Resources to Share with Families

COVID-19 Information for families

• NCPMI and the University of South Florida's Helping Children and Families Cope page has a lot of great resources, including scripted stories for helping young children understand why they can't go to school right now, a "staycation kit" with offline ideas for children's activities, and tips for how to help young children deal with hard emotions.  Their Family Engagement page has handouts on everything from making diapering easier to how to help your child stop biting. Note that the materials for families are listed at the bottom of the page under "Related Resources."
• A Comic to Help Kids Understand Coronavirus (NPR)
• Talking to Kids about the Coronavirus (Child Mind Institute)
• Zero to Three's Tips for Families Talking to Children About the Coronavirus
• American Academy of Pediatrics COVID-19 Resources
• Child Trends Resources for Supporting Children's Emotional Well-Being during the COVID-19 Pandemic
• Fred Rogers Center Support for Helpers during Coronavirus
• Save the Children's Coronavirus Resources include tips for talking to children about the virus, helping kids cope with school closures, relaxation activities to do at home with kids, lots of ideas for activities you can do with kids, and recommendations for free educational apps and web sites, organized by age group.
• Child Care Aware Resources for Families (en Espanol)
• 10 Things You Can Do To Manage COVID 19 At Home (a short video from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• The Wiggles Social Distancing Video
• Sesame Street's Caring for Each Other page offers a TON of different resources for families during COVID-19, including free access to over a hundred e-books

Ideas for Children's Activities during Social Distancing

• LDOE Guidance for Early Learning at Home
• New York City Children's Theater's Creative Clubhouse is a virtual playspace for kids of all ages! It offers crafts, DIY Storytime and Music classes, and more. While most activities are free, there is paid programming as well. You can receive free access to their paid programming by filling out this form.
• New Orleans Public Library is hosting Virtual StoryTime
• New Orleans Public Schools Resources for Distance Learning (four and five year olds)
• The Atlanta Speech School offers a free online preschool for children ages 18 months to four years through Cox Academy.
• The Illinois Early Learning Project's Learning at Home During Trying Times offers tips on stable routines, positive guidance and developmentally appropriate activities
• Teaching Strategies' Healthy at Home toolkit offers a free selection of resources from The Creative Curriculum® and ReadyRosie™ providing families with information and resources for supporting the children in their care.
• Teachstone (the makers of CLASS) has great COVID-19 resources and ideas for bringing incorporating CLASS (and high quality adult-child interactions) into your everyday activities at home.
• High Scope has printable ideas for Active Learning at Home for infants, toddlers and Preschoolers
• The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has lots of ideas for how families can support their youngest learners
• Texting services that send parents information and activities via regular texts include 
  • Bright by Text (prenatal through age eight): text LBP to 274448
  • Vroom (birth through age five)
• PBS PreK-12 Resources for Emergency Closings
• Read, Wonder, and Learn - watch children’s authors read their books aloud
• Lunch doodles with Mo Willems: well known children’s author (who was raised in New Orleans) offered a 15-episode video series with stories and illustrations
• YMCA 360 has free on-demand exercise classes for kids and adults 
• CATCH Health at Home is offering free evidence-based health, nutrition, and physical education materials for children from pre-k through eighth grade, including mindfulness tips 

Community Resources and Benefits

• Overview of Recent Changes to Benefits and Tax Credits for Families
• New Orleans is offering a COVID-19 Meal Assistance for eligible residents that offers two meals delivered daily for a month. Note that FEMA rules disqualify anyone receiving SNAP, Meals on Wheels or NOLA Public Schools Meals. You can also call 311 to register!
• The Parenting Center at Children's Hospital's staff of Parent Educators is available to the public. Parents who have questions about development and behavior - transitions/routines, eating, sleeping, challenging behavior, milestones - can call (504.896.9591) or email (chparenting@lcmchealth.org). Their Breast & Bottle infant feeding support group is reconvening virtually and they offer other support groups too!
• TrainingGrounds is offering free Facebook playgroups, two-way texting for parenting support (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursdays 9 am-11 am and 9 pm-11pm) and a texting service with resources and parenting tips.
• Young Audiences of Louisiana's Baby Artsplay! is offering its workshops for infants and toddlers through Facebook Live. Visit their Facebook Events page to sign up and watch past sessions. 
• The Junior League's Diaper Bank is offering expanded access to free diapers.
• The Louisiana Department of Health's Office of Behavioral Health's new Keep Calm Through COVID crisis phone line is staffed by trained counselors who can offer information and service coordination, linking callers to mental health and substance abuse counseling services. Call the Keep Calm Through COVID hotline at 1-866-310-7977 at any time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All calls are confidential.
• Unemployment Benefits for workers who are unemployed as a result of COVID-19
• Call Second Harvest Food Bank's toll-free line (1-855-392-9338) to learn about local food pantries throughout Southeast Louisiana, and get assistance applying for SNAP and other community 

Resources for Children in Early Intervention or who have Special Needs

• Early Steps is continuing to provide services remotely. Our friends at Families Helping Families  held a free webinar on How to Maximize your Time with Early Steps.
• Practice Improvement Tools: Practice Guides for Families (ECTA Center) has great links that include videos for parents to see and a ton of guidance on how to support children's learning through play
• Supporting Individuals with Autism through Uncertain Times (AFIRM) has information in multiple languages