8 ways to prevent kids to run away from your zoom lessons, even if they are toddlers
During a storytelling zoom meeting, one of the toddlers left.
I felt helpless, shame (parents are there), and discouraged to continue with the remaining children.
If you are teaching online and kids leave the class ( computer) what can you do? nothing...
You can't even ask them to come back! They can do what they want! It's their house!
So the bad news is that we, kindergarten and teachers lose a lot of control during online class.
The good news is that we will have to be more:
more creative and interesting.
Kids will stay with us because they WANT to. Not because they have to. And that's good, right? We want kids to want to listen to us. But it's a challenge.
In this blog post, I offer 8 different ways you can engage kids in your activity even if they are toddlers.
If you are a homeschool parent, it can help you too. If you are a parent that wants your child to take part in lessons, share this with their teachers.
By the way, these tactics work great in offline teaching and I recommend this approach always.
8 ways to make children fascinated with you in zoom lessons.
- Open a zoom meeting with a surprise:
A cool screen background with energetic music. You are not there. They expect to see you. Suddenly, a puppet doll says worried that she can't find you, the teacher. Maybe there is a magic word they know that could bring you back. Have fun! Find new ways to begin a lesson.
There are a lot of free great screen background pictures!
- Storytime is all the time.
Have you ever binged on a Netflix series? why? because there is a story that you have to know what happens next.
Imagine, every day there is a story blended through all your lessons.
The main character of your story can only survive through solving teaching tasks. Each lesson ends with a bigger puzzle. Only in the next lesson, there will be an answer.
Yes, I know you are not a screenwriter you never signed for that! My intention is that you put a bit of magic inside the content. Choose a small way to connect children to the content through a story and not only teaching them. - Activate the children BEFORE they need it.
When children need to move there body but they must sit still and listen, it's challenging for them.
Try to make activity breaks BEFORE reaching that point. Build it as part of the lessons.
Examples:
jump 2 + 2 times.
Find 5 things in the house that begin with the letter B.
If every 15 minutes they move their body in a guided, fun way they will come back to you. - Theatrical tools:
a. Sometimes teach as a character, as a Fortune teller - I see in the future a challenging math problem.... Have fun with this, Maybe there are 4 Tasks you HAVE to do before Professor Snape is coming to check.
b. A treasure box that inside is the answer to a quiz. Every closed box that you open dramatically always creates curiosity. (You can hint what's inside, they can guess what's inside....)
c. Puppets that talk to kids.
- Whanne come to my house? This is a unique time: We are all visiting each others house! Let's use it,
a couple of ways:
Bring things from your house for an activity. In this picture, I used wooden sticks to create a music rhythmic.
If you are telling a story about a dog, invite the children to show you their dog toys at home.
Every day one pupil makes us sightseeing in his room or fun place in their house.
Ask parents to hide something in the house and they have to find it. Did I mention already to try and also have fun with this chaotic time? - Use music and musical instruments:
Give hints: for example:
Listen to this song and tell me which animal am I going to tell you a story about.
Create an atmosphere - sad or happy.
Energize the children: every time you play the music they dance or run. But they have to listen closely to when the music stops. Let's see how many of you first notice when the music stopped and came to sit in front of me.
Play together with musical instruments that every house has. Drum on the chair together or 10 times or with a rhythm. - Share screen to show:
Drawings in Paint app, Spinning wheel, Pool apps, Pictures, Video clips.
Here the toddlers are telling me what colors to paint the elephant.
Example:
Here is a cool game you can ONLY use in Zoom:
Ask everyone to stop video display, or enables them to use video (Just names and pictures). Now you can only hear one another. You can mute everyone and tell them that you will unmute only one of the children. They have to guess who it is? Or who is making this animal sound?
nice, right? - Flip classroom:
Let the pupils be teachers: One of the pupils decides on movements and everyone imitates.
You start telling a story and someone else continues.
Someone shows a book they have at home and recommends or tell the story or read aloud.
One of the children asks a question and decides who answeres. Children love being in charge.
A NEW live online training on how to a 45-minute create fascinating storytelling activity- online & offline
If you loved this approach, and want more ideas with a structured storytelling activity
Come to my new Live training where you will discover more ways to fascinate children through zoom.
Get all the details & register here
