Under-5 Learning: Your Toughest Qs Answered!

I recently did a Webinar for ‘Which School Advisor‘ with my friend and colleague Laura Henry-Allain creator of the Cbeebies hit series for children JoJo and Gran Gran. Laura has been an early years trainer and consultant for many years.

Which School Advisor said, ‘We hear you loud and clear! Online, at home learning is HARD with children under 5. To try to support our readers we recently held a webinar with two renowned Early Years experts, Sue Atkins and Laura Henry. Their advice was so powerful that we have decided to bring together a series of video clips to share with you here.’

They share here the very best video excerpts from the recent webinar with Early years experts Sue Atkins and Laura Henry.

Just click here to watch the videos.

Our readers had many questions for Sue and Laura and those below were the most common and challenging of them all.

We know that teaching your own young children, at home, in a socially distant world is a real challenge and we hope seeing and hearing this amazing advice helps get you through to the end of term.

Question 1 – Engagement

During our Early Year webinar, one WSA reader wanted to ask how to keep her 5-year-old son engaged in his school work.  She was also keen to understand how long an ideal lesson should be at this young age.

If your child is refusing to complete (or even start!) their school work, it can be hard to know what to do for the best.  In this video, experts Sue and Laura share their comprehensive advice.

Question 2 – Focus

Help! Many of our Early Years webinar guests had questions around concentration and focus for young children.

WSA Reader Nola asked “My 5 year old can’t focus on his online lessons. How do I get him to refocus?” Watch here to see how Sue and Laura suggest bringing your child’s attention back to the task at hand.

Question 3 – Additional Needs

Supporting children with SEN to learn at home often comes with added challenges.  In this next video, Sue and Laura offer advice to the parents of a young child with ADHD paired with language delay.

This advice will be helpful to all parents of children with additional needs.

Question 4 – Physical Development

One WSA Early Years webinar participant asked – how best to support my child’s physical development at home?  It’s such a challenge to keep children active at home, especially as the weather begins to heat up.

Laura and Sue share their thoughts about the importance of maintaining physical activity and keeping energy levels at home, high!

Question 5 – Challenging Behaviour

A big question and one all parents would all like the answer to!  During our webinar, one participant asked how best to manage behaviour at home.

How can we replicate the type of behaviour management systems our children adhere to in school and nursery?  Sue and Laura’s advice might just surprise you!

Question 6 – Falling Behind

As the school closures continue, most parents will admit to having felt concerned at the prospect of their child falling behind.

How does this concern apply to very young children?   Will they fall behind and how can parents help? This was a question Sue and Laura tackled during our special Early Years webinar.

Question 7 – Screen Time

SCREEN TIME! With every family spending so much more time at home, those requests for screen time can incessant, how can parents get this under control?

What is the healthy ‘magic number’ for screen time hours? Find out what Sue and Laura had to say in the video below.