Busy Bees Nurseries Take on Four-Books-A-Day Challenge as Children's Reading Hits 20-Year Low
Promotional Feature
Children’s love of reading has hit a 20-year low, but in Busy Bees nurseries across the UK, the magic of storytime is alive and thriving. Alongside the National Literacy Trust, Busy Bees is on a mission to turn that statistic on its head and reignite a lifelong love of reading.
More than 37,000 children across over 350 Busy Bees nurseries are joining the ‘Get the Reading Buzz’ pledge – a nationwide initiative launched by Busy Bees, the UK’s leading early years education provider, which aims to read over 45 million books with children this year.
Busy Bees is on a mission to reclaim storytime as a joyful experience that fosters a love of reading from the very beginning. Families are invited to join in, rediscovering the enjoyment of reading at home together and helping children to reach this momentous milestone.
The initiative comes at a critical moment. Recent figures show that just one in three children enjoy reading in their free time, and fewer than one in five read daily. Alarmingly, one in 10 children do not own a book, and only half (50.5%) of parents now read with their child each day, down from two-thirds (66.1%) in 2019.
In response to this decline, Busy Bees nurseries are embedding reading into every part of the nursery day, with children enjoying at least four stories, supported by dedicated story times and book-rich learning environments designed to nurture early literacy skills and a lifelong love of reading. The nurseries are also working closely with parents, providing practical guidance, resources, and book recommendations to help families build consistent reading habits at home.
With 2026 marking the National Year of Reading, experts warn that early reading experiences are more crucial than ever. Reading together during a child’s earliest years is proven to support language development, confidence and imagination – foundations that shape children’s academic outcomes well beyond their early years.