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Run a Readathon How to Motivate Children to Read for Pleasure whilst Helping Others As adults, we can all appreciate the sheer bliss of reading a brilliant book. Getting more children to read for pleasure is vital to their wellbeing and development, but one of the fundamental issues is giving them a good reason to do so. All too often, reading is tied up with assessments and being part of school work, detracting from nurturing a genuine enjoyment of reading. Giving children more ownership over what they choose to read, but also giving them motivation to want to read, are key to developing a lifelong love of reading. Books have the power to change people’s lives. When children read for pleasure, the benefits are huge - not only does it help to build confidence and promote good mental health and wellbeing, but it gives them greater social mobility and opens up opportunities for them to succeed throughout life. UK-based charity, Read for Good, has a vision for all children in the UK to be given the opportunity, space and motivation to develop their own love of reading. By getting schools to run ‘Readathons’, they have devised a way to get children motivated to read more - by helping other children in need. Every year, 3,000 UK schools are involved in Readathons which help raise money for children staying in hospitals. The idea behind this is that children are given the power to choose what they want to read - from comics to classic literature - which encourages them to get greater enjoyment from reading. Family and friends can then sponsor them per book read or per minute of reading. All sponsorship money is handled using an easy, safe, online system, so there is no need to go around collecting cash. At the end of the Readathon, a certificate will be sent out along with free book vouchers worth 20% of the total money raised, for the school to spend at Scholastic Book Clubs. New books will also be sent out to the school’s nearest major children’s hospital for children staying there. By running Readathons, Read for Good now encourages nearly 1 million pupils to love reading across the UK. As a result of their work, all major UK children’s hospitals now receive regular deliveries of brand new books and have storyteller visits, which benefits 150,000 hospitalised children per year. This wonderful activity is a great way to encourage more children to read for pleasure, whilst helping sick children and giving back to others. Not only does it benefit hospitalised children, but schools that get involved benefit too by receiving book vouchers to use for their own library. Over a 5 year period, Read for Good have given over £1million of free book vouchers to participating schools. Could your local school get involved in a sponsored Readathon and get more children loving reading? To find out more, visit: https://readforgood.org/ Look out for Melissa's latest articles on Anita Frost's author website, where she'll talk about topics including business and publishing, author news and events, and giving back to communities. You can find her in-depth monthly feature on the News & Media page of the Green Bean Collection website, discussing children's books and reading, early years education, living a greener lifestyle and all things Green Bean!
Celebrating 3 Years of Fun Adventures with Green Bean & Friends We’re excited to be celebrating Green Bean’s third anniversary here at Green Bean Studios! Since launching in 2018, Green Bean has grown to become a hugely popular household friend, loved by children and parents across the UK and beyond. The Green Bean Collection was developed by author and founder, Anita Frost. Combining her extensive professional experience in child development and business, with her passion for creativity and sustainability, Anita created this unique and highly collectable series of books, toys, and games for children. The books centre around leading character, Green Bean - a fun, cool, genderless anthropomorphic green bean - along with six lovable friends in the fictional world of Adventure Dales. The stories are highly appealing and accessible for young children from birth, to preschoolers and primary aged children. Edutainment is at the heart of our business, bringing joy and excitement to the process of learning and education through fun adventures. Each of the characters in the stories help to emphasise the importance of community and friendship, teaching the value of working together and respecting each other despite our differences.  Young children are able to relate to the experiences within the stories, such as going to school, visiting the park, a bedtime routine, all of which helps them to reflect on their own lives and to overcome any challenges or anxieties they may have. By showing these relatable experiences, children are better equipped to identify and process their own feelings, helping them to build confidence and develop into happy, capable adults. The Green Bean Collection upholds a real sense of having fun adventures, encouraging an awareness of the natural world around us, and helping to inspire children and families to live greener, healthier lifestyles whilst nurturing the environment. From recycling, to harnessing natural resources to build and be creative with, the Green Bean brand teaches children to have respect and love for nature, animals and the planet. When creating this collection, an important consideration was to promote a love of learning and reading. All of the books and toys contain elements of the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) statutory framework, to support children’s learning and development of key skills including numeracy, literacy and communication. The last three years have been a rollercoaster ride, with the Green Bean brand going from strength to strength - as we celebrate Green Bean’s birthday, we look back on some of the highlights since launching: An instant hit with fans on the highstreet The first highstreet shop to sell the Green Bean Collection was Waterstones on Deansgate, Manchester. We were overwhelmed with the popularity of our books, retaining two feature walls of goods which completely sold out within a two-week time frame. This demonstrated to us that there was an instant love for our stories, the characters, and the brand from children and parents alike.  