Creative Kits Keep Kids Learning
Early in the transition of COVID-19 quarantine, Big Thought surveyed the parents of our learners to identify their greatest needs and challenges. Parents indicated significant stressors on balancing family care, concern about their financial future, and lack of familiarity on how to formally teach their child (this was especially true for parents with limited English skills). Youth indicated that they are experiencing increased responsibilities in the home for caring for younger siblings and assisting them with their schoolwork. For all respondents, there is some sharing required of wifi-enabled devices among multiple family members. Big Thought has used these surveys to keep the needs and concerns of our families top of mind as we continue to develop strategies to serve them during these times.
As a result of feedback from families enrolled in Thriving Minds, Big Thought developed a pilot program called Creative Kits.
Creative Kits contain up to 10 activities (1 activity per day for 2 weeks) for families who are enrolled in our Thriving Minds After School program. Kits include
- supplies needed for each activity,
- a schedule of activities,
- secure links to the live stream of the activity for students to connect with the afterschool instructor they spent much of the school year building a relationship with.
Each kit is full of activities for continuous creative learning! From SEL to STEM to creative expression and more… the learning continues for our youth!
The Creative Kit pilot kicked off on Fri., May 8 with 100 kits for families enrolled in Thriving Minds at Rosemont Lower and Lakewood Elementary Schools.
We anticipate that we will use Creative Kits for our DCoL SOARS camps as well, which reach targeted neighborhoods within the City of Dallas (West Dallas, Pleasant Grove and Redbird).
Interested in a Creative Kit? We want to hear more from you!
Please share your thoughts!
