Theatre Hullabaloo, the children’s arts charity based in The Hullabaloo, Darlington have created baby play packs for families and babies across parts of Tees Valley to play together and have some creative fun.

1500 free Hullabaloo Baby Play Packs aimed at babies 12 months and under have been created to date by Theatre Hullabaloo with support from Darlington Borough Council, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, Middlesbrough Council and Public Health South Tees. These packs will be distributed throughout Darlington, Redcar and Cleveland and Middlesbrough and, if successful, Theatre Hullabaloo hopes to secure further funding to distribute the packs across other parts of the region.

Miranda Thain, CEO at Theatre Hullabaloo says “The COVID-19 restrictions mean that it’s been really challenging for parents and carers unable to attend baby groups and classes. We hope that these Hullabaloo Baby Play Packs will allow parents and carers of new babies to enjoy some creative play time together at home”

As well as featuring a mixture of creative toys and props, the play packs also contain a Playbook packed with ideas for how to play creatively with your baby. Short videos available from Theatre Hullabaloo’s website have been filmed by some of the artists who work regularly with Theatre Hullabaloo and give creative ideas as to how to use each of the items in the pack.

Miranda added “Play really is the work of babies as they are busy learning about the world, developing new skills every day. We hope these packs will mean that parents and carers will feel more confident about the how and why of play and we look forward to welcoming these lockdown babies to play at The Hullabaloo when it’s safe to do so again”

For more information on the  baby play packs please visit www.theatrehullabaloo.org.uk