Warwickshire County Council (WCC) is encouraging families across the county to take part in enjoyable learning activities with their children.
A licence to use a free app, titled 50 Things To Do, has been purchased by the council and features activities to support the different stages of development for children from birth until they are five years old. It includes early learning, positive parental attachment, communication and language development, health and wellbeing, active lifestyles and much more.
The activities within the app are fun to do and low cost or free. They are all built around resources and amenities within local communities and will encourage families to visit places and take part in fun things to do on their doorstep such as making the best use of their local libraries, museums, parks and wild spaces.
The activities aim to support early education and develop children's social skills and can include anything from looking at books, singing songs and rhymes, painting and drawing, playing with letters and numbers, through to being with others or going out and about on outings and visits. Presented and packaged through a mobile app makes the information easy to access and conveniently available whenever the moment arises for a new activity. There is also a wealth of helpful information within the app to support families and professionals working with children.
50 Things To Do will also be used by early years settings and schools across the county and promoted to families by a range of professionals working in SEND services, Health, Public Health, Libraries, Community Groups, Adult Education and Family Hubs.
Amanda King, Strategic Lead for Early Years at Warwickshire County Council and responsible for bringing the app to Warwickshire said:
“We are really delighted to be a part of 50 Things To Do for Warwickshire and we want as many professionals, parents and carers as possible to make the most of it. Birth to three is a critical time for children’s learning and parents have the biggest influence - they are a child’s first and most enduring educators.
“The app is fantastic; it has been carefully developed by education experts and Early Years practitioners and it also considers children with special educational needs & disabilities and reflects our culturally diverse community. It’s all about helping families to provide a strong home learning environment, developing early language and having fun with your children - we hope families who download it will be as excited about it as we are.”
John Coleman, Assistant Director for Children and Families at WCC added:
“The beauty of 50 Things is that it can be accessed by anyone, anywhere and it has a ‘no cost or low cost’ approach. We hope that the app will help families across Warwickshire to help their children learn at home and when they’re out and about. We want it to be embraced by mums, dads, carers, grandparents, friends, aunties and uncles and everyone with an interest in helping young children meet their potential and have the best start in life.”
The app was introduced as part of the Nuneaton Education Strategy which aims to improve education, prospects and aspirations for the young people of Nuneaton - however it can be used by anyone, anywhere in Warwickshire.
It follows evidence to suggest there is an ‘achievement gap’ between disadvantaged children and their non-disadvantaged peers, so WCC is exploring innovative approaches to support the youngest children across the county as evidence shows that supporting families with access to high quality, local, low-cost opportunities to interact and learn with their children is successful. Gutman and Feinstein, 2007; Sylva et al., 2004; Desforges and Abouchaar, 2003 reports that parental involvement in early learning has a greater impact on children’s wellbeing and achievement than any other factor, such as family income, parental education or school environment.
To find out more about 50 things to do before you’re five and to download the app and get started go to warwickshire.50thingstodo.org.