Guidelines for room arrangement and materials to set up an infant room. The goal of an infant program is to offer optimal opportunity for growth and development, as well as offer a safe and nurturing environment. What do we need to consider for optimal infant environments?
Although many stages in oral language seem to “just happen,” all children need adults who consciously guide and support language development to its fullest extent.
There are many remarkable changes between children’s first and second birthdays. The most obvious is that they begin talking.
Preschoolers develop their ability to comprehend and tell stories, become more skilled conversationalists, and begin to understand the mechanics of written language.
Two-year-olds (twos) are expressing their opinions, making choices, and practicing independence.
Leadership instills confidence, and helps children solve problems creatively, work in a team, and work collaboratively with others.
Taking children on a walk is such an easy activity, especially when the weather is warm. If you stop and think about it, a lot of great learning can take place on a simple walk around the block or in the back yard.
Ideas to foster children’s creativity by incorporating open-ended materials and loose parts in the early learning environment.
Easy recipes for making art mixtures such as doughs, paint, and goop. Some of the best learning times happen when children are playing with things that are gooey, sticky, gummy, gloppy, and runny! You and the children can make some of these interesting mixtures at home.
Children are born curious! Ones have been watching, listening, touching, tasting and smelling everything around them since they were born. Their rapidly developing brains have been noticing differences between things, events that happen the same way every time, and how they can make events happen. They’ve already been practicing the most basic of math and science skills! Learn how to nurture these abilities.
The preschool years, ages three and four, are a time when young children become immersed in extensive explorations of topics that interest them. Preschoolers are rapidly developing the mental abilities to think in mathematical and scientific ways in order to explore and understand their favorite topics. Preschoolers are also seeing evidence of math and science concepts in everyday life, from laying out the right number of napkins for snack to predicting and testing the direction a ball will go when it’s kicked. Examine the abilities that preschoolers are developing that help them think in more complex ways.
Even the very youngest children enjoy pouring, stirring, dumping, and concocting. These experiences provide children with opportunities to explore, wonder, and question. They learn to prepare, plan, predict, and gather important skills and information.
Spring time often means April showers and muddy trails, yards, and playgrounds. Sometimes the prospect of trekking through mud becomes a deterrent to outdoor time for children and adults. But some people find mud to be almost magical and puddles to be powerful. Most children get excited when given the opportunity to enjoy mud. In fact, the World Forum Foundation: Nature Action Collaborative for Children designates June 29th as International Mud Day.
A nature journal is a simple format of writing and drawing ideas about the natural world. Nature journals are a helpful means to inspire children’s creativity, intellectual ideas, and physical competencies.
Can one-year-olds truly be creative? If we step away from artistic expressions of creativity for a moment and just think about the essence of creativity, the answer is a loud “Yes!”
During the preschool years, young children blossom in their ability to experiment with new ideas, including new ways of creating with art materials.
The ages of three and four are busy times for language and literacy learning, including developing the ability to comprehend and tell narratives, becoming much more skilled at conversation, and beginning to understand the mechanics of written language.
When you think about art with two-year-olds, think about how to create meaningful art experiences that fit well in the busy world of twos.
Children learn new words when they talk with others and have time to practice what they hear.
The caregiver's face and a baby's own body parts—fingers, toes, belly—are some of the most intriguing play toys that an infant can explore. Help him learn about himself and others.
Once babies become mobile, they need safe, open spaces to practice crawling, rolling, pulling up, cruising, and walking. Combining physical movement and music builds powerful brain connections.
What children learn through painting activities and appropriate painting activities to offer young children. Painting in early education and care is part of its natural landscape. We can see the easel filled with an array of vivid colors just waiting to be explored. What does painting with young children really offer? Are they too young? What do we need?
There are many reasons to use photographs in your work with young children.
When you open your doors to welcome the children for the day, it’s important to have a plan. A plan prepares you to care for each child in the best way possible and provide an enriching experience. Today’s early educators are discovering many innovative approaches to planning. Instead of simply writing a lesson plan of activities, take a deeper look at strategies for planning and discovering the rhythm of the day.
Most adults caring for children have experienced and offered playing with play dough and modeling materials, often called “clay.” But have you ever tried using natural or real clay?
Children learn about people and the world when they do pretend play.
How to build and support relationships within an early childhood program. In learning communities, there is one important that helps weave magic: Relationship. young children and their families, it is paramount connections and relationships.
It’s not surprising that children have an interest in rocks and are immediately drawn to them. Rocks are intriguing, beautiful materials that have multiple options for use; rocks can become anything! So why not create a rock garden in your child care environment?
Scribbling and drawing are the first steps in learning to write. Ideas to encourage children to scribble and draw.
How do children learn how to draw and write?
