June 13, 2022

Free festival for children under five and their parents/carers comes to Liverpool One this weekend

Calling all parents and carers of under-fives on Merseyside! Come along to our free festival happening on Saturday 18 June, 12pm -3pm at Chavasse Park, Liverpool, and take a moment to spend some quality time with your little ones.

Every parent knows just how much time flies when they’re little. The First Five Festival happening this Saturday is all about celebrating the early years in a child’s life, learning about the services available to parents and carers to help their little ones grow and develop and enjoying precious time together before they start school.

What fun things can we do at First Five Festival?

At the First Five Festival there will be loads of free, fun activities for the whole family to enjoy – from face painting, dancing and through to storytelling with The Reader Organisation’s Story Barn, colouring and crafting with John Lewis, and an appearance from the one and only Peppa Pig, in person!

Parents and carers will also be able to get advice on the key growth and development milestones their children may be going through, get some useful tips from the experts on how to look after the whole family’s wellbeing, and have the chance to have their say about services for families with children under five on Merseyside.

Who is running the First Five Festival?

We’re super excited to have teamed up with the Foundation Years Trust to bring you The first Five Festival- the first of its kind on Merseyside – which is a collaboration between lots of charity, voluntary and community organisations across Liverpool City Region who have joined forces as the First Five Collective.

The festival is part of a series of events happening across Merseyside throughout the week has been kindly funded by Liverpool ONE Foundation, Torus Foundation, Merseyside Violence Reduction Partnership and Duchy of Lancaster Benevolent Fund (Merseyside).

Why under fives?

The event is happening at the end of Infant Mental Health Awareness Week, a national campaign to raise awareness of how we can help improve the mental health of babies and young children. PSS clinical psychologist Dr Michael Galbraith is one of the festival organisers and a specialist in infant mental health: ‘Most people can’t remember what happened to them when they were under two years old, but this actually makes this time more important – not less. Experiences get ‘wired in’ to babies’ brains, which is why it’s so important that we support babies and their parents and carers to make the early years as good as possible. Babies love to feel connected to people, listened to, helped to explore things, comforted and to have fun!’

‘Events like the First Five Festival are a fantastic way for parents and carers to take a moment out of their busy lives to slow down, enjoy some time together with their families, make some lovely memories together and get tips, advice and support from local organisations if they’d like to.’

How do I get there?

Chavasse Park is located within Liverpool One in the heart of Liverpool and is easy to get to both by car and by public transport. Check out the Liverpool One website for lots of information about how to plan your journey to Liverpool One.

PSS support for parents/carers in Liverpool

Here at PSS, we can support parents and carers to create strong, healthy relationships with their babies that will help them grow into happy, safe and healthy adults. PSS Growing Together is a service in Liverpool that supports parents and carers living in the the L4, L5, L6, L9, L10, L19 or L24 areas of Liverpool to develop strong and healthy relationships with their babies; keeping them safe and helping them enjoy life together. To get support from our Growing Together team or for more info, visit the Growing Together page on our website, email: growingtogether@pss.org.uk or call: 0151 702 5535.