Pathways to Play

An important part of what we do at Curious Families is help link families to further support from other Home, Health or Play services. This can mean support with things like housing, employment or health care, but equally access to local play and cultural venues. We’ve learned that linking families to new services is often a gradual process that begins with building a trusting relationship between a family and artist as they work closely together.

We link families to a variety of services that range from hyper-local things like playgroups to national campaigns. We’ve seen how important it is to connect families to their local services first, especially those related to culture and play where families have to travel to a specific location.

During our time in West Norwood, running our Hook House hub, we organised three trips to cultural venues starting with the local Children’s Centre and park, then to The Horniman Museum in the same borough and finally to the Victoria and Albert Museum across London.

A Tea Lady treasure hunt at Crown Point Children’s Centre

Picnic and treasure hunt with the Creative Chef at the Horniman Museum

TDLP Willow Pattern show at the V&A

“It was a wonderful experience. It was the first time I’d taken the children to the theatre. They saw so many new things, they couldn’t stop talking about it afterwards.”
– Abella, mother of three

Most of the families had never visited their local Children’s Centre and none had been to either of the museums. Having the support of trusted Creative Homes artists gave families the confidence to visit important cultural venues and continue to do so.

Since taking part in our pathways visits many families have registered with their local Children’s centre and are taking part in the programs they offer. With the support of trusted Creative homes artists the have gained the confidence to visit important cultural venues for the first time and continue to do so.