Earlier in July, Manchester’s cultural venues, leisure centres, and parks across the city held a week long programme of fun activities and opportunities to take part in – and all of them were free of charge.
Baby Week 2024 kicked off on Monday 8th July with a special day-long launch event at Manchester Central Library.
From music and dance sessions for little ones, interactive story times, and artist led messy play sessions, the day kept parents and babies smiling, happy, and learning as they went along.
Experts were also on hand throughout the day to provide information and guidance on all kinds of baby and parent related matters, with advice made available to all aspects of bringing up baby – from child health and development, nutrition and feeding, to literacy, learning and special educational needs.
Baby Week wasn’t however just confined to the city centre – there were lots of activities that took place during the week across the city, including libraries and parks.
With around 12,500 under 2’s in Manchester, and as the city continues to work towards gaining recognition as a UNICEF UK Child Friendly City, the Council is determined to do everything it can to give parents and parents-to-be the tools they need to help ensure their children grow up healthy, happy, and successful.
It is also part of the city’s five-year programme to reduce health inequalities called Making Manchester Fairer. This action plan tackles a range of factors including where and how we live, education, employment, cost of living and other issues that not only affect health, but opportunities in life.
It was also a great opportunity to share information about Children’s rights to parents/ carers, something that not all were aware of. Staff shared copies of the United Nations Rights of the Right of the Child (UNCRC) and promoted that children from a very early age have the right to have a say in decisions.
There was lots of play on offer throughout the week, which supported article 31 of the UNCRC, to find out what’s happening across the summer and on National Play day, please visit https://loadstodo.co.uk