New nursery initiative helps children celebrate Afro hair
World Afro Day’s ‘Little Seeds’ brings joyful activities and free resources into nurseries to celebrate hair difference.
A new initiative by World Afro Day aims to educate and support hair difference in early years education.
The ‘Little Seeds’ initiative involves free resources, pop-up hair salons, and creative activities designed to celebrate different types of hair.
Word Afro Day is a global day of celebration and liberation of Afro hair and identity that happens every year on the 15th of September. In collaboration with the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA), the World Afro Day organisation pledges to “educate Britain, from babies to the boardroom,” about Afro hair.
“We are excited to launch World Afro Day ‘Little Seeds,’ empowering children and embracing hair difference positively in 0-5 year olds,” Michelle De Leon, the founder of World Afro Day, says.
“We hope that the mini pop-up hair salons and free resources will benefit nurseries across the nation and continue as annual awareness, to remove bias against Afro hair. Segregation towards hair has been tolerated in Britain for too long.”
“We are also asking the government to take action to end hair segregation in education, salons and businesses,” she says. “There should be one hair qualification for all hair types, and no one should be denied jobs and services because they have Afro textured hair.”
Teaching young children to love their hair empowers them
The 'Little Seeds' initiative aims to help children love their hair and embrace different types of hair from a young age. The nurseries involved will encourage all their children to talk about their bodies confidently, and respect and celebrate differences between them.
“Early years are when children develop a sense of themselves and those around them. Activities around hair are joyful opportunities to do this in a fun and meaningful way,” Tim McLachlan, chief executive of the NDNA, says.
This isn’t just good for society, but good for individual children’s development, too. Dr Jacqueline Harding, a child development expert, says: “Difference and variety are a wonderful part of life for young minds. Teaching children to explore hair types and embrace one another from a young age empowers them and enhances their development.”
Lashana Lynch, an actress known for her roles in the films Matilda the Musical and No Time to Die, supports the campaign. She said: “If 'Little Seeds' existed when I was a child, I’d have felt like a proud princess, celebrating my crown even more than I already did.
“Embracing hair difference really does stretch further than hair. It teaches our little ones how to embrace their whole selves inside and out. What a necessary initiative for them to grow with.”