Place2Be's Art Room has teamed up with charities Credu and MYTIME Young Carers to create an art resource for young carers nationwide. The activity encourages children and young carers alike to have fun and take a break from daily responsibilities.

The release of the activity coincides with Young Carers Action Day, which raises awareness of the challenges and pressures young carers face across the UK. 

Three charities have joined forces to launch a new art resource aimed at fostering the wellbeing and creativity of young carers in the UK. 

The project, released today to mark Young Carers Action Day, was created by charities Place2Be, Credu, and MYTIME Young Carers.

Considering the challenges faced by young carers that may impact their mental health, this resource provides primary-aged children with the chance to step away from their daily responsibilities, unwind, and have fun.  

Designed together with young carers

The activity was designed with input from young carers in England and Wales, who wanted an activity that would allow for messiness, collaboration, and experimentation.  

The children also shared insight into the challenges they face caring for someone else as young people, using words like “hard, frustrating, stressful, and tiring” to describe their experience. 

Download Playful Patterns: Connecting With Others Wellbeing Activity Pack (584kb)

Young carers in the UK

A young carer is a child or young person who helps look after someone in their family who might be ill, disabled, living with a menta health condition or misusing substances. According to the Carers Trust, there are an estimated one million young carers in the UK.

A recent inquiry by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Young Carers and Young Adult Carers found these responsibilities are having a devastating effect on their education and future prospects.  

It revealed that 15,000 UK children, including 3,000 aged just five to nine, spend at least 50 hours a week on caring.  

Young Carers Action Day, organised annually by Carers Trust, raises awareness of the challenges and pressures young carers face. 

This year’s theme is ‘Fair Futures for Young Carers’, focusing on how young and young adult carers are significantly less likely to undertake higher education or enter employment than their peers without a caring responsibility.

More about The Art Room

Place2Be's Art Room is a programme that uses art to support children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. It offers Creative Wellbeing Projects to empower school staff, parents and carers to support children’s mental health through creativity both in classrooms and at home. The Art Room team also deliver workshops and peer mentoring training in schools focused on creative wellbeing.