News
'Bags for families' strengthen relationships
13 Sep 2010
A product of Elizabeth Jarman’s Communication Friendly Spaces, “Bags for families”, have been found to “strengthen the relationship between parents and carers and their early years settings.” Elizabeth Jarman calls the bags “tools to open creative dialogue between home and setting.”
The bags were distributed as part of a programme that launched last year. Participating settings each received a set of 10 bags which children could borrow to take home to use in their creative play. Parents were encouraged to take photos and share with the nursery how the children made use of the bag’s contents, which ranged from tents to torches to blankets.
RM Insight evaluated the use of the bags at 125 early years settings from six local authorities in England. 64% of practitioners said that use of the bags had led to more time spent talking to families and 77% said that communication had improved. Jarman said that dads, in particular, had responded well to the project and that this was a “powerful illustration about the way to engage dads.”
For further information see http://www.elizabethjarmanltd.co.uk/.
