BookTrust Cymru unveils new Bookstart Baby and Early Years packs

Thanks to funding from the Welsh Government, every baby born in Wales is entitled to a Bookstart Baby pack, normally gifted at the 6-month health check, and a Bookstart Early Years pack, usually received at the 27-month health check.

The new books have been picked by an expert selection panel including families, librarians and other early years professionals to make sure they meet the needs of parents, carers and children.

The packs themselves - which also feature a finger puppet in the Baby pack and information leaflets in both gifts - have been refreshed this year to make them more environmentally friendly and to give them a similar visual identity to BookTrust Cymru's other Bookstart packs, helping families to recognise them as trusted resources and inspiring them to keep reading throughout childhood.

Bookstart Baby is proven to have an effect on families' reading habits and is particularly important for low-income families during a cost-of-living crisis. In 2022, we conducted a survey of 1,083 parents and carers of children aged 0-7 living in low-income households in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Of those who recalled using a Bookstart Baby pack we found:

• 72% of parents and carers said the Bookstart Baby packs are some of the first books they own for their child
• 86% said they enjoyed using the contents of the pack with their child
• 68% said Bookstart Baby prompted them to read and share stories more with their child than they may have done otherwise

The books included in this year's packs

This year, the Bookstart Baby pack will include a bilingual edition of Who's Hiding on the Farm? by renowned illustrator Axel Scheffler.

Our selection panel chose the book for its fun hide-and-seek story that babies will want to hear again, contributing to the development of their early sounds and speech patterns.

With differently coloured and shaped felt flaps to lift and explore, it's a sturdy, tactile board book which could also help to support babies' sensory and fine motor skills development.

'I feel very honoured that my book has been chosen as the Bookstart Baby book and it makes me feel slightly dizzy thinking of all these babies growing up with this book!' said Axel Scheffler.

'You can show any book to a child, and they can take something in. I read a lot to my own daughter when she was little and I really enjoyed the experience. Books are so important for children. You can really see how much it means to them and how they develop and learn to love stories. I know that it's very hard to find time to read but any free minute you have, you can use.'

Meanwhile, this year's Bookstart Early Years pack will include a bilingual edition of The Same But Different Too by Karl Newson and Kate Hindley.

This fun, heartwarming picture book is perfect for sharing as it introduces children to all sorts of comparisons and opposites with rhyming text that's easy to read aloud and quirky illustrations to enjoy together.

Supporting families throughout the early years

Research shows that sharing books, stories and rhymes with children in the early years provides the biggest boost to children developmentally, enhancing cognitive, physical, social and emotional growth and development during a period of significant brain growth.

Shared reading also supports bonding between children and their family members, boosting parental positivity and improving children's sleep.

Following on from Bookstart Baby, BookTrust Cymru offers Bookstart 1-2 Years and 3-4 Years packs to children from low-income family backgrounds to help close the disadvantage gap.

Diana Gerald, Chief Executive of BookTrust, said: 'It's never too early to start sharing books and stories with children and by gifting Bookstart Baby and Early Years packs we hope to get every child reading regularly and by choice so they can enjoy the lifelong benefits of reading.

'As well as supporting babies' development and progress, we hope to demonstrate to families how much their children enjoy exploring books and stories together and hope that this kickstarts an early love of reading that will continue throughout childhood.'

Find out more about Bookstart in Wales