Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life through 50 Things to Do Before You're Five

50 Things to Do Before You’re Five is a free at point of access, family-friendly initiative packed with low-cost, play-based activities designed to spark joy and support learning in children’s crucial early years.

Both the Best Start in Life strategy and our 50 Things to Do Before You’re Five initiative champion four essential ideas:

• The foundations of success are laid in early childhood
• Parents are a child’s first and most important teachers
• Play is the foundation of early learning and development
• All children, regardless of income or postcode, deserve equal opportunities to thrive

We love the fact that Bridget Philipson has opened the strategy by stating, “The opportunities to learn, grow and thrive that this government wants for every one of our children must be there right from the beginning. This means helping families to support their children to succeed through the love, curiosity and experiences they share every day, and it means high-quality learning and play in the crucial, formative early years.” We couldn’t agree more, and it was those themes that underpinned our development of 50 Things to Do Before You’re Five.

It is great to see that the Government’s strategy is focusing on big-picture investment for those working with our youngest children: Family Hubs, health visitor reforms, integrated support, targeted early years programmes and the early years workforce. Our 50 Things to Do initiative can bring this policy to life by offering families simple, joyful ways to promote speech, curiosity, confidence, and connection both at home and in the community.

We welcome the reference to supporting the Home Learning Environment. 50 Things to Do Before You’re Five is designed to support the most impactful pedagogies and parenting approaches in the home learning environment, which in turn help to secure relationships and interactions between parents and children.

The strategy calls for a more joined-up, trained early years workforce. Our wider organisation, Birth to 19, has been championing this concept for some time, and are really excited to see this approach promoted. Across the country our 50 Things to Do Before You’re Five teams have already started on this journey:

• Offering CPD and training for early years staff, health visitors, and community practitioners
• Providing a shared language and activity bank that all professionals can use
• Fostering partnerships across education, health, and voluntary sectors

https://www.50thingstodo.org/professionalshttps://www.50thingstodo.org/professionals

https://www.50thingstodo.org/professionalshttps://www.50thingstodo.org/professionals

Are you interested in hearing more about how 50 Things to Do can help you give the children you work with the best start in life?

In September we will be hosting a series of webinars, and will be available for in person or virtual meetings to discuss our evidence, impact and ability to meet your local needs. Keep an eye on our socials and visit: https://www.50thingstodo.org