families
FAMILY STAY AND PLAY at Platt Hall is our weekly artist-led creative play session for local pre-school children and their families. Developed in partnership with Sure Start Rusholme and Fallowfield.
The first two years of a child's life are critical for developing lifelong health and well-being, and Manchester City Council is committed to providing children and families with the best possible start. Platt Hall Stay and Play is rooted in the belief that creativity has a key role to play in this, supporting social interaction and connection, physical and emotional exploration, problem-solving and stress management.
Our weekly sessions provide safe indoor and outdoor creative space for local pre-school children and their carers. Developed in partnership with Sure Start outreach workers and artist Naomi Kendrick, these sessions use creative play to develop socialisation, speech and language skills and emotional resilience. They provide parents and carers with the opportunity to socialise and form new supportive friendships while taking part in activities that encourage attachment and bonding with their children.
What started as a response to the COVID pandemic and its developmental impact on young children is now a cornerstone of Platt Hall’s programme, and a great place to meet other young families from the area. The historic building and community garden provide a unique sensory environment for young children to explore, and a safe space to get messy with paints, water and other materials.
FAMILY STAY & PLAY is every MONDAY in term time, 10-11.30AM
Contact your local Sure Start to find out more:
0161 510 0000 (Rusholme) or 0161 219 6799 (Fallowfield)
Or just come along on the day.
Organised in partnership with Sure Start Rusholme and Sure Start Fallowfield
THINGS OF THE LEAST
Things of the Least: Lively exhibition making through the material encounters of under-3s is a research partnership between Manchester Art Gallery Manchester Metropolitan University, Sheffield Hallam University and Sure Start. It explores how very young children interact with their physical environment to inform an experimental approach to exhibition making with and for families.
The project focuses on one of Platt Hall’s collection areas, the Mary Greg Collection of domestic and childhood objects. These are what Mary Greg described as those ‘things of the least’ that, although modest, often provide the anchors of belonging in our daily lives. A research group including artists, Early Years academics, Sure Start workers, Gallery staff and local families worked together to develop a set of resources and prototypes in response to the collection that form the basis of a new exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery.
Local families includes people from South Asian, African and white British backgrounds who come to Platt Hall’s Family Stay and Play sessions, and families seeking sanctuary here, having been displaced from home countries that include Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq and Iran. Together, through the gestures, movements and interactions of the youngest family members, we are exploring how things shape our presence in time and space, how we create the space around us, and how values, beliefs and cultural identities are embodied in the items, clothing and environments we treasure. To find out more about the project visit Things of the Least.
