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Podcasts on understanding brain development and the power of relationships with children, families and community. 

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Podcasts on understanding brain development and the power of relationships with children, families and community. 

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Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University

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From brain architecture to toxic stress to serve and return, The Brain Architects, a new podcast from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, focuses on the specific, practical questions that often arise for parents and caregivers during the critically important period of early childhood.

Podcast host Sally Pfitzer and Center Director Jack Shonkoff record an episode of The Brain Architects

Bringing together experts and practitioners from pediatrics, social services, and education, among other disciplines, the podcast gathers many different voices that aren’t always speaking directly to each other. And, by answering questions such as, “What does toxic stress actually look like in the day-to-day?” and “How can I make sure I’m building my child’s brain?”, The Brain Architects can help all of us can use the science of child development to improve the lives of the children we interact with every day.

Listen to all episodes:

Subscribe to the podcast:

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The Brain Architects Podcast - Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University

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From brain architecture to toxic stress to serve and return, The Brain Architects, a new podcast from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, focuses on the specific, practical questions that often arise for parents and caregivers during the critically important period of early childhood.

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More Fun Water Play Activities for Kids

Here are even more water play activities for toddlers and preschoolers to cool off or try indoors when the weather is just too hot to endure.

Pom-Pom Squeeze Water Play

Gather pom-poms of all sizes (though larger ones are best) to set up this Pom Pom Squeeze Water Play activity from Fantastic Fun and Learning. It's a great boredom buster for indoors or outside. Encourage your child to squeeze one pom-pom and then several at once as well as other techniques to fill up the containers.

Sensory Soup

The next time you go camping or go on a nature walk with the kids, bring a bowl or pot along to make Sensory Soup. This activity by The Crazy Outdoor Mama, a childhood classic, encourages kids to explore all the sights, smells, and textures of nature (while playing with water, of course).

Alphabet Slap

Use this Alphabet Slap activity by Fun with Mama to get your toddlers and preschoolers excited about learning their letters. They'll have so much fun slapping the letters in the water that they won't even realise it's educational.

Water Play Activity to Strengthen Fine Motor Skills

Teaching 2 and 3-Year-Olds has some great ideas for Fine Motor Water Activities, such as using basters to move water from one container to another. Squeezing the baster involves kids' fine motor skills as well as plenty of concentration.

Washing Dishes Sensory Bin

Start teaching the kids early about practical life skills using this Washing Dishes Sensory Bin idea from Toot's Mom is Tired. All you need is a bin, some toy dishes, dish soap, and water. Or, you could have them help you with the actual dishes. They'll think that chore is fantastically fun.

Water Transfer

Pouring and transferring water from one container to another is a useful skill for little ones to learn. That's the point of this Water Transfer STEM Activity from Live Well Play Together. You can do it indoors or outside, and you'll be surprised at how long kids can spend simply pouring water.

Summer Sensory Bin

This Summer Sensory Bin is a simple and fun water activity. The lemons make the water smell amazing and the added colour makes it more interesting for toddlers and preschoolers.

Glowing Galaxy Water Bin

Here's a fun space-themed activity for little ones! The Glowing Galaxy Water Bin is filled with glittery purple water, glow sticks, marbles, twisty droppers, and funnels for lots of sensory fun.

Feed the Ducks Sensory Bin

Toot's Mom is Tired put together this cute Feed the Ducks Sensory Bin using rubber ducks, corks, and foam lily pads. The corks become the food for the ducks, which kids can scoop and pretend to feed to them.

Ocean Sensory Bin

Start learning about the ocean while engaging in a fun water activity! This Ocean Sensory Bin by Natural Beach Living is a fantastic way for kids to spend a little time with their ocean animal toys and some cold water. It's perfect for hot summer days outdoors.

Colour Sorting Water Bin

This idea for a Colour Sorting Water Bin from Teaching 2 and 3-Year-Olds is such a great idea for kids who are just learning their colours. Reusable ice cubes are perfect for this activity since they float, but if you don't have them, any small toys of various colours will work. You'll need some tongs, too!

