Case Study 1 – Wake County, North Carolina USA

Every year, something very special happens at Raleigh’s Pullen Park – Letterland is brought to life! Hosted in a public space, all children and parents in the local area are invited to join in the fun, with the Wake County Public School System and their partners making sure there’s lots to do. Children are welcomed by Firefighter Fred and a real fire engine, then spend the rest of the day meeting everyone from Annie Apple, to Zig Zag Zebra (and using their Letterland Passport books to keep track of who they’ve seen along the way). In 2019, around 14,000 parents and children descended upon Pullen Park to ride on Clever Cat’s carousel, join the Letterland parade, or enjoy Kicking King’s Karaoke. What a brilliant way to thank all the children of Wake Country for their hard work throughout the year!

Letterland Days

The bright idea to start hosting Letterland Days began many years ago. These days serve as both an incentive and reward for children to work hard at their reading throughout the school year.

In recent years a growing number of schools all over the world have hosted Letterland Days and they are becoming increasingly more impressive every year! We want everyone to be able to join in with the fun, so we’ve provided some handy resources to help you plan your own Letterland Day.

Case Study 2 – Keller, Texas USA

At the end of every school year since 2017, the Keller Independent School District take a slightly different approach to hosting their Letterland Day. Rather than hosting in a public space, the Keller Letterland Day is held in their high school football stadium! All children and parents are still welcome, and the football stadium provides a great space to set up activity stations for each Letterland character. This year, they invited a real life Zig Zag Zebra, Golden Girl let everyone play with her goats, and Peter Puppy even bought some of his pals along for adoption. Parents, teachers and children all dress up in preparation for the parade, and loads of fun is had!

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More Letterland Days Around the World!

Not everyone has a public park or a football stadium to host their Letterland Day, but everyone can get involved in making Letterland come to life for a day! Many schools host their own Letterland parade, asking all their students to dress up as their most loved Letterlander for the day. Others have simply set up a Letterland stand at a literary or education fair, choosing a few of their best Letterland activities for local children to enjoy. We've even had parents host Letterland parties, which we think is a great idea!

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1. Start Planning

• Choose a date and venue. Make sure to consider bad weather options, and choose a date that won't clash with assessment dates or other special occasions. Letterland Days are often hosted on school playing fields, local parks or school gyms.
• How many games and stations will you have? This will be dependent on the size of your day and how many people are attending, but we recommend having about 3-5. Decide how many volunteers you will need to cover these stations
• Will you be doing a Letterland passport? This is often the part of the day that children enjoy the most - find each Letterlander and get a stamp in your passport! Make sure you have enough volunteers to dress up as each Letterlander.
• Do you want to have a theme? Schools often find it useful to plan around a theme, and it provides a great opportunity for cross-curricular activities.
• What will people eat throughout the day? Will you have food and drink stations?
• Plan out a schedule, map and transportation. Each of those that are attending will need a schedule of when and how they will arrive at the venue. Each teacher will need a map of the stations with a notation of where to start with their group and how long to spend at each station.
• Locate funds to help purchase materials. Ask community businesses to give donations or sponsors. Consider that you may need t-shirts, decorations, supplies for games or stations, etc.

2. Apply for a Letterland Event Licence and Artwork

Don't worry - it's not as complicated as it looks!

• Once you've decided the type of Letterland Day you'll be having, and you know the date and location, you'll need to apply for an event licence from Letterland.
• As part of the process, we will be able to help you make your event perfect by sharing artwork such as signs, banners, cutouts, Letterland characters and more!
• Please apply for an event licence using this link.

3. Start Preparing

Now the work begins!

• Confirm volunteers.
• Arrange community or school involvement.
• Create signage and any artwork needed. Enlist the help of your local high school's art department to help with this.
• Gather materials for the Letterland games and stations.
• Print maps, schedules, colouring sheets, and passports.

4. Promote Your Day

You've worked hard on this event - make sure people know about it!

• Invite people using our invite template. Ignite excitement.
• Get in touch with your local newspaper and let them know about your Letterland Day.

5. Have Fun!

• Prepare to be amazed. When you see the children arrive and you hear, “It’s Golden Girl!” or “There’s Red Robot!” all of the work and planning is so worth it!
• Be sure to take lots of photos of the day and send them to us at [email protected] or use #LetterlandDay and tag us @letterland on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Useful Downloads and Links

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• Apply for an Event Licence
• Letterland Day - Games and Stations Ideas
• Letterland Passport
• Letterland Day - Theme Ideas
• Letterland Day - Food and Drink Ideas
• Letterland Day - Invitation
• Letterland Character Dress Up Ideas
• Colouring Sheets
• A Guide to Hosting a Letterland Day