What will the Together project do? It will develop existing family visit days in prisons in the East Midlands by bringing prisoners and their children together, to play and enjoy quality time as a family. Who will lead and develop the play activities? Primarily, the prisoners will be encouraged to take ownership of the family visit sessions in partnership with prison staff. This will be supported and directed by our charity, Children's Links - who are play specialists. We support communities to develop play opportunities for children. We are consultants and write play strategies for local and district councils. A play development officer will be appointed to work with prisoners, families and prison staff to develop the family visit days to make them into opportunities to play and learn. What will play 'do' for the prisoners and their children? The play activities will enable prisoners to meet with their children and learn together in a positive and creative way. The children will gain an opportunity to work on creative activities with a parent they see infrequently. The activity will enable both parent and child to develop new skills and bond together as a family. What will the project do for prisons? Help them to develop their family visiting environments and skill-up staff to support in the delivery of play sessions. Our experience has shown that these family days have improved prisoner's behaviour and attitudes, and improved relationships with both their families and prison staff. What sort of things will the prisoners and their children be doing? Play activities will include: 1. Messy play involving playing with arts, craft, sand or water 2. Music play - here the prisoners and their children will make 'junk' music 3. Play with recycled materials - It's amazing what you can do with recycled materials. (Because of the prison regulations there is a restriction on the types of materials that can be taken into the prison e.g. you cannot take in plasticine or scissors!).