By Mike Kruzman /news@whmi.com

Preschoolers and parents around Livingston County are getting backpacks full of fun, educational materials to keep their young ones engaged while school is out.


The Livingston Educational Service Agency has prepared 380 Flexible Learning Kits that will be dropped off door-to-door to all of their Head Start and Great Start Readiness Preschool students this week. Inside the backpacks are 4 books, chalk, markers, paper, crayons, scissors, a feelings chart, and COVID-19 social stories that help parents explain to their young students what’s going on.

The kits are part of LESAs Continuity of Learning Plan to carry on learning through the pandemic with a new, big overarching idea for each week. Along with the educational goodies in the backpacks, LESA Assistant Superintendent for Early Learning Sean LaRosa said they also have weekly quarantine tips to help families support learning. These are things that might focus on talking and engaging with little ones, like how to manage feelings, or having them count how many family members are in the house or how many steps it takes them to move from the kitchen to the bathroom.

LaRosa said the most important thing for families to remember is that supporting a child’s learning doesn’t have to be complicated or require technology- it requires talking, engaging, and playing. Additionally as part of the Continuity of Learning Plan, LESA teachers will be calling families weekly and doing read-alouds with stories appropriate for the week’s big lesson.

For more information on LESA and all they do, visit their website, www.livingstonesa.org.