Start for Life: A brand new chat, play and read campaign

We are a key delivery partner for Start for Life – Better Health, a brand-new campaign launched by the Department for Education encouraging families to chat, play and read with their little ones aged 0 to 5.

Why chatting, playing and reading to your little ones matters:

Chatting

Babies love to hear our voices and it is never too early to start talking to your baby – even when they are in the womb!

Chatting to your baby from pregnancy will help aid their speech and language development. They start to tune into the voices and sounds around them and respond to more familiar voices.

Read our blog about chatting to your little one.

Playing

Many parents may not realise this, but even as adults, playing is very important for our wellbeing and can be a wonderful tool to wind down and relax. We want to get as many parents playing with their children as possible.

Playing with your little ones can help them get better at a range of things, including moving around, talking about how they feel, making friends and so much more! You can make anything into a toy, you don’t need to buy the most expensive and fashionable toy to put a smile on your child’s face – they will be happy using what is already in your home. Your child will have a great time, and we hope you do too!

Find out more about playing with your little one

Reading

The final focus in this brand-new campaign is reading. Sharing a book with your child can be such a magical experience, and your little one will love this being built into their bedtime routine. Reading has many benefits including letting their imagination run free, introducing new words and will give them the opportunity to ask lots of questions.

Every little interaction you have with your child is a great opportunity to fill that child’s world with words. Bath time can be a great time to sing together, bus journeys give you the opportunity to chat about what you can see together, and a trip to the library can spark a conversation on all the great books out there.

Browse our age-appropriate reading activities for your children and find out how you can read with your little one.

Dad and boy outside looking at each other

Start for Life in your local area

As part of Start for Life, we are excited to be working across 12 areas of the country.

These areas are Birmingham, Black Country, Cornwall, Croydon, Doncaster, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Peterborough, Scarborough, Swindon and Wirral.