Why host a parent workshop?
- Events for parents can be a lot of work but they help to create a positive relationship of trust and open up the lines of communication.
- Parents, guardians, and other adult family members are the child’s first teachers, and what happens at home can be an indication of later literacy and success at school.
- Parents want the best for their children and are able to support their learning at home.
- Parents are our partners but are often waiting for us to make the first move, and for us to show what to do and how to do it.
- Family events connect home life and school life, ensuring that little ones feel safe, cared for and their learning is important.
The 4 steps to hosting a Parent Workshop:
- Planning
- Preparing
- Actioning
- Resources and reflecting
1. Planning your parent workshop
So, you see the benefits of hosting a parent workshop at your preschool. But where do you start?
The first step is to learn about what should be included in a parent workshop. Grow ECD offers a free online training course through the ECD Giraffe App called Hosting a Parent Reading and Literacy Workshop. Although this training focuses on literacy the same concepts can be applied to any parent workshop topic. After getting your certificate of training completion you will feel confident to start the process of planning your ECD centre’s next parent workshop.
Let’s think about what we need to consider when it comes to planning.
Things to consider when planning a Parent Workshop
Topic: Choose a topic that would interest most parents and one that is important to the children in your centre.
Date and time: Choose a day and time that is most convenient for the parents, in order to ensure a full house. Consider the working parents, safety and available time.
Venue: If your centre is big enough host it there and make sure that the children’s work is on display, your centre is neat and educational material is on the walls. If your centre is too small, host the workshop at a community or church hall if possible.
Purpose: Many parents are fearful of coming to their child’s centre as they may be behind in fees. Encourage the parents to attend by making the purpose of the workshop clear to them and avoid all talk of fees on the day.
Cost, refreshments: Consider what your workshop will cost, printing, stationary and refreshments can be expensive. Parents could be asked to contribute a small amount to attend or the workshop could be part of your fundraising strategy.
Advertising your parent workshop
Spread the news in many different ways to ensure that all parents are reached. Whatsapp messages, notice boards, messages in children’s message books and word of mouth are all effective methods to get your message out there.
Create a poster or flyers to advertise that are sent home with the children, placed at your community clinic or church if you are not just inviting your centre’s parents. The Grow ECD Giraffe app has free editable and downloadable event invitation resources. All you have to do is add your own centre information!
2. Preparing for your parent workshop
In order to host a successful parent workshop you will need to prepare ahead of time. Collect all equipment that you will need, set up the venue, and make sure that you have printed your parent guides. Teachers can meet and greet and help to make this a stress-free day for all.
Equipment you may need
- Labels or stickers for name badges
- A register of confirmed attendees (all attendees must sign in)
- Petty cash (to receive payment if charged, and provide small change)
- Stationery box with scissors, pens, prestick, colour pens etc
- Printed workbook and pen for each parent
- Large sheet of paper / white board
- Plain A4 paper
- magazines and glue
3. Actioning your parent workshop
Introduction
Introduce yourself as a facilitator and depending on how well you know the group, give a little bit about your background.
Explain that the purpose of the workshop is to equip parents as primary educators and role models for their children.
Share the agenda for the workshop, how long it will be, what will be shared and what parents will learn. (for example, the workshop will be 1 hour and we will look at literacy skills and how you can help your children at home).
Hand out the parent workbooks and ask parents to feel free to make notes as they are taking the workbook home with them.
Icebreakers
Idea 1: Ask the parents to introduce themselves, and then tell the group the name of their child at the center. They can then be asked to describe what is really special about their child using only 1 word (positive words only).
Idea 2: Get all parents to stand up and sing a rhyme that gets them moving, try the head, shoulders, knees and toes rhyme.
Information sharing
Now that the parents have arrived, settled in and introduced themselves it is time to start the workshop with a practical activity.
Demonstrate the topic of the workshop. If you are talking about litearcy then read a book as you would to your learners.
Provide reasons as to why this topic is important for the parents and their child’s education.
Asking the parents questions about their own experiences can open up discussions.
Activities
Brainstorming can help parents to feel that they have something to contribute. Brainstorming exercises gives everyone the opportunity to share and be heard.
Choose a question to brainstorm in your planning phase.
Write the question down on a large board or piece of paper.
Discuss different answers.
Review the brainstorming activity and look at the suggestions made by the parents.
Share your top tips with them using the information from the brainstorming session to guide your chat.
4. Resources and Reflecting
Not all parents will have access to or funding to buy resources. If you are aware of any free resources make them aware of those too. For example Book Dash has 200 free online and downloadable books in many languages so that parents can use their phones to find amazing stories for their children.
Reflect and commit
It’s time to wrap things up, so involve the parents in the final activity.
- Encourage parents to share and commit to following up at home. The facilitator can ask parents to think about how they can use what they learnt at the workshop in their own homes.
- Ask each parent to share one idea that they have and record it if possible on a board or sheet of paper.
- Provide one final resource or activity that they can do at home with their child. For example making their own small book at home.
Grow ECD is an early learning social enterprise. We equip ECD businesses and organisations with the skills, support and resources they need to provide 5-star early learning for every child.