Water Balloon Tennis

Use this activity from Artsy Momma to make a big splash with water balloons. Kids will have a blast playing Water Balloon Tennis with their racquetball or tennis racquets. It's a wonderful activity to get the whole family involved and is perfect for parties.

Summer Flower Sensory Bin

Gather some flowers from your garden (or from the shops) to make this fun Summer Flower Sensory Soup by Simple Fun for Kids. Use this opportunity to explore the smells of the flowers before adding them to water, and then explore scooping, pouring, and mixing.

Red, White, and Blue Sensory Bin

Feeling patriotic? Set up this Red, White, and Blue Sensory Bin from Simple Fun for Kids. Use pool noodles, funnels, and other things to scoop and pour, all with the red, white, and blue theme.

Sink and Float Activity

It's never too early to start exploring initial science concepts like buoyancy, as you see here in this Sink and Float Activity from My Bored Toddler. Kids use items from nature, such as sticks, leaves, flowers, rocks, etc., and make guesses as to what will happen with the older children. You can also incorporate counting and other early learning skills into this activity.

Foam Blocks and Water

There are so many things you can do with Foam Blocks and Water. This activity from Still Playing School can be used to practice colour identification, to make all kinds of shapes, to graph, to stack, and more.

Water Balloon Piñata

Water balloons are a must for summer. But instead of simply throwing them at each other (which is, admittedly, fun), hang some to use as Water Balloon Pinatas. Kids can use this activity from Red Ted Art to practice their swing for tee ball!

Water Xylophone

Make music together by setting up a Water Xylophone for the kids to play with. Adding food colouring, as Mombrite did, makes it extra fun. You'll be surprised at how much they enjoy it and how long they'll play with it.

Vegetable Soup Water Play

Set up this Vegetable Soup Activity from Protecting Your Pennies in the water table or in a bin full of water. Encourage kids to prepare "soup" using their toy vegetables (or real ones, if you're so inclined), to serve to the family. Playing pretend chef is a fantastic way to engage those creative thinking skills.

Ice Block Shark Hunt

How fun is this Ice Block Shark Hunt activity from Glitter on a Dime? Kids use water to melt the ice away, revealing the shark toys frozen inside. It's fantastic for a steamy summer day.

Pin this list of water play activities for toddlers and preschoolers so you'll have some easy play ideas whenever you need them.

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23 Easy & Fun Water Play Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers

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With summer upon us, it's time to start thinking of fun ways to stay cool. With these water play activities for toddlers and preschoolers, kids can learn and play at the same time. If you give kids a bucket of water and a cup, they'll find a way to have fun with it by splashing, sprinkling, pouring, scooping, and stirring.

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Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University

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5 Steps for Brain-Building Serve and Return

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Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

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St. Joe's-supporting how children learn-

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CECE Early Childhood Videos at Eastern CT State U.

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Building Positive Relationships with Young Children (supporting social emotional development)

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Quality Enhancement Through Self-Reflecting and Dialog

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Helping Young Children through Daily Transitions

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Supporting Children through the Transitions of Early Learning

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If you've been around kids for a while, or have your own, you know that transitioning between activities and locations can be challenging for toddlers and preschool aged children. Think about how many times each day children start an activity, stop an activity, clean up, wash hands, eat, go outside, come inside, and so much more!

Being asked to stop one activity and start another is a common trigger for challenging behavior in all children, especially when they are being asked to transition from a preferred activity (e.g., building with Legos) to something non-preferred (e.g., cleaning up). The good news is that we can help children be more successful during transitions with one or more easy-to-implement activities.

What are Transition Activities?

Transition activities are strategies and calming techniques used during times of lesson transition to help prevent negative behaviors by promoting self-regulation. Young children have not yet developed the skill to independently cope with frustration and disappointment. They are still learning to control their emotions and manage their behavior. The whining, negotiating, delaying, or full-blown meltdowns and tantrums that are triggered by transitions occur because children feel unable to control their routine and become overwhelmed by their emotions. They quickly learn that these behaviors often work to successfully delay or avoid the transition. With our help, and bit of forethought, children can learn to manage transitions successfully.

