Yellow Kite secures children's activity debut from David

Yellow Kite has secured How to Create Little Happy Learners: Daily Activities for Children, the debut from Sophie David which aims to “promote a love of learning”. 

Nicky Ross, editorial director, acquired world rights from Darryl Samaraweera at Artellus Ltd. How to Create Little Happy Learners will be published in hardback and e-book in the UK on 26th May 2022. It will also be published in May in the US by Hachette sister imprint Mobius. 

Working as a teacher before becoming a stay-at-home mum gave David the expertise to “rethink her approach to play” with her children by developing playful activities that would support her children’s learning in short periods of undivided attention. The publisher wrote: “The transformation for her whole family was life-changing. Simply by giving each child a short period of undivided attention, they became much more engaged and enthusiastic about learning (which meant every area of family life ran more smoothly)."

David’s “creativity and astonishing imagination” inspired  How to Create Little Happy Learners which contains more than 60 simple activities to “encourage everything from problem-solving and creativity to numbers and fine motor skills”. These activities have been road-tested on David’s own children and been designed in different ways for each age group, from babies to five-year-olds.  

Ross commented: “A quick look at the comments on the Little Happy Learners Instagram account made me realise that Sophie was serving a real need for parents of young children. I know from my own experience that finding activities to engage young children can be quite a challenge. And the fact that the fun is also helping to prepare them for starting school is obviously an added bonus.”

David added: “As a parent and teacher, my main aim has always been to ensure that children love to learn. Once I started to plan one-to-one activities for my own children every day, I found myself thinking about the learning opportunities within each one. I loved knowing that they were learning through play, and it filled me with joy to know that I was nurturing a love of learning in them. I truly believe that when a child loves to learn, they will always achieve big things. But how do you teach a love of learning? The answer to that is really simple. You have to love it too, and I hope this book will inspire you to try.”