The Story Peg Play Leader Project

The Story Peg Play Village: From Story to Play

Empowering Caregivers, Educators and Communities

We are seeking funding to bring The Story Peg Play Village to life, an innovative, inclusive approach to supporting children's communication, relationships and development through stories and freely chosen play.

Designed especially for children aged 2–5, including autistic children, non-speaking children and those with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), the project will create an immersive world where stories inspire real-life play.

Our first Story Peg Play Village will be based on Sheila McCullagh OBE's much-loved The Village with Three Corners books, with child-sized houses, a village shop, wooden Story Peg People, matching puppets, costumes and opportunities for imaginative, sensory, constructive and creative play.

But the real innovation goes beyond the Village itself.

We will develop and evaluate specialist Story Peg Play Leader training, bringing together expertise in speech and language therapy, SEN, autism, child-led play and early childhood development.

Leaders will learn how to recognise children's communication, follow their interests and model responsive interactions without directing their play. They will support parents, caregivers and educators to develop the skills and confidence to continue independently.

An important part of the training will be MySpeekie®, our existing Innovate UK-funded, one-screen AAC technology, which supports non-speaking children who cannot yet read or spell. Its optional use will enable children to express themselves during play, alongside gestures, signs and other forms of communication. Families and educators will receive free ongoing licences.

We also plan to develop Story Peg Play Prompt Packs, combining storybooks, wooden characters, puppets and play resources that nurseries and other organisations can borrow to bring story-inspired play into their own settings.

Our research will investigate how the approach influences children's communication, engagement and enjoyment, whether adults become more confident and responsive, and whether specialist Leader training can be transferred successfully to other early years practitioners.

Our ambition is to create an approach that can eventually be used with any suitable children's storybook, reaching families, nurseries, libraries and communities across the UK.

Family play sessions will be free. Our longer-term aim is to sustain this through professional Leader training and a resource-lending library.

We are seeking funding to develop, test and evaluate the Story Peg Play Village, specialist Leader training and portable resources, turning this vision into a practical, evidence-informed approach that more families and educators can use.

From stories to play. From specialist knowledge to confident adults. From thought to voice.