PlayTalkRead

PlayTalkRead is part of the wider range of support provided for parents and families through the Scottish Government's Parent Club.

PlayTalkRead is aimed at promoting positive parenting in order to give children the best start in life and a strong platform for healthy growth, development and attainment. Smart Play Network is the delivery partner managing and delivering the PlayTalkRead roadshow as well as the Pathways Through Play programme. We visit all 32 Local Authorities throughout the year to support families, practitioners, and children aged 0-4 to play, talk, and read together.

Our sessions promote early speech and language development through storytelling and play activities. We use action-songs and rhymes, sensory play, puppets, and props to bring stories to life. All our activities are fun, simple and easily replicated at home, with the aim of encouraging parents and children to enjoy spending time together.

For more information about Parent Club, please visit their website via the button below.

parentclub.scot

Our Programme

PlayTalkRead
Roadshow

Our PlayTalkRead roadshow has a range of vehicles that travel across all 32 local authorities to promote play and storytelling across Scotland.

Pathways Through Play

Pathways Through Play delivers storytelling and play sessions to promote early speech and language for our partners in early years settings and community organisations.

PlayTalkRead Roadshow

Our roadshow travels all across Scotland. We have a fleet of vehicles designed to access the diverse geographies, so you might expect to see our double decker Benji in the central belt, and our wide-reaching bus Bonnie all the way up in the Highlands and Islands. All of our sessions are free to attend, and are full of great ideas and activities that you can try out with your wee one at home.

The roadshow is for families to explore and learn together: this includes grandparents, parents, children ages 0-4, carers, and legal guardians. Due to capacity, we ask that families attend with up to 2 children and 2 adults at a time. For more info about our buses, check out the "Wave Hello to our Team section below!

Wave 'Hello' to our Team

Benji

Benji is our double-decker drop-in bus. He is often decked out with sensory play and crafts on the ground level, with a softplay and reading area upstairs!

Bonnie

Bonnie is a unique bus with an extendable pod. Her compact size allows her to hop onto ferries to reach all 32 Local Authorities. Bonnie uses a booking system so if you see her in your area check online to see if you can book a spot!

Bubbles

Bubbles is our VIP bus driver and is a great listener. You can leave her a voice message by scanning her QR if you happen to meet her!

Upcoming Tours

Beep Beep Next Stop!
If you would like to find out where we are going next, check out our facebook. All our upcoming roadshow tours are regularly updated there, including session times, availability, and booking links for our booked sessions. If you have difficulty viewing the embedded page, please swap your phone to desktop mode.

Alternatively, all of our public ticketed/booked sessions will be on our eventbrite page. Please note that the eventbrite only shows ticketed events: not our drop-in sessions.

If you have any questions about upcoming tours, please feel free to use the contact forms on our website, or to leave us a message on facebook, and we will do our best to get back to you soon!

If you are a venue or organisation that thinks your community could benefit from a visit from our roadshow, you can also use one of the above contact methods. Please note that our tours visit all 32 local authorities annually, and we have specific funding criteria and high demand meaning we might not have capacity for to visit, but we are always happy for new contacts and partners.

Pathways Through Play

Pathways Through Play (PTP) is an extension of PlayTalkRead that delivers play sessions themed around books and storytelling. The PTP programme partners closely with community settings such as libraries, nurseries, and community centres.

It does not include the use of the buses, but rather emphasises how community settings can use their own spaces creatively to support families with young children. Please note that PTP operates under specific funding criteria and cannot accommodate sessions such as parties or private groups.

Session Structure

Pathways Through Play sessions are bespoke to the environment and needs of participants. A typical session entails:

An interactive story with elements designed to engage children and parents
Play activities that highlight elements of the story such as characters and themes.
Arts & crafts
Sensory play
Interactive songs and rhymes

Highlights

Throughout the year we share stories at our sessions. Below is a highlight of a story we have loved sharing.

Penguin Huddle

Ross Montgomery & Sarah Warburton

We are enjoying Penguin Huddle as a great wintertime story to explore themes of cold, wintertime, and animals.

An activity we love is ice fishing with homemade props. You can make your own with a magnet, string, and a paperclip.

"My son loves sensory play and I saw the bottle filled with mini Pom poms and oil and thought it was a great idea! Was so so nice to see him so focused on doing something!"