50 Things to Do Before You're Five: Shortlisted for National Nursery World award, for the positive impact it is having in Early Years Settings.

50 Things to Do Before You’re Five is an exciting initiative full of ideas and activities for families with young children. It is based on such a simple idea, that fun, low or no-cost experiences for the whole family, indoors and outdoors, are great ways to support children’s development. It is a perfect resource for families and agencies working with families, presented as a free bucket list of ‘fun stuff', involving an app, website, and social media campaign.

It is the ideal tool to be used by nurseries, childminders, schools, health teams, cultural settings and community organisations, or by anyone who wants to improve outcomes for young children by engaging with their families.

Recent research with Early Years Settings and Childminders who are using 50 Things to Do Before You’re Five has provided some really positive feedback, with 73% of settings stating it has improved relationships with parents, telling us, for example, that “It has really encouraged joined up thinking with parents, sharing the activities between us.” “It has helped with conversations about our day & children talk about the day when they go home” And 64% reported that using 50 Things to Do Before You’re Five has improved practice, giving examples such as “practitioner interactions have been better developed” and “we are more engaged with home learning.

Andrea Layzell , The National Project Lead, who has worked on the initiative since conception, tells us “The project was initially developed for families attending St Edmund’s Nursery School. During the development process the team reflected that it could be available for all families across Bradford and sourced seed funding to develop the project as an App and Website. We then spoke to neighbouring local authorities, who loved it, so we developed a commissioning model. 50 Things to Do Before You’re Five is now available in 23 areas, from Jersey to Fife, with a total of 92,000 unique downloads of the app, across the British Isles to date. However, it does not look the same everywhere, 49 of the 50 activities are similar (each area can choose one unique activity), we passionately believe that what makes it special is that commissioning partners must localise the offer.”

Localising 50 Things to Do enables the initiative to celebrate the diversity of individual communities across the country and acknowledges the need for an offer that represents and connects with local people. By encouraging children and families to explore their own local landscapes, communities and cultural venues alongside the local history that defines the places they live increases the connection for families with the communities around them. 70% of parents said that, since using the 50 Things to Do Before You’re 5 app, their child has had more opportunities to socialise within their local community

We are always looking for ways to enhance our offer and September will see the launch of Friends of 50 Things, initially across Bradford, then West Yorkshire. This is an accreditation enabling organisations to show they have embedded the initiative into their practice, acknowledging the work being done with their families to improve outcomes for children. There will be resource packs available, and once they have demonstrated how it is embedded they will receive a certificate, digital marketing packs and the opportunity to purchase a plaque.

Most importantly, the ‘Friends of 50 Things’ family will share, inspire and create together, constantly improving and developing practice and ideas to connect and empower children and families across the nation!