Family Activity Boxes – Phase 3: 

What is FAB Fusion? 

FAB Fusion is Phase 3 of our Family Activity Boxes project. 

FAB Fusion, funded by the Postcode Local Trust and a grant from Local Giving, began in 2023 following the success of our earlier Family Activity Boxes projects.  

FAB Fusion boxes are specially designed to support teaching staff in their spoken and written literacy work with children from multilingual families, who are proficient in their home languages but new to English.  The children may have recently arrived in the UK having fled danger in their home countries; some may be caught in the complexities of the asylum system.  Whatever the impact of their lived experiences of migration, children will feel supported and nurtured as they enjoy engaging with their new teachers, new peers, and their new language, through the collection of resources in the FAB Fusion boxes. 

Why FAB Fusion? 

Fusion means realising that embracing and celebrating our differences can connect us and bring us together without losing our individual identities.  Differences in the languages we speak, the cultures of our heritages, and our life experiences. 

What’s inside a FAB Fusion box? 

Each FAB Fusion box has a selection of high-quality, stimulating and fun resources selected by us, in consultation with schools.  These may include:  

• culturally diverse fiction and non-fiction books – including dual language books relevant to languages spoken in school settings 
• culturally diverse rhymes, poems and songs 
• indoor and outdoor games – representing a range of cultures 
• puzzles and word games 
• art and craft activities 
• card games (words / pictures / numbers) 
• objects / toys for imaginative play 

What themes are covered in the FAB Fusion collection? 

There are six powerful themes in our FAB Fusion collection: 

• Cultural Diversity 
• Emotions 
• Environment 
• Journeys 
• Welcome  
• Home 

Each of these themes complements topics and values embedded throughout the curriculum in EYFS, KS1 and KS2 and in the life of the school. 

What’s the value of a FAB Fusion box?  

The value of a FAB Fusion box can be discovered immediately!  

FAB Fusion is not just a box.  It is not just books and toys.  It is not just entertainment. It is so much more than that!  The resources in each FAB Fusion box invite children to play, read and learn together.   

Collaborative learning enables children to strengthen their understanding of who they are and create bonds.  These are the firm foundations: to give children pride to value their individual identities – shaped by the languages and cultures of their heritages; and to give children confidence to settle into their new culture and environment. 

For multilingual families, FAB Fusion boxes provide the chance to develop greater confidence with learning English by playing, reading, and learning with their children in fun and stimulating ways.  

FAB Fusion and Social Inclusion 

FAB Fusion offers school settings a social inclusion approach to EAL support, within and beyond the classroom.    

The language-rich environment of a classroom is the perfect context for using games, puzzles and books from a FAB Fusion box.  Teaching staff, family support workers, or (multilingual) parent volunteers, can support small groups of children who speak different home languages and have different levels of confidence speaking English, to play, learn and read together. 

Beyond the classroom, FAB Fusion can support teaching staff to connect with family members.  FAB Fusion has the potential to build and strengthen essential relationships and social interactions between home and school.   

Some of the books and games in each FAB Fusion box can be lent to families for short term borrowing.  These books and games come with a card full of ideas of simple, fun activities that will enable and encourage families to play, read and learn together, while practising their English at the same time.  On returning the books and games to school, family members can share their learning experiences with teaching staff. 

What’s unique about FAB Fusion? 

With FAB Fusion… 

• there is no cost to school settings or families  
• each box is available for school settings to loan for a term – delivered and collected by us  
• for short periods of time, children can borrow some of the books and games to take home and share with their families  
• everything is provided by us to support teaching staff: 
• to embrace and celebrate cultural diversity  

• to build partnerships with parents, families and carers  
• to help families proficient in their home languages but new to English, gain confidence with supporting their children as they learn English. 

 Ready to loan a FAB Fusion box? 

Simply get in touch with us to find out how to loan a FAB Fusion box for a term.  

Contact us now for more information and to book a FAB Fusion box:  

Hevin Jaffar – FAB Fusion Coordinator [email protected]   

Cristina Bennett – Schools Coordinator [email protected]