Character CrittersA character education program for

preschool children and their parents

Kim JonesRebecca White

COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE

LSU AGCENTER

Brought to you today by:

Why Early Character Education for Preschoolers?

Character education has been identified as a key need for children

Why Early Character Education for Preschoolers?

Research indicates the foundation for moral development is strongly influenced in the very early years of a child's life by parents, early teachers and caregivers.

Program Overview

Developed for pre-school children and their parents

Designed to be implemented by volunteers

Comprehensive in design with 5 components

Children’s stories about character

Parent-child interaction take-home sheets

Educational presentations for parents

Storybooks Program evaluation

Program Components

For all Louisiana 3 - 5 year olds to hear the Character Critter stories from

teachers, volunteers and/or their parents

Louisiana Vision for Character Critters

Program Objectives

Introduce children to character concepts Increase parents’ understanding of character

concepts Increase parents’ involvement in their

children’s character development Teachers, volunteer storytellers, and parents’

to tell character stories to young children Increase volunteerism in communities

Character Critters Program Impacts

Thousands of free resource kits to teachers

Thousands of teachers and volunteers trained

Educational Website developed Over 160,000 parents of young

children reached with storybooks Hundreds of thousands of young

children have heard Character Critters stories

Character Critters Program Impacts -Teachers

Learned activities to help with their student’s development

Learned to teach character concepts to their students

Are conducting character activities for their students

Character Critters Program Impacts - Caregivers and Parents

Childcare providers learned to teach concepts of character

Parents learned activities to help with their child’s’ development

Parents indicated they will teach the traits of character

Character Critter Educator Kits

Storyboards Program

Implementation Guide

Sample storybook

Additional Character Critter Ideas

Volunteer resource kits have been developed to include puppets and other teaching supplies

Google search for “LSU AgCenter Character Critters”

Character Critters Website

Puppets

Folkmanis Puppets

Volunteers Getting Materials Ready

Other Resources

Flannel Board Storytelling

glove Art activities

Critter Storytelling Volunteers

Hearing the Critter Stories

Hearing the Critters Stories

“Bunny Hoppin”

Learning to Plant a Tree Like Carrie the Caring Cat

Kindergarten students hoppin’ round like

Fran and Freddie the Fair Frogs.

Critters in the Classroom

More Critters in the Classroom

Kindergarten students learning about fairness

Kindergarten students talking about fairness

Parents Telling Stories to Their Children

Use the Character Critters resources, your enhancement materials and ideas with your children

Send home the parent-child take-home sheets

Participate in the Character Critters evaluation and return to your local LSU AgCenter agent who will send to Dr. Rebecca White

How you can help!

Website: www.lsuagcenter.com

For more information contact:

Kim JonesInstructor, Department of 4-H Youth

DevelopmentEmail: kjones@agcenter.lsu.edu

(225) 578-2196

Rebecca White, Ph.D.Professor, Organization Development and

Evaluation Email: bwhite@agcenter.lsu.edu

(225) 578-3921