CHILDREN have taken part in events organised for National Childminding Week.

The theme of the week's activities was Growing Up With Stories, which was celebrated throughout Redcar and Cleveland by childminders and the children they care for.

Events included a craft activity at Lakeside Family Plus Centre, in Redcar, where children made books, play activities at Margrove Park, play and storytelling at Skinningrove Riverside Centre, and a teddy bears' picnic.

The childminders made story sacks for the week, containing a fictional book on which the sack is based, an associated information book, a CD and characters and objects that appear in the story.

Childminder development co-ordinator Lesley Granger said 20 childminders had worked since April, with the aim of making 20 to 30 story sacks by the end of the year for people to borrow and use with their children.

She said: "The children that have played with them this week have had so much fun using the different characters and objects to tell the stories."