Research reveals worries about the effect of the pandemic on children’s development, prompting charitable initiative from Fisher-Price and Family Action.
Fisher-Price and Family Action have joined forces to launch a year-long initiative. This will comprise a range of activities and resources focused on supporting young children and their parents and carers with early childhood development (ECD) and reaching key milestones that may have been impacted during the pandemic. It will focus on how caregivers can incorporate simple techniques through play in the home environment to help support children’s learning. Family Action will also roll this learning out as a special programme at some of its centres.
Kelly Philp, Mattel’s UK marketing director and spokesperson for Fisher-Price Play Lab, said: “This initiative with Family Action will empower parents and caregivers to help children thrive and get the best start to life. This is particularly important to us at Fisher-Price knowing what an important role play takes in the early years.”
The new partnership is being launched after research commissioned by Fisher-Price and Family Action found three quarters of parents worry about the impact Covid has had on their child’s early years development, leaving a third fearing their children have been held back.
David Holmes CBE, chief executive of Family Action, said: “Family Action’s experience supporting families, parents and carers for the past 153 years tells us the best way to support them is to empower them with knowledge and resources. Our partnership with Fisher-Price will invest in that work, giving families the resources and opportunities to support their children’s development and build brighter futures.”
Funding provided by Fisher-Price to Family Action will allow some of the country’s most vulnerable families to be given further early years support through new programmes delivered by Family Action across the UK, to directly address some of the issues and concerns raised.
Kelly Philp added: “As a cornerstone within Fisher-Price for 60 years, the Fisher-Price Play Lab has particular expertise in ECD and supporting families and young children. We are proud and honoured to be working with Family Action to support its important work on early childhood development throughout the UK at such an important time.”
The initiative will harness the 60-years’ experience within Fisher-Price Play Lab, the state-of-the-art toy research, design and testing facility where ECD Experts and young testers help create, evaluate and improve Fisher-Price toys. Play Lab will provide resources, funding and Early Childhood Development-focused toys that are proven to help with social, language, motor skills and numeracy.
Fisher-Price will also donate a significant number of toys that have been designed to help with ECD, including social, language, motor skills and numeracy, which will be distributed throughout the UK. Each of these toys has been specially developed by a team of ECD experts at the Fisher-Price Play Lab, which is built on a rich history focused on the importance of play to children’s development since 1961.