Multi-award-winning children’s books, toys and games Bolstered by our initial success, the Green Bean Collection went on to win multiple awards. In 2020, we won our first award at the SME UK Enterprise Awards for Best Children’s Toys & Books Retailer 2020. Then, a year later, we scooped up the SME UK Enterprise Award for Best Eco-Friendly Children’s Toys & Books Retailer 2021. The SME awards recognised our commitment to innovation, creativity, and sustainability, reflecting the time, energy, and passion we have invested into our business over the past few years. In 2021, we were also named as Children’s Toys Retailer of the Year 2021 at the Corporate LiveWire Global Awards. This was further proof of our dedication to creating a brand with integrity that puts children’s enjoyment and learning at the heart of our business. A growing collection with a growing fan base In 2019, we expanded our collection by launching our first children’s toys and games to cater to our fans’ desire for more ways to play and learn with Green Bean. We launched our Green Bean and Mr Bear Soft Toys, which have been immensely popular with new and existing fans of the Green Bean Collection. These gorgeous, cuddly toys were designed to be played with alongside reading the books from our collection, to enhance the enjoyment of the stories, develop children’s imagination, and become childhood friends to take on adventures. To date, our Green Bean Soft Toy remains to be our best selling toy yet. We also launched Green Bean’s House at the same time as our plush toys, which gave children the opportunity to explore imaginative play and broaden their creativity. This fun, pop-up toy house reflects where Green Bean lives within the stories, giving children the chance to reenact the stories and immerse themselves in the adventures of Green Bean & Friends. The Green Bean Pop-Up House was instantly popular with parents as well as children, as it encouraged playing away from digital screens, and the house also serves as a handy box for storing toys when play time is over! In 2021, we launched two more exciting educational children’s toys - our 7in1 Card Games, and Jigsaw Puzzle Summer Edition. Our card games proved hugely popular, being great value for money and providing a variety of different games for the whole family to enjoy in one compact box - perfect for taking on holiday, visiting friends, or to the park. As with the other toys in our range, the Jigsaw Puzzle is aimed at bringing the family together for quality, fun time away from screens. We have received some fabulous feedback from parents and children, who have enjoyed seeing their favourite characters on the jigsaw and spending valuable time together on something constructive. We are excited to further expand our range with more educational toys and games for children and families to enjoy in the coming years!  Reaching more fans with our YouTube channel When we launched our brand three years ago, we also launched our YouTube channel alongside it. Our video team is headed up by Gaby Johnston, Film Director for all of our video content. Our storytime videos with children’s TV presenter, Steve Jesson, gave us another way to share the joy of learning and adventures with even more fans across the globe. Reading our stories with children in the videos is a fun and engaging way to connect with our fans and make the stories accessible to all. We recently launched a new series of videos called Play and Learn, featuring some of our genuine and devoted fans. Turning the tables for these videos, we let children take the lead, as they explore and play with the toys and games from our collection, discussing what they like about them and giving viewers an authentic experience of our range with feedback from a child’s perspective. These insights and feedback from children themselves is of key importance to our business, and demonstrates the real love children have for our brand and products. For the love of reading and learning To keep our readers engaged and provide more opportunities to learn, we have produced seasonal magazines which our fans have loved. We started with a Christmas magazine, which many parents said they included in their children’s Christmas Eve Box as an extra present, or used as an activity to keep the kids entertained over the Christmas holidays. We then went on to release our summer edition - customers who had bought our Christmas magazine came back as return customers to purchase the summer magazine too! The magazines include a range of fun and educational activities, which younger children are able to go through with their parents or caregiver, whilst older children who are learning to read and write are able to enjoy doing independently. With every issue, there are also free stickers, fun arts and crafts projects, puzzles, and a brand new short story - all helping children to learn whilst stimulating their imagination and creativity.  Green Bean on tour with live storytelling events In 2019, we added another string to our bow, with stories from the Green Bean Collection being brought to life through a range of exciting live storytelling events across the UK. We are proud to have been invited to the iconic Trafford Centre multiple times to host our live interactive storytime events in Green Bean’s home city of Manchester. These have been hugely successful, attracting many of our existing fans as well as attracting plenty of new ones too. Our pop-up attraction, Green Bean’s House, has annually toured the UK in key retail areas, from shopping centres to theme parks. Events like this really bring the stories to life in a fun and engaging way that captures the imagination and hearts of children and their families. As a brand, we are always looking for ways to give back to the community, and our founder Anita Frost runs several free events each year to connect with people in local communities, including talks at schools and libraries. As well as our free events, we have also been running private paid events which fans can book. After a challenging year of COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns putting our events and community outreach on hold, we were delighted to be able to resume these events this year and were thrilled that both our public and private events went on to be fully booked for 2021. We are looking forward to many exciting events planned for 2022, with more appearances at the Trafford Centre in the pipelines. Supporting families and children through COVID-19 lockdowns With the forced stay at home orders during 2020 and 2021, we wanted to do our bit to support families and children with their education whilst schools were closed and parents were having to home school them. We created free, downloadable learning resource packs to help entertain children whilst supporting their learning at home. Many parents saw this as a lifeline to help them through this difficult time, and we were proud to have been able to support families in this way with the Green Bean Collection.  