The doll brand teamed up with educational resource provider iChild to teach over 24,000 nursery and school children about looking after the planet.

Credit: themancphotographer.co.uk

Nurturing doll brand Baby born, from Zapf Creation, created expert-led teaching resources in partnership with iChild to teach children all over the UK about recycling.

Now in its fourth year, the Baby born and iChild campaign kicked off during National Recycling Week in September when children were able to take part in a series of practical workshops and activities.

The partnership aligns with Baby born’s mission to remove single-use plastic from all of its packaging by the end of 2022. As part of this promise, Baby born is proud to have already eliminated over 65 tonnes (and still rising) of single use plastic.

Throughout the course of the week, children across 500 nurseries and schools were introduced to the world of recycling and learned all about the things we can do and actions we can take to look after the planet. From arts and crafts, to being in nature, the activity pack made education part of their playtime experience, with creative ideas for learning both indoors and outdoors.

Teachers from across the UK were also able to opt into the campaign, with all the resources available to download online – with a total of 24,673 children taking part overall. Out of the 500 nurseries, pre-schools, reception classes and SEN departments involved, all agreed that Baby born supports imaginative play.

The resource pack was used to encourage children to think about recycling beyond nursery and at home too, with one respondent highlighting: “It has been great to get the families involved. We will continue to do this throughout the term and have extended it to our out-of-school clubs.”

Another respondent said: “The whole pack was extremely useful – to be able to introduce recycling to the children in a fun, imaginative way. The children absolutely love the doll and continue to play with it daily.”

“The children enjoyed the activities and took turns to be ‘in charge’ of the doll. Even now, some weeks later, they are telling each other and staff which bin to use. They loved taking home their certificates and the things they had made,” said another.

Meanwhile, almost 80% of adults caring for children with Special Educational Needs said they believe Baby born to be a useful or very useful means to support their education. From developing fine motor skills, to boosting language and communication skills, supporting empathy and helping children to calm down, the doll was found to be beneficial in a wide range of different ways.

Following these results, Baby born Magic Doll has been awarded iChild Recommends status for the next 12 months.The full range of activities from the Baby born Activity Pack is hosted on www.ichild.co.uk and available for all members, including educators and parents, to download and use at home and in the classroom.

For more information on Baby born, visit www.baby-born.co.uk