The Big Read for small people at Painshill Park

Today my family attended the Big Read for small people held at Painshill Park and organised by Surrey County Council.  This was a really fun and well organised event.

The BIG read for small children

Surrey County Council has a new Early Years Reading Strategy and The Big Read is an initiative to get more children under 5 growing up with a love of reading. Reading is not only essential to get ready for school, it's also a great way to build up other skills such as learning to express yourself and make friends.









Painshill Park

Painshill Park is a beautiful 18th century landscaped garden. In total it's 158 acres and within its ground are bridges, follies, water and wildlife.  It was created by the Honorable Charles Hamilton between 1738 and 1773 - quite some time ago! The gardens are well kept and some of the landmark follies are have been recently restored, such as the Grotto, the ruined Abbey and the Gothic Tower. It's really worth a visit. 

Check out their website http://www.painshill.co.uk/come-to-painshill/ for more details.

Our Day

We met at our local Sure Start Centre, and travelled to the venue by coach! It was J's first time on a coach and he loved being able to see everything out of the window while sitting on Daddy's lap (strapped in of course!) He soon fell asleep after 10 mins or so which was ideal as he really needed the energy when we got there.

Once we arrived at Painshill Park, we were given a map of the park and the purpose was to walk around the park collecting as many stickers as possible. To get each sticker you had to undertake an activity (such as listening to a story, making a mask, catching a plastic duck).  J was a little bit young for this so we made a point of watching someone perform their task in order to get one!

J had fun using the binoculars Daddy made, and he also loved getting his face painted as a tiger.


















At the end we were all given a goody bag which included a handful of books including Dear Zoo, one of the activities featured. This is a really popular book with the under 5's, written in 1982 by Rod Campbell.  It features lots of flaps to live which really keeps the attention of the young readers.

All in all, a lovely day and I'm really looking forward to taking J again next year when he's walking!

CCx