Home is Where the Start - Online family festival of learning

Home is where the start is: an online festival of fun and learning for the whole family!

Our free online family festival celebrates your role of parents and carers as your child’s first and most enduring educator.

During this fun family event, which will take place via Zoom and is aimed at parents and carers of under-fives, we will share information and advice about how you can support children’s learning and development at home through lots of exciting sessions for you and your children.

Activities will include fun communication and language sessions, easy money-saving cookery ideas that you and your children can join in with, taster baby massage sessions and much, much more.

The three-day online festival will run from Thursday 16 March to Saturday 18 March 2023, and you can book to attend as many or as few free sessions as you like.

All attendees will also be automatically entered into a prize draw to win one of five free Tonieboxes worth £79.99!

The event is supported by the DFE Voluntary and Community Sector Fund.

We will look forward to seeing you there!

Thursday 16 March

6pm - 7pm: Nigel Clarke, children's TV presenter and performer opens the event

The online family festival will kick off with a talk from children's television presenter and performer - and father of three - Nigel Clarke.

Nigel will focus on the importance and impact of the home learning environment in the children's earliest years, sharing tips and information on how to support early development. He will also reflect on the role of dads and male caregivers, and the positive impact that their involvement has on children’s learning.

7pm - 7.30pm: An introduction to Tiny Happy People

BBC Tiny Happy People is a free resource to help families support their little ones’ development skills in the home learning environment.

BBC Tiny Happy People has a simple message at its heart: talk to your baby from pregnancy - we will show you how and why it’s so important.

On the website parents and carers will find:

• Activity ideas that support children’s language development; there are hundreds of fun, simple activities, all organised by age.

• Child development content that explains why supporting language learning is important. It is all about children’s amazing brains and how they understand the world around them.

• Tips and advice from speech and language experts, health care professionals and early years practitioners covering a wide range of parenting topics.

This 30-minute introductory session will explain everything you need to know about BBC Tiny Happy People to feel confident about where to find the information you need to support your little one. The session will show you easy-to-share content on the website and highlight those key language techniques and resources that you will want to use and share with your friends and family.

Tiny Happy People website is accessible and relevant for all families.

Friday 17 March

10am - 10.45am: Time for a snack!

Food is more than fuel - it's an opportunity for learning! Preparing and sharing a tasty nutritious snack together with your little one is a great way to help them develop new skills and knowledge.

With your support as they prepare and try new foods, they are learning how to keep themselves healthy, discovering new words, developing their physical skills, exploring new sensations and building those independence skills - all this at the same time as having fun!

So why not bringing your little ones along and join us for this session as we make some fruity dippers together? A recipe card will be provided in advance of the session.

We encourage you to bring your little ones along to this session!

1pm - 1.45pm: Baby massage taster session

Did you know baby massage can soothe your baby, help them to sleep, aid digestion and ease teething pain? It’s also a fantastic way to bond with your little one!

Why not come along and give baby massage a try in this free online taster session? During the session, we will explore some of the basic massage strokes, demonstrated by a qualified baby massage instructor, as well as sharing some of the key message about the benefits of massage.

We encourage you to bring your babies along to this session!

2pm - 2.45pm: 50 things to do before you're five: 'Come and play' - creative junk (#25)

Did you know that a box large enough for your child to climb into might need nothing more than imagination to be anything in the world!

Come and join 50 Things project officer Rachael Dennis for some free 50 Things fun! Bring along an empty toilet roll or cardboard tube and explore some of our 50 playful prompts.

We encourage you to bring your little ones along to this session!

4pm - 4.45pm: Activity fun with BBC Tiny Happy People

Join BBC Tiny Happy People and speech and language expert Monal Gajjar for an interactive session of fun activities to support your little one’s speech and language development. Using everyday household items we’ll show you how you can create fun, easy to play games as part of your daily routine, highlighting the speech and language benefits.

We will have further details regarding the items you’ll need to join in the activities nearer the time of the event.

The session will be followed by a Q&A with Monal.

If you would like to ask a speech and language based question, please send them in advance using this form and we will try and answer as many as we can in the session.

We encourage you to bring your little ones along to this session!

6pm - 6.45pm: 50 things to do before you're five: '50 things to do, but why?'

50 Things to Do Before You’re Five is a free app for parents full of low or no cost fun activities to do with your children. It is also available online, supported in many areas with a social media campaign and printed resources.

Come and explore the 50 things app and find out why it is so amazing! Plus we will explain how it can support your child’s early years development.

To download the app on a separate device before attending (although this is not essential), visit:

• Apple store: https://apple.co/2BLNwJh
• Google Play store: https://bit.ly/3gCVsLw

Saturday 18 March

9am - 10am: Learning through play - exploring schemas

Have you noticed your child likes to throw food from their high chair at mealtimes? Or separate the different foods on their plate? Or maybe they like to move things from one place to another?

It could be that your child is exploring a schema. Schemas are repeated patterns of play which help children to learn and make sense of the world.

This session will explore what schemas are and the things you may observe in your children, as well as considering ways that you can support your child with simple activities that you can do in the home.

10am - 11am: Let's talk about feelings

This session will explore what emotional literacy is and how it impacts our children's overall wellbeing and development.

We will discuss how to support children to recognise and talk about different emotions in themselves and others.

We will go on to outline the link between language development and wellbeing, and the possible impact on children that may struggle with their words in demonstrating their emotions.

We encourage you to bring your little ones along to this session!

11am - 11.30am: 15 minutes of 'you-time' a day - an adult mindfulness and yoga session

Can you make a commitment to spend at least 15 minutes a day on yourself without checking your phone or filling your time with an activity? What could you be doing that is simple for you?

It's often the simple things like mindfulness breathing exercises, gentle seated yoga or reading your favourite magazine that can make a big difference.

Join us for an induction session of a combination of yoga, breathing, mindfulness, visualisation, and relaxation to support you throughout your life journey.