National play@home Programme

Irene Miller

Development Manager- play@home

‘INFANTS AND CHILDREN WHO ARE RARELY SPOKEN TO, WHO ARE EXPOSED TO FEW

TOYS, AND WHO HAVE LITTLE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPLORE AND EXPERIMENT WITH THEIR ENVIRONMENT MAY FAIL TO FULLY DEVELOP THE NEURAL CONNECTIONS AND PATHWAYS

THAT FACILATATE LATER LEARNING.’

STARTING SMART: HOW EARLY EXPERIENCES AFFECT BRAIN DEVELOPMENT 1996

Your childhood

Activity one:

Discuss with the person next to you:

What was your favourite game as a child?

As a child how did you play?

Outdoors

With others

Unsupervised

Photo from: (2010) ‘Letting children off the leash’, BBC News Magazine [online], 5 July. Available from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8789014.stm.

Parents afraid to allow their children to cycle on roads

Half of all pupils want to cycle to school (Sustrans)

only 2% of UK schoolchildren actually do (National Travel Survey)

Article from: Taylor, M. (2008) ‘Parents afraid to allow their children to cycle on roads’, The Guardian [online], 6 May. Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/may/06/transport.children

Photo from: Johnson, B. (2010) ‘Hail the heroic parents who let their children cycle to school’, The Telegraph [online], 5 July. Available from:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/borisjohnson/7871753/Hail-the-heroic-parents-who-let-their-children-cycle-to-school.html

Couple threatened by social services for letting children cycle to school

Oliver & Gillian Schonrock allow son (5) & daughter (8) to cycle one mile from their home to school alone

Article and photo from: Wilkes, D. (2010) ‘Boris backs couple threatened by social services for letting their children cycle to school’, The Daily Mail [online], 17 August. Available from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1291970/Couple-threatened-social-services-children-ride-bikes-school.html

Today’s kids have less freedom

Percentage of children under 16 not allowed to sleep over at a friend’s house (24%) use public transport without a parent present

(60%) visit closest park without a parent present (43%)

Research undertaken by ICM research on behalf of LV=Streetwise. From: 2010 ‘Today’s kids have less freedom than previous generations’, Liverpool Victoria [online], 28 April. Available from: http://www.lv.com/media_centre/press_releases/todays-kids-have-less-freedom.

Evidence

Motherly love 'does breed confidence’

Hugs, kisses and expressive declarations of love appear to rub off and foster emotional resilience

Article and Photo from: (2010), ‘Motherly love ‘does breed confidence’’, BBC News [online], 27 July. Available from:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/health-10759511

Baby Book Toddler Book Pre-school Book Baby DVD Toddler DVD Training Folder

Resources available:

So does it actually work?

play@home in action

play@home in action

play@home in action

play@home in action

play@home in action

Impact evaluation 2011

Baseline findingsBaby Group: No statistically significant difference.

Toddler Group: Statistically significant differences were observed in Gross Motor, Fine Motor and Problem Solving domains of ASQ, and Higher mean scores on the Pleasure in Parenting scale.

Pre-school Group: No statistically significant difference.

Impact evaluation 2011

Longitudinal findings

A higher score in the Pleasure in Parenting Scale was maintained post test in favour of the intervention group.

The Pre-school children in the intervention group exhibited a significantly greater percentage of time spent in MVPA compared with the control group.

It is important to remind ourselves that an awful lot of the things that really matter to babies and young children are not costly - either to families or to the public purse - but they do take time and effort, and often education, guidance and support.

Susan Deacon.Joining the dots. A better start for Scotland’s Children 2011

Your chance to play

Activity two:

Use the resources provided at your table to build the tallest tower in the room.

Your tower must include a plastic bottle. You have limited time to achieve this.

For further information

irene.miller@nhs.net 0131 313 7574

Sally.dowie@nhs.net 0131 313 7579

nhs.HealthScotland-playathome@nhs.net