To celebrate 30 years of developing little imaginations through creative play, BABY born has launched its third partnership with iChild, helping nurseries host birthday parties for the much-loved doll.
iChild is a child development and education resources website for parents/carers, teachers and nursery carers of children aged 0 to 11. It has over 380,000 members with more than 4.2 million children in their care.
The partnership will see BABY born’s birthday turned into an opportunity for learning and fun. A BABY born Birthday Activity Pack, produced in collaboration with and distributed by iChild, will reach thousands of children over the Autumn term and provide a wealth of activity ideas and resources that support the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) educational framework.
A total of 500 nurseries will be invited to claim their very own BABY born Magic Doll, helping to bring the activities and celebrations to life, spark imagination and encourage all kinds of development – from social skills surrounding friendships and sharing, to supporting writing, counting and motor skills.
The pack includes five activities, each designed to help little ones reach developmental milestones in areas such as physical development, vocabulary, expressive arts, mathematics and building relationships. Each activity is linked to BABY born’s birthday, with themes including planning a party, getting dressed for the party, party games, party friendships and saying thank you.
This latest collaboration with iChild follows two consecutive campaigns which saw 95% of participating education providers recommend BABY born dolls to other educators, and 93% recommend them to parents to help develop children’s life skills in the home.As a result, BABY born has been awarded the iChild Recommendsstatus for the next 12 months.
The campaigns in 2020 and 2019 received glowing feedback from educators who commented that they helped to develop the children’s imagination and build upon their friendships with peers, along with physical development skills. They also remarked that the campaigns proved an asset for children with Special Educational Needs; boosting their confidence, enabling them to interact without needing to be verbal, and bringing out nurturing skills.
All the activities are designed to have both child- and adult-led elements, with tasks that can be completed independently or with the assistance of a teacher. These include a variety of roleplay tasks, class discussion points and creative drawing, all of which are in line with the EYFS framework making them suitable for use within the current curriculum.
The full range of activities from the pack is hosted on www.ichild.co.uk and available for all members to download and use at home and in the classroom. The campaign will be underpinned by a web takeover this month, targeted emails to iChild’s 60,000-strong database of members, plus social media support.
