Proactive thinking with toddlers

Context:

Early Years, Early Years Teacher , 15 years of experience

Dilemma/Difficulty

During the pandemic and the lockdown of schools, Early Years teachers needed to respond very and als find ways to teach their very young students in a digital setting.

In what ways did you respond to this dilemma/difficulty?

Every day via social media (facebook in the beginning) I made a list of 4 activities that the toddlers could do with their parents. Usually based on materials that almost everyone has at home (home-garden-and-kitchen materials or average toys). After a few days, a parent suggested showing this in videos.

For weeks I made daily videos in which there were feasible STE(A)M-related assignments and a character came to give his findings. The latter provided a lot of humor, but also a need among the toddlers and their parents. They thought it was so fun and funny that they kept watching and participating. These videos were distributed via whatsapp, facebook, instagram and youtube to befriended parents, parents of my class and school, but other schools in area also started following and sharing these videos.