Story Box

In September 2025, we launched Story Box in partnership with local Family Centres, bringing fun, creative sessions to pre-school children and their parents or caregivers. The project was made possible thanks to generous funding from Milton Keynes Community Foundation and the National Lottery Community Fund.

Working in areas of higher deprivation across Milton Keynes, Inter-Action collaborated closely with Family Centres to support families with children aged 0–4 to engage in imaginative activities inspired by books and storytelling.

Together, we co-created lasting resources and delivered a bespoke programme shaped around the needs of each individual community, helping families build confidence, connection, and a love of reading through creativity.

The project delivered sessions in local Family Centres, led by professional artists Sarah Hunt and Alice Boland-Rhodes. Using the Story Box and its contents as a starting point, they created playful, imaginative and sensory-rich activities for families to explore together.

Each session was designed to inspire creativity, support early language and literacy development, and strengthen the bond between parents and carers and their children through shared, joyful experiences.

Three high quality, unique wooden Story Boxes have been co-created with Moorlands and Hedgerows Family Centres, handcrafted by a local woodcrafter, Iain Talbot. These will be lasting resources for the centres to use for years to come.

Key Impacts 

Across 23 sessions we welcomed around 200 children aged 0-4 and 150 parents or carers.

Our evaluation surveys with parents, carers, and centre staff indicate the following significant outcomes:

Children’s Development

• Improved speech, language, communication and confidence, especially for children with delays.

• Increased imagination, exploration, and creative expression.

• Enhanced school readiness, including routine, concentration, and peer interaction.

Family Engagement & Wellbeing

• Attracted families who do not usually attend early-years sessions.

• Regular attendance building confidence

• Reduced social isolation and improved low mood or mental health challenges

• Supported families with English as an additional language.

• Parents gained practical ideas to support learning and play at home.

Partnership & Community Impact

• Created a genuine, co-created partnership between centres and Inter-Action.

• Strengthened collaboration and increased community reach.

• Centres saw improved attendance, enabling better access to wider support services.

Professional Learning for Staff

• Increased staff skills, confidence, and creativity in early-years practice.

• Promoted low-cost, sustainable approaches using everyday materials.

• Inspired wider application of approaches across other sessions.

Sustainability & Legacy

• Centres now continue to use Story Box resources in other sessions, including speech and language sessions.

• Visible progress in children’s development, including confidence breakthroughs and speech improvements.

• Emergence of a volunteer facilitator to continue delivery at Moorlands Centre.

• Strong partner appetite for future iterations, resources, and seasonal programmes.

We found that by delivering high-quality, story-inspired activities in local family centres, we’re supporting early years development and helping to strengthen parent/child bonds as well as community bonds. As we expand to more centres across Milton Keynes, we're excited to bring this sense of magic, connection, and creativity to even more families.

If you’re interested in exploring potential projects for your Family Centre, Pre-school or community group, or to book Story Box for your setting, we’d love to hear from you!

Please email us at info@interactionmk.org.uk