Pediatricians-Bing-Assonidi to promote shared reading 0-6 years

Bing, the most beloved character by Italian children and families, the protagonist of the animated preschool series that has collected over 2 billion views worldwide, is the spokesperson for the importance of shared reading in early childhood thanks to the project that promotes shared reading as a tool for well-being and care for children aged 0-6 and their families. The project ‘Good habits’ brings together pediatricians from Sip (Italian Society of Pediatrics), educators from Assonidi and specialists from Nati Per Leggere. The project aims to bring shared reading moments dedicated to early childhood children to Italian nurseries and hospitals to underline how important this tool can be to promote the healthy growth of the child, to support relational development and, last but not least, to support families in overcoming critical situations.

The first events dedicated to shared reading will take place in Milan at the Familosophy Nursery and at the San Paolo Hospital on September 19 and 20, respectively, and other events will follow throughout Italy until the end of the year. “Thanks to national and international scientific evidence and the commitment of ‘Nati per Leggere, we know that shared reading in early childhood has benefits on language development, comprehension skills and cognitive and relational development – the project promoters underline – Shared reading, reading and re-reading, produces positive effects on neural networks that support different cognitive skills and functions, stimulating lexical richness in language, attention span, concentration and curiosity. The benefits that shared reading brings to the child’s socio-emotional development are also fundamental, strengthening relationships with caregivers, promoting emotional regulation and supporting empathic and understanding skills of the environment, including the internal one”.

The events will last approximately two hours and will see the staff of ‘Nati per Leggere’ engaged in the shared reading of texts of classical literature with the children of the structures involved. During these initiatives, educational cards will also be distributed with playful-pedagogical activities created ‘ad hoc’, information materials with a QR Code thanks to which parents will be able to access specific materials (videos and graphics with Bing) dedicated to advice for families to promote reading and the well-being of the little ones.

“We are honored to work with the prestigious partners of the project ‘Le ‘buone felicità’ to encourage, in all children, curiosity and a love of reading – comments Mikael Shields, CEO of Acamar Films, production company of the Bing Bunny series – We are also proud that Bing is the ambassador of this important message for the healthy growth of children and we are grateful to be associated with some of the most accredited specialists in Italy. The extraordinary success of this initiative demonstrates how much Italian families care about the development and well-being of their children. We will continue to work hard to create episodes of Bing that truly reflect the authentic needs of our precious young audience”.

The shared reading project is part of the larger project ‘Good habits’, an awareness campaign and promotion of good practices for the healthy and serene growth of children started in 2023 thanks to Bing, the Italian Society of Pediatrics and Assonidi. Over 11 thousand pediatricians throughout the country, about 450 child care facilities including nurseries and kindergartens, hundreds of thousands of families with children aged 0-6 who follow Bing on Rai and on all the main multimedia content distribution platforms, are involved in a large awareness project on topics such as nutrition, reading, the importance of outdoor play, the main rules of hygiene and child care, the importance of sleep, the fear of doctors and hospitals and much more.