50 Things Jersey's Launch Event

50 Things to do Before You’re Five launched in Jersey in collaboration with the Best Start Partnership this month.  The launch event showcased many of the 50 Things’ activities.  Leading up to the launch event the Jersey team conducted a series of roadshow events. These events were hosted at a wide range of early years settings such as parent groups, schools and libraries. The roadshow events lasted just over two weeks and each event focused on one of the 50 activities.

The events were majorly successful and supplied a brillant platform for interacting with children and parents. Many of the attendees shared positive feedback about the app and some even attended more than one of the roadshow events. The grandparents and the dads were especially grateful for the robust framework that the 50 Things To Do Before You’re Five app included. 

Every event had its own special qualities. Forest Friends was one of the settings included in the series of events. They usually run a trip to a woodland area for the children to explore. 50 Things to do Before You’re Five Jersey adapted this for a roadshow event and arranged for this trip to include the parents as well. This was very special as it was the first time the parents had come along. The children knew the area so well they were able to show their parents around.  The parents were able to see their children in action. One Dad mentioned that “ He had never seen his child get so dirty and involved”. It was brilliant to see parents turning up to events especially as for some schools it was the first time they had hosted parents post pandemic.

After the roadshow events it was onto the main launch event. The launch event was a collaborative effort and engaged a wide range of early years organisations. Each organisation picked an activity from the 50 Things and offered it at the launch event. 

Prior to the event commencing the families were all waiting in the park and ready to have some fun. To kickstart the day off, there was a speech from the Minister for Children and Education, Scott Wickenden. All the organisations had their stands setup and each one featured one of the 50 activities, and these were as follows:  #23See it live! , #26Splish, Splash , Splosh, #39Talking signs, #3Treasure Baskets, #9Mini Beasts and Bug Hunting, #42Rough and Smooth, #10Sharing Books, #7Making Music, #24 Hop, Skip, Jump, #8Bubbles and #30Yummy Picnic and #34Woodland Wandering. 

 #26Splish, Splash, Splosh, #24 Hop, Skip, Jump  and #8Bubbles were very popular activities. 

It was amazing to see the number of families that turned up for the launch event, and it surpassed expectations with around 300 people in attendance. Some of the 50 Things activity stands were so popular and busy that they continued to run the stand all day. It was fantastic to see all the families in their element engaging in the activities. As a thank you to the families that attended the event, goody bags were distributed containing some sunflower seeds, soil, bubbles and some information about 50 Things to do Before You’re Five. 

The 50 Things Jersey team really treasured the team-work that went into making the launch event successful and possible. One notably beautiful thing that was evident from the launch event was the amazing relationships that the early years sector have with each other and how they show up for one another.