrary has also been developed further, andthe team are currently gearing up to launcha new scheme of home/setting book loans,similar to a traditional library, to enhance theexisting project. We’re proud to say thatsettings across the county are now enquiringabout the project, and many are setting uptheir own versions.

One thing we’re certain about is that thisproject would never have happened if itweren’t for the ongoing support of ourparents, who donated items, built the bagsand manned the lending library. This projectis a real reflection of how we can all shareand support each other in children’s learningand work truly in partnership.

positiverelationships

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findout moreKirstine Beeley works as a consultanthelping settings to develop best practice.For more information about the project, orto find out how she can help your setting,email kirstine@playingtolearn.co.uk

Initial concerns that things mightgo missing from the bags over timehave proved largely unfounded,with parents and children takingreal pride in the bags and theircontents. You can’t avoid the oddpiece of a game being eaten by thedog, or a toy duck going missingunder a bed or the sofa, but theseinstances are rare – and becausethe majority of the materials used are donated it’s not such anissue financially.

We try to include activities whichare home made and hencereplacement pieces can be easilymade, or where the outcome of theactivity is not affected if a piece islost. We have found that we doneed a small pot of funds tomaintain well-used bags andreplace the odd item, but thebenefits to shared learning faroutweigh any costs, and our outlay is nowhere near what itwould be if we had bought thecontents of all of the bags (in fact, if that were the case, this projectjust would not have happened asthe preschool is a small, not-for-profit charitable organisation).

SUSTAINABILITY

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