Learning and playing with young children at home during the pandemic (and beyond)

Are you experiencing challenges as you juggle parenting, working, and teaching your young children in a home/virtual environment now that schools and preschools are closed? In this webinar, Megina Baker offers simple and actionable ideas for organizing and enjoying home learning with children 2-8 years old.

Megina Baker is a Lecturer in the Early Childhood Education program at BU Wheelock, teaching courses on play, early childhood curriculum, and assessment, and supervising student teachers in public school placements. Megina holds a Ph.D. from Boston College, where she studied bilingualism, teacher education, and practitioner inquiry. She recently spent several years as a researcher on the Pedagogy of Play project at Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero. Megina taught preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten in both public and private settings for over ten years, in the United States and Sweden, and currently teaches at a Swedish language immersion preschool. She is a co-author of two recently published books: Children at the Center: Transforming Early Childhood Education in the Boston Public Schools, and Reclaiming Accountability in Teacher Education, and is the mother of two young emergent bilingual children, ages 4 and 7.

Learning Resources and apps:

• https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/ (great for researching about animals and nature)
• https://www.scratchjr.org/ (“Playground” app – really stimulates creativity, very open-ended)
• https://www.marcopololearning.com/   (World School – excellent STEAM app for young children)
• https://www.getepic.com/ (great virtual library – free 30 days for families)

Screen-time Guidelines: https://www.apa.org/pi/families/resources/newsletter/2019/05/media-use-childhood

Powerful Interactions (for supporting play): https://www.powerfulinteractions.com/

Research and resources on learning through play: https://pz.harvard.edu/projects/pedagogy-of-play

Research on brain development and video chats: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160715115023.htm

Support for families of young children with disabilities: https://www.dec-sped.org/learning-decks

COVID Book for young children: coronavirus-downloadable-book.pdf/

Child mental health resources from BU: https://sites.bu.edu/childcardresearch/files/2020/04/Parenting-During-COVID-19-Slides.pdf

For bilingual families: https://www.colorincolorado.org/

https://www.fcd-us.org/assets/2016/04/MythsOfTeachingELLsEspinosa.pdf

Wee The People (social justice group for families with young children in Boston): https://www.weethepeopleboston.org/