This paper reports the evaluation of an arts-based programme designed to encourage parental participation in an urban Children's Centre. The programme was aimed to explore the possible beneficial effects of arts-based activity as a means of engaging "hard to reach" parents more fully in the services of the centre. Practical workshops were designed for parents and their children and delivered over a 10-week period. From the evidence garnered in the evaluation, the potential of arts activities as a means to improve parental participation remains uncertain. Of greater significance, however, observations by parents and facilitators revealed that arts-based activities were a powerful dialogic tool for mediating interactions between parent and child. In particular, dance, drama and music emerged as powerful conduits for dialogic encounters with media-based activities offering previously unforeseen opportunities for the sharing of family lifeworlds.