Sharing a story just got easier

Small Steps Big Changes, in collaboration with Nottingham City Libraries, West Berkshire Council and North Lincolnshire Council, have been working on exciting ways to make reading experiences for parents and little ones even more fun!

“The brilliant Dolly Parton Imagination Library scheme brings books into homes to inspire a love of reading in our youngest children. When we work together they can share resources, skills and ideas to achieve great things. The collaboration between West Berkshire Council, Small Steps Big Changes and North Lincolnshire Council to create the Dolly Parton Imagination Library sheets will help our families have fun together and make the best of the exciting books their children receive.”

Councillor Dominic Boeck (West Berkshire’s Executive Member for Education, Children and Young People)

“We are passionate about giving all our children the best possible start and we know developing a love of reading is critical to the effective development of a child’s future. Working in partnership with other organisations, we’ve pulled together resources and expertise, a fantastic way to support families with their home learning environment now and in the future.”

Councillor Rob Waltham (Leader North Lincolnshire Council)

The newly designed Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Ideas Sheets are packed with simple tried and tested activities that make reading more interactive and enjoyable for both parent and child.

“It is wonderful to see our partners across three local authority areas working together to develop and deliver the Ideas Sheets to support the Imagination Library books. We really hope these will help with parental engagement and bring our books to life in new and exciting ways.”

Helen Hastle, Regional Director, The Dollywood Foundation UK

These fun activities are designed to be easy to do at home and relate directly to each new book received through the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library book gifting scheme received by many children across Nottingham.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Activity Sheet comes with colour matching ideas and songs to sing. As you progress through the book little ones are asked to talk about the different fruits the caterpillar eats and if they like to eat them too.

Sharing stories is so important for helping children to learn and grown. It’s never too early to start reading together.

“With our Dolly Parton's Imagination Library Ideas Sheets, we’re proud to collaborate with both West Berkshire and North Lincolnshire Council, building on the strong Local Partnership with Nottingham City Council and The Rotary Club. The home learning environment has become even more important for families in the past year; so to be able to develop and share activities that encourage early child development and enhance the Dolly Parton Imagination Library scheme locally, will have a huge impact on our communities.”

Karla Capstick, Programme Director, SSBC

By simply clicking the link below or popping over to the local library, families will have access to free downloadable activity sheets designed by childcare professionals with parents in mind. That’s six activity sheets each month, one for each age group up to five years.

Ideas Sheets

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