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Links to Web Resources

The British Association for Early Childhood Education
This is a leading organisation for early years practitioners and parents and has free leaflets on such topics as ‘Making their Mark – Children’s early Writing’ and ‘Toddlers and Very Early Learning’.

Bookstart
This is a national project run by Booktrust that works through locally-based organisations to give a free pack of books to babies and includes guidance notes for parents. The 0-2 pack includes two books, a rhyme placemat, a Surestart leaflet, a Bookstart Baby Books Guide, and Babies Love Books and What Babies Love leaflets. Most are given by Health Visitors at the eight-month health check.

There are separate packs for children of 18-30 months (Bookstart +) and 3-4 year olds (Bookstart treasure chest) that include crayons and a notepad. Booktouch is a resource for visually impaired children.

Campaign for Learning
The Family Learning website contains some useful resources, particularly in the section on the the Family Learning Festival: the downloadable leaflet 'Get together discover more' is a guide to learning together for families, and there are also resources for practitioners and an online guide to planning family learning events. The annual Family Learning Festival takes place in October.

Department for Education - DfE

Fathers Plus
Fathers Plus offer a range of resources to help practitioners recognise the importance of a father’s role in the life of his children, including the booklet ‘A Question of Balance: Including Fathers in Services’, a set of ‘My Dad Matters’ postcards; and 'Dad's guides' to children's centres and breastfeeding.

Family Learning Programmes
These Learning and Skills Council (LSC) funded programmes are specifically designed to enable adults and children to learn together; or to enable parents to better understand how to support their children’s learning.

ICAN
An organisation that promotes the importance of communication in babies and young children’s lives; ICAN gives tips and advice on how to develop positive communication. Examples of resources are ‘Chatter Matters’ - a DVD illustrating key points in daily communication with examples of parents and their children - and ‘Learning to Talk - Talking to Learn’ - a DVD for practitioners.

Learning Through Landscapes
An organisation that promotes the development of outdoor space and the importance of outdoor play in children’s lives. Early years resources include the book ‘Creating a Space to Grow’ - a guide to developing the outdoor environment, and the DVD ‘Outdoors for Everyone’ which illustrates the benefits of outdoor activities. Free advice and activity sheets include 'Families Outdoors' and 'Outdoors with your child' (some resources are only available to members).

Literacy Trust: talk to Your Baby
Talk to Your Baby provide many free resources for parents and practitioners, including resource sheets of quick tips to encourage practitioners and parents to help children develop good talking and listening skills: these are available in 13 languages. Examples include: ‘Sharing songs’, ‘Dummies and Talking’ and ‘Playing with your Baby’.

National Family Learning Network
The National Family Learning Network is an alliance of Campaign for Learning, ContinYou and NIACE. The network supports over 9,500 practitioners who work with an estimated 5 million families each year. The website includes a forum and searchable directories of funders and online resources.