take home teddy program

[kel24]

Hi there
I'm trying to organise the take home teddy program in our kindy room has anyone implemented it before I'm wanting to do a letter to the parents explaining why we are implementing this program but I'm stuck for what to write.

[Lorina]

Yes I have implemented that on one of the preschool rooms I used to work in. It was a great success and we had all the families participate.

Each family was given the teddy on the weekend in a small backpack along with a digital camera - just a cheap one. The family would take photos of their weekend with the teddy. When the child comes to care after their weekend with the teddy, we will print the photos and add it to the teddy album. The child then has "teddy news" to show the group what they did with the teddy over the weekend.

All parents were given a letter and had to sign a permission slip saying they will participate in the program. In the letter I added how children can share their family life with others, explain the similarities and differences of their own families and how it will strengthen relationships between home and the service. You can relate it to Outcome 1 as well.

In our monthly newsletter we also had Teds News which had the families he visited for the month and what each of the did. Very simple a couple of lines per family with photos as well.

It was really great to see how families spent their weekend and what house looked liked etc.

Hope this helps,
Lorina