In Luton, 20-month-old Yashma is at home with mum Aiza (names changed). They are sitting on the floor with a Level 3-trained childcare practitioner, rolling and squashing playdough and talking about the links between fine motor skills and mark-making.
This is the first visit in a home learning scheme which is a new offer from Luton’s family hubs. ‘A lot of parents think they have to sit down and teach their children to write, so we do mark-making and playdough and link it with early literacy,’ says Sara Coombs, who heads up the programme, which is part of the local birth-to-fives offer, Flying Start. ‘Mum was quite anxious about how to interact with her little one and not keen on going out the house to community groups. She was focused on formal education rather than understanding the importance of play.’
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