4th August 2026
The Institute of Health Visiting (iHV) is delighted to share the new promotional brochure for Little Sparks, Big Starts – Training on Early Brain Development for Health Visitors.
Little Sparks, Big Starts – Health Visiting, is an exciting two-part programme designed to support health visiting practitioners in translating key messages about baby brain development into meaningful conversations with parents and carers. It complements, rather than replaces, existing practice.
The programme comprises:
- A flexible, free-to-access e-learning package for all health visiting practitioners.
- An accompanying web-based Parent App to support practitioners’ conversations with families.
Little Sparks, Big Starts – Health Visiting was developed with support from Kindred Squared and aims to raise awareness and understanding of early brain development, supporting parents, health visiting teams, educators and communities to improve outcomes for children aged 0–5 years.
Positive early feedback
Initial feedback from health visiting practitioners has been extremely encouraging. Users describe the e-learning as engaging, interactive and practical, with many appreciating that it can be completed in under an hour, making it easy to fit around busy workloads.
Practitioners report increased confidence in having meaningful conversations with parents and carers about baby brain development. They also value the accompanying web-based Parent App as a practical resource that reinforces key messages during and after contacts with families.
Parents and carers have responded positively to the programme’s strengths-based approach, recognising that it celebrates the everyday interactions they are already having with their babies while offering simple, evidence-informed ideas to further support early brain development.
Vicky Gilroy, iHV Director of Innovation and Research, said:
“It has been a privilege to collaborate with Kindred Squared in the co-design of the Little Sparks, Big Starts programme. The e-learning programme is engaging, interactive and provides an important overview of the value of having meaningful conversations with parents and carers about baby brain development. The accompanying resource further supports these interactions by helping practitioners promote children’s development through everyday experiences and responsive interactions with parents and carers.”
Felicity Gillespie, CEO of Kindred Squared, said:
“Health visitors play a vital role in helping new parents understand their baby’s development and the difference that everyday interactions can make. We are delighted to work with the Institute of Health Visiting on this essential programme, equipping practitioners with practical tools to support these important conversations.”
Little Sparks, Big Starts has been welcomed as a valuable addition to health visiting practice, helping practitioners translate the science of early brain development into accessible, everyday conversations with families.
The programme highlights the critical importance of early childhood experiences in shaping brain development, emotional wellbeing and future learning. It reassures parents that the everyday moments they already share with their babies make a real difference, while providing practical ideas and information to build on these interactions.
As more practitioners complete the programme and begin using the Parent Web App with families, iHV and Kindred Squared look forward to gathering further feedback to continue refining and developing the resources.
Find out more
If you haven’t already explored the programme, now is the perfect opportunity. The e-learning takes less than an hour to complete and has been designed with the demands of health visitors’ busy schedules in mind.
How to access Little Sparks, Big Starts e-learning programme
- For iHV members:
Access to the whole Little Sparks, Big Starts – Health Visiting programme is free, with instant access for all iHV members via iHV LEARN. - For non-members:
To register for free access to the programme and the accompanying Parent App, please complete your details here.
To explore all strands of the Little Sparks, Big Starts programme, visit: https://littlesparks.org.uk/
We are delighted by the positive response so far and would love to hear your feedback as you use the resources and share them with parents and carers.
To cite this short brochure, please use the link to the pdf here: https://bit.ly/4fuCnww
