Happy Time

Funded through the Happy Early Years (HEY!) Fund, this educational outdoor group offered various activities for children and parents, including: nature play, sensory play, messy play, rhyme time and healthy snacks. On the final session, the families went on a trip to Ponderosa Farm.

Happy Time was led by mum of three, Shehnaz Khan

“I’ve worked in childcare previously and currently work in a call centre. I have three children aged 13,10 and 2.

“I got involved with Better Start Bradford as I was thinking of working with children again and wanted some experience in the setting. Ludmila from the West Bowling Advice Centre mentioned the Happy Early Years (HEY!) Fund and I decided it would be a good place to start by helping in my local community.

“I wanted to deliver outside sessions for local families with 0-3s with the opportunity to experience a wide range of fun, high quality, educational activities to broaden their cultural capital and for parents to understand the importance of quality interaction with their children.

“I used mostly natural resources (leaves, acorns, twigs, that we collected with the children) for the craft sessions and open-ended loose parts toys to foster imaginative play.

“Throughout the sessions, I have met lots of lovely families and enjoyed the sessions with them. I would love to run the group in future if the opportunity arises. The Happy Early Years Fund was a great help for resources. Thank you for the experience.”