We develop and deliver skills development workshops for professionals who would like to integrate additional family literacy principles and themes into their work with young children and their families. These workshops can be customized to suit your needs and timeframe. We also offer evidence-based parent-child programs and training in partnership with community organizations. Our goal is to empower parents as their children’s first teachers, and to build capacity for early learning opportunities. Please contact us to discuss these options.
We offer a number of professional development workshops designed for family literacy practitioners, early years staff in child care centres and schools and others working to support families and young children in the development of early learning skills. Please contact us for a complete listing of opportunities. Current themes include:
1,2,3 Count With Me
Shares simple and accessible resources, tools and strategies to support the emerging numeracy skills of children from birth to 6
Baby Talk: Encouraging Language Development with Infants and Toddlers
Focuses on how we can support children’s language development in the early years through sharing practical and interactive strategies to help children engage and communicate with their caregivers. Topics covered include: children’s conversational styles, strategies to encourage interaction and communication, rhymes and stories that build emergent literacy skills, and supporting families as partners in language development.
Bouncing Back – The Importance of Active, Outdoor Play
Explores how active play and nature support early learning opportunities and healthy child development
Childhood: There’s No App for That!
Focuses on family literacy inspired strategies to help parents, caregivers and professionals manage screen time use – both in their own lives, as well as in the lives of the children around them.
Colouring Outside the Lines
Explores the concept that creativity is a bridge to learning and an important part of a young child’s development and includes how we can develop early learning environments that support creative thinking and kinesthetic learning through the arts.
Fabulous Facilitating
Provides tips to help facilitators build their skills and effectiveness when working with groups. Topics covered include: learning styles, exploring leadership roles, using positive group management, effective problem solving, and team building.
First Friends: Developing Empathy and Building Peer Relationships in the Early Years
Focuses on providing early literacy resources, tools and strategies that support the emerging social-emotional skills of children from birth to 6
Growing Strong STEMS – Supporting Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Concepts in the Early Years
Shares practical skills, tips and resources for implementing STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) learning into early childhood settings.
Open a Book, Open the World: Family Literacy Strategies to Support Diversity
Looks at multi-language and diverse children’s books and activities complemented with strategies on how to extend literacy concepts that invite children to learn about inclusiveness and acceptance of differences. Supports the fundamentals of family literacy while promoting diversity including race, creed, cultures, abilities and gender.
Positive Pathways: Literacy Strategies to Promote Resilience in Early Childhood
Focuses on providing early learning resources, tools and strategies to support building a positive emotional foundation and childhood resilience; this workshop is designed for those working with the birth to 6 age group in a family literacy setting.
Read, Rhyme, Sing, & Play
Explores a variety of creative and fun literacy extension ideas based on rhymes, songs, and book examples provided. This is an interactive workshop that will have you whistling a new tune while channeling your inner creative artist with new literacy-based activities that can be integrated into current programming.
Sing Me a Story, Read Me a Song
Uses music, rhymes, stories, movement, props and more that provide a variety of fun early literacy activities to incorporate into current programming
Skinned Knees: The Benefits of Risky Play
Discusses the science behind the benefits of risky play, how risky play impacts literacy and learning, and how access to active outdoor play is essential for healthy child development.
Take it Outside!: Integrating Literacy and Nature
Focuses on sharing a variety of ways of extending literacy concepts using childrens’ books with a nature theme and the outdoor environment as a learning tool.
We Dig Dinosaurs (And So Much More!): Following Children’s Interests to Best Support Learning
Explores stories, rhymes, songs and hands-on activities that can be adapted to the interests of the children in various early learning environments while encouraging numeracy, literacy, gross and fine motor skills.
Seasonal Workshops: These include “Winter Wonderland”, “Stories & Songs of Spring”, “Sliding into Summer” and “Falling into Books”
Each of these share a selection of seasonally-themed books designed for infants, toddlers and preschoolers, as well as a variety of literacy extension ideas and hands-on activities that can be easily integrated into programming.
We offer trainings in a variety of parent-child literacy programs for facilitators to run in their home communities. Our staff can also directly deliver parent-child programs on site at family resource centres, schools, child care centres and other community settings. All programs incorporate child-led, play-based learning philosophies into the content.
For more information on our programs, please see Program Descriptions.
Group Presentations
Bookmates has experienced staff that deliver presentations to your group of parents, volunteers, and/or professionals on a wide variety of family learning topics, such as interactive play, literacy activities for home, or numeracy.