Following a successful first year which reached over 100 young children and their families, High Peak Community Arts is running a second year of a creative arts project to promote the joy of books in Early Years settings around Buxton and the High Peak.
‘For the Love of Books’ sees Early Years specialist Karl Harris and a team of Creative Practitioners bring books and their educational value to life through 10 sessions in each of three settings in the area. The programme introduces five books which focus on developing children’s literacy, communication and early reading skills.
The stories are expanded through playful, open-ended arts, crafts and music activities. At Buxton Nursery, for instance, the book ‘Triangle’ by Mac Barnett with Jon Klassen was explored by musician Margit van der Zwan and her vintage piano accordion (see picture).
The programme is sponsored by charity, the Ragdoll Foundation with match funding from other local organisations, including local employer, Tarmac.
Chris Bradbury, Tarmac’s Tunstead Cement Plant manager said: “We are very pleased to be able to support this project which promotes the importance of books and stories for learning and family time with very young children. These sessions show how there are many more ways to use books other than the traditional reading of a story. We wish High Peak Community Arts every success with this second year of the scheme.”
Karl Harris, project coordinator for High Peak Community Arts added: “It’s a real pleasure being able to bring such high calibre Creative Practitioners out to the High Peak to work with young children and their families. The chance to meet and work with a professional artist doesn’t have to be exclusive to the city and this project is proving that children everywhere enjoy and benefit from the experience.”
Laura Bowers, Buxton Nursery manager added: “It has been fantastic to be able to take part in High Peak Community Arts ‘For the Love of Books’ project. Karl and Margit have been amazing leading the sessions and they have captivated both the children and staff with their enthusiasm and inspiring and fresh ideas.
“Each week they arrived with innovative activities and superb resources to interactively share the planned storybook. Being able to keep resources for a week helped children to further explore and extend their learning and has also helped us explore equipment we might not have had the chance to before. It has been a valuable and wonderful learning opportunity for us as a team and we will be able to implement much of what we have learnt in our future practice. Thank you so much to Karl and his professional and magical team!”
Picture caption: Bringing books to life: Margit van der Zwan (Musician) with piano accordion and Karl Harris (Project Manager) with ‘Triangle’ with children from Buxton Nursery