A shared vision turned into a successful children’s brand We have enjoyed some phenomenal success over the last three years, but none of this would be possible without an incredible team working behind the scenes, bringing our shared vision of inspiring, educating and promoting greener living through fun adventures into being. We harness the unique skills of both local homegrown talents from people near Green Bean Studios in Manchester, as well as freelancers and seasonal workers from across the UK, to make up our diverse, dynamic, and creative team who have a true passion for what we do and what our business stands for. A huge thank you… As we celebrate our anniversary, we wanted to take a moment to thank YOU! We are hugely grateful for our devoted fans who have supported and encouraged us every step of the way, sharing our journey as we develop our children’s brand. We appreciate every single one of you and all that you do to show your love for Green Bean & Friends! We are excited for what the future holds for Green Bean Studios and can’t wait to share more of our fun adventures with you over the coming years! Hi, I’m Melissa - writer and editor for author Anita Frost at Green Bean Studios. Follow me on Twitter @MelBrannlund or email me at editor@greenbeancollection.co.uk
Best Eco-FriendlyChildren's Toys & Books Retailer 2021We’re delighted to share that the Green Bean Collection has won Best Eco-Friendly Children's Toys & Books Retailer 2021 at the SME UK Enterprise Awards. The SME UK Enterprise Awards recognise SMEs of all sizes who excel in their industries. Through promoting diverse and supportive company cultures which prioritise employee satisfaction, to offering exceptional customer service, to showing dedication to innovation and creativity, the awards showcase the broad range of talent SMEs possess and enrich the UK economy with. SME News is a valuable resource for CEOs, leaders and key decision makers, providing expert knowledge and the latest news by drawing on its UK wide network of industry insiders from across the UK SME arena. Award Coordinator Jessie Wilson shared her thoughts on the success of this year’s award programme: “It is always a pleasure and a privilege to reach out to those that have been awarded in the SME UK Enterprise programme. One of the joys of these awards is realising the sheer talent and skill that permeates every inch of the British business sphere, across all industries and fields. I hope you all have a wonderful – and productive – rest of the year ahead and a fantastic 2022.” SME News prides itself on the integrity and validity of its awards and winners. Businesses who win these awards are chosen solely on merit, being commended for their ingenuity and hard work, which sets them apart from their competitors and proves them worthy of recognition. Following on from our award success earlier this year for Children’s Toy Retailer of the Year 2021 at the Corporate LiveWire Global Awards, this Eco Award win is further recognition of the innovation and excellence that the Green Bean brand continues to demonstrate, as well as our dedication to sustainability and operating in a planet-friendly way.  At Green Bean Studios, we have a dedicated team who are passionate about sustainability, protecting the environment, and trading in a fair and ethical way. We value the importance of understanding the businesses and individuals who make up our supply chain, ensuring that each and every product is of a consistently high quality, without exploiting workers. Drawing on author and founder Anita Frost’s extensive business experience, we have carefully developed our product packaging so that it is sustainable, whilst being highly appealing to children and parents. All of our packaging is made from recycled materials, and can be recycled after use. We have worked hard to remove all unnecessary plastic from our packaging and, where it is unavoidable, we have ensured that these materials are able to be recycled. Through every avenue of communication with our customers, we promote our core message of sustainability, caring for the environment, and living greener, healthier lifestyles. From our bold and engaging animations and illustrations, to the way we interact with our customers across our social media channels, email newsletters, and website, we are always keen to encourage our fanbase to be more environmentally conscious and do their bit to protect our planet. This year, we have launched two new products to add to our ever-growing collection of educational and eco-friendly children’s toys and games. These innovative products contributed to us winning the SME Eco Award.  Firstly, our Green Bean & Friends Jigsaw Puzzle Summer Edition – a colourful 20-piece jigsaw puzzle showing some of the much loved characters from the Green Bean Collection in a beautiful outdoor setting. There are plenty of bold, bright objects for children of all ages to engage with, and the jigsaw is ideal for teaching turn-taking, communication, fine motor skills, observation, matching, organising and memory. Secondly, our 7in1 Card Games – seven different fun and educational games contained in one compact box, making them ideal for entertaining the kids when travelling, visiting friends, or going on holiday. There are games suitable for children from 2 to 8 years old, with familiar favourites including Flash Cards, Memory Games, Pairs, and Snap, providing valuable time together to learn and play for the whole family. What sets our card games apart from other products on the market is that ours contains many more game options than others do – similar products averaged at around four game varieties, whereas ours includes seven options, making it excellent value for money and highly appealing to parents and gift buyers.  Both of these new releases have been hugely successful with our existing fans, as well as capturing the interest of new ones too – including breaking into new retail markets across Europe and globally. Innovation is at the heart of what we do at Green Bean Studios, and we are always looking for new and exciting ways to share our passion for edutainment, sustainability, and having fun adventures with more children and their families across the UK and beyond. Spurred on by our award success, and the positive feedback from parents and children about our newly released toys and games, we are excited to be exploring new developments for our range and additional product lines to further grow our fanbase and retail offerings.  |
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Look out for Melissa's latest articles on Anita Frost's author website, where she'll talk about topics including business and publishing, author news and events, and giving back to communities.
You can find her in-depth monthly feature on the News & Media page of the Green Bean Collection website, discussing children's books, reading, and all things Green Bean! For more information or any queries, please contact Melissa by emailing editor@greenbeancollection.co.uk. 
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