Parent kits are a great way to encourage parent-child interaction at home and extend learning. Many parents want the best for their children, but not all have the resources at home or necessarily know how to facilitate that learning.
What is a parent kit? A parent kit is a group of items based on a topic/theme or particular skills, usually packaged together in some sort of container/holder. It could be based on a theme that the children are interested in (Elmo) or a theme from the classroom curriculum (Apples). You could even have a parent kit dedicated to literacy or small motor development, etc..
The teacher rotates the kit to each child in the class and allows them to take the kit home for a certain amount of days (or perhaps over the weekend.) The child and parent(s) interact with one another as they complete the activities included and return the kit to school by the specified date. View some made by our students HERE.
A parent kit generally includes a minimum of five items, perhaps more, including a parent handbook which includes: an index of items included, detailed directions of how to use/do each activity/game/item, and perhaps a couple fingerplays/stories/rhymes related to the theme or other activity simple ideas they could enjoy together.
You could include books, puzzles, recipes, lacing cards, activity cards, puppet/doll, various games, etc. in your parent kits. In my opinion, the best parent kits include some store-bought items and some teacher-made items. Be sure to choose items that are durable or easily (and inexpensively)replaceable.
If you don’t currently use parent kits in your program, I highly encourage you to consider implementing them. They are beneficial in so many ways!
Do YOU currently use parent kits in your program? Why or why not? If you do, what’s your favorite parent kit? Did you have one that wasn’t as successful? Tell us about it. Comment below.
I have somthing like this in my classroom, but have not used it yet. I took small canves bags that my center has and wrote with fabric markers the names on the outside of the bag.
for exp. one bag is a math bag and inside the bag are ziplock bags with games inside and I wrote the instuctions on the plastic with other ideas on how to use the items in the plastic bag. There is more then one way to use the items in each plastic bag. like i have a matching color game and on the plastic bag one of the ideas is to find objects around the house that match that color. The ideas I put on the bag are things that they can do at home or in the car. I also added a blank book useing plain paper making it ayway you want and added a note asking parents to write what works and what doesn’t. and any other ways they used the games or objects.
I didn’t use themes I used my learning stations like math, listening, lit. writing, etc.
I like the idea of them. parents in my room are always coming up to me with questions about what can then they do at home with their child to pomote learning.
heres a great idea.
I looked at the pictures and I think I now have a lot of great ideas for some more parent kits. It’s endless the kits you can make
what are some other names you can call them? I was calling them take-home kits.