The environment and experiences of early childhood shape our brains and bodies, laying the foundation for our physical, emotional and cognitive skills. At the heart of this are quality interactions between young children and their caregivers. Stimulating exchanges such as playing, talking and singing, foster healthy cognitive and language development in young children. 

For the third year of our three-year Fairer Start Local innovation partnership, Nesta and Leeds City Council focused on harnessing the power of play and creativity to support the building blocks of early speech and language by encouraging moments of connection between young children and caregivers.

Launched in December 2024, the result is ‘Play Together, Talk Together’ – a series of seven colourful playful learning installations for parents and young children to enjoy together, designed by artists and play practitioners after community consultation with families in Leeds. These take centre stage at the The Compton Centre Community Hub & Library in Harehills, a vibrant multi-agency hub offering a range of services, including the early help hub, library, JobCentre Plus, café, Leeds Baby Bank, and fair rights advisors. 

In 2022, 22.3% of children in Leeds were not meeting expected levels of language development when starting school at age five. Research conducted by Nesta and Leeds City Council with parents and caregivers indicated that local and community spaces might offer additional opportunities to support child development in playful ways outside of formal services and provide opportunities for further signposting. Building on this, year three of the partnership continued our productive collaboration with the Children and Families Service, Leeds Libraries, and the Leeds NHS Community Trust’s children’s speech and language services.

In Spring 2024, Nesta and Child Friendly Leeds issued a creative brief to a shortlist of artists and studios based in Leeds. In summer, the appointed creatives Playful Anywhere (a community creativity catalyst led by Emma Bearman) and early-years artist Stephanie Jefferies of Play Explore Art conducted play-based, creative consultations with local families.

A series of seven colourful installations respond directly to ideas gathered from and tested with the families, inviting playful interactions between young children and their caregivers. These are designed to be fun, accessible and intuitive as well as encourage behaviours that support the building blocks of early language and communication, including eye contact, joint attention, turn-taking and contingent talk. The installations also signpost to other parental support, such as activities to try at home and helpful tips for caregivers, and provide an engaging physical invitation to access the Compton Centre and its connected services.

The project drew on the expertise and close collaboration from Nesta’s arts practice, fairer start mission and a wide team from Leeds City Council, including Child Friendly Leeds, Leeds Libraries, public health, the NHS Communities Trust and the children and families service who brought deep expertise in their local communities, families and services. Notably, Leeds is leading the way in England by being the first city in England to complete a Play Sufficiency Assessment and commitment to being a child-friendly city.

With over 150 languages spoken in the local area, it was vital that the community consultation and installations themselves are intuitive to engage with and accessible. Playful Anywhere and Play Explore Art used inclusive, creative practices to engage with members of the community, transforming the outdoor space at the Compton Centre into a playful arena through the use of vibrant colour and engaging objects. Through playful approaches, the creatives explored:

• games that caregivers played with their babies and toddlers
• songs they sang at home
• how animal noises are mimicked in different languages
• factoring in rest and comfort for caregivers when facilitating moments of connection
• sensory needs and tactile materials
• the importance of having a safe space for play. 

These ideas have been incorporated into the final seven designs.

On 11 December 2024, ‘Play Together, Talk Together’ opened to families at the Compton Centre. Children from the local nursery attended to unveil the new equipment along with their parents, centre staff and the artists. Play and exploration for the families was combined with storytelling and singing at the library. 

A small-scale evaluation is underway to capture families’ reflections and interactions with the playful installations to help us understand how the project helps to foster connection between parents and children, and the role of community spaces in supporting early childhood development. 

Updates from the evaluation will be shared in early 2025.