Playing through our Winter Wonderland experience!
Since October, the Go Play team have been delivering a virtual offer to provide support to families around Sandwell. In the build up to the Christmas holidays, the team supported families by offering free Winter Wonderland themed Zoom Go Play sessions and delivering play packs to households across the borough.
The Go Play Winter Wonderland programme was promoted on social media and sent to relevant partners via a virtual flyer. In addition to this, a video hosted by the team explaining the structure of how a Zoom Go Play session works and how to book onto one, was also posted on social media. Winter Wonderland flyers were also distributed to families when delivering play packs in the build up to Christmas, to ensure Go Play was inclusive and accessible to all.
There were a total of 15 families and 17 children that attended the Winter Wonderland Zoom Go Play sessions. There were two sessions a day consisting of one hour sessions. A variety of activities were delivered, including arts and crafts and games that involved physical activity. The activities delivered on the sessions proved to be popular, with themed arts and crafts and scavenger hunts being particular favourites with children that attended. Overall feedback was really positive and families that attended said they’d enjoyed the Winter Wonderland Zoom Go Play sessions.
During the winter period, the team also created winter-specific play packs. The play packs are a great way for children who are unable to access our online services due to digital barriers or time constraints, to access free play. Included in the play packs were crafts such as pom-poms, pipe cleaners, and tissue paper. We also added a variety of Christmas themed items including a Christmas activity booklet and tree decorations. The team delivered the packs across Sandwell with each partner taking a lead on their towns. The partnership delivered 254 play packs across the borough!
Overall, the Winter Wonderland holiday programme was greatly received by those who
engaged. and there were a lot of positives to take from the programme for the Go Play partnership.
Examples of positive feedback we received, included, one family showing their appreciation for receiving a winter play pack, by thanking the partnership for their ‘’bag of goodies” and saying there “daughter is so grateful’’.
Another parent thanked the Go Play team for keeping their child engaged throughout the year-
We also received a message from a satisfied parent thanking the team for the Zoom Go Play sessions- ‘’Thank you team for the session, my child has really enjoyed it’’.
#winterplay #winterwonderland #playmatters #letthemplay
Taylor Eden
Play Officer - Creative Academies Network
