Mini Playboxes in Leeds Libraries

Baby Week 2023 ran from the 14th to the 20th of November and so many organisations hosted events, including a conference at Leeds Central Library.

The Baby Week conference was a great success and there were speakers from organisations such as Leeds City Council, Leeds Hospitals, Maternity Stream and University of Leeds. This update focusses on Mini Playboxes and Leeds Libraries who both spoke to promote the child-friendly work they are doing.

Leeds Libraries are home to the colourful Mini Playboxes, which are packed with fun and engaging self-serve activities for children under 5 and their families to enjoy while they visit the library.

They are free to use and are available in the Children’s Library throughout the day during opening hours. Each box has 6 drawers and are full of open ended play activities which you recreate at home with objects you already have. There are also hidden QR codes in the boxes to provide you with a series of videos to inspire play at home too.

The Mini Playboxes were a collaborative project with many people working on them, including artist Stephanie Jefferies. They are designed to be fun, colourful, accessible and inviting boxes of playfulness, which also support early speech and language development, numeracy skills and encourage creative play. As well as Stephanie Jefferies, Mini Playboxes were created in partnership with Play.Explore.Art, an educational play designer and Playful Anywhere.