Why are Transition Activities Important for Preschool Students?

Transition activities and strategies promote self-regulation by helping children know what to expect and actively participate in their daily schedule. They also promote an understanding of the sense of time (i.e., past, present, future) and help with the development of social-emotional skills. We can empower children to maintain self-control even when transitioning away from a favorite activity.

Here are a few good opportunities to implement a transition strategy:

Separating from caregivers upon arrival to school

Moving from one activity, center, or location to another

Sitting down at circle time

Clean-up time

Lining up

Coming inside from the playground

Times of waiting for an activity to start or waiting for a turn

Preschool Transition Tips for Success

One major key to success when helping children with transitions is developing consistent schedules and routines. Most preschool classrooms already follow a set schedule, but some children continue to struggle. As you develop a daily schedule for your children and students, keep the following tips in mind:

Provide visuals. Include pictures or symbols in your schedule. Being able to point to what is coming next is powerful.

Give a preview. Review the schedule with children each morning. Consider having a helper demonstrate moving from one location to the next to model expectations for upcoming transitions.

Establish routines. Within each part of the schedule, establish a routine. Routines are comforting for children and promote independence. A daily arrival routine might include putting belongings in a cubby, washing hands, and then completing an attendance task like putting a magnet on their name.

Create rituals. Rituals help establish a connection between the child and the preschool. For example, use certain songs for specific transitions (e.g., hello song, clean up song, hand washing song) or develop a class-specific call and response clap pattern or rhyme for getting everyone's attention, such as this popular one: Teacher: "1-2-3, eyes on me" Children: "1-2, eyes on you."

Limit transitions. When possible, limit or combine transitions (e.g., plan the bathroom break on the way to the playground).

Make a plan. Pre-determine what children and adults will be doing during transition times, and allow time in the schedule for the transition activity. Will they sing a song, listen to a story, listen to background music, carry an item?

Be realistic. Many children struggle with transitions that involve stopping an activity before it is finished. Ensure you are providing children with adequate time for them to finish projects and activities, or explain ahead of time the specific time when they will be able to finish their work if they are interrupted.

Give advanced warning. Give a verbal or nonverbal warning to prepare children for an upcoming transition. A verbal warning might be "Five more minutes until we clean-up for snack!" A nonverbal warning could be turning the lights off as the five-minute warning. Because young children do not have a well-developed sense of time, a visual timer is a great way for children to visualize how much time is remaining. You can easily find free visual timer apps in your app store or purchase a physical visual timer such as the one from Time Timer (www.timetimer.com).

Be balanced. Try to alternate between non-preferred and preferred activities so children can be reminded of fun things to look forward to throughout their day.

Keep a few tricks up your sleeve. Sometimes the day doesn't go as planned or children need to wait for an unexpected amount of time. Keep a few special books on hand or memorize a few fingerplays. These activities can engage children during waiting times.

Prepare for children who need more assistance than others. Some children have more difficulty with transitions than others. For a child who continues to struggle, validate their feelings. Say: "I see you are sad. You love playing with the cars! You want to keep playing, but it is time to clean up and go to lunch. You can play with the cars again after rest time!" Redirect the child's attention to the visual schedule and upcoming fun activities. Offer choices when possible (e.g., "Do you want to put the cars on the shelf or in this basket?"), or give that child a special helper job during the transition such as "line leader."

Praise Success! When you observe children transitioning appropriately, acknowledge their positive behavior with specific feedback. Highlight children who transitioned properly to help all children better understand your expectations (e.g., "Sam and Beth did a great job cleaning up their snack and sitting down on the carpet!").

Transition Activity Ideas for Preschoolers and Toddlers

The options for transition activity ideas are endless. Be creative! Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

1. Use a fun song get children ready to line up.
On the Get Set for School Sing, Sound, and Count with Me album, the Line Up Time song is a perfect choice to add to your daily lining up transition ritual.

2. Use a transition object.
Children sometimes have more success during a transition when they can move an object from place to place with them. If it's a toy (e.g., small animal figure), Just make sure to explain how to "park" the object near them while they complete their work. One larger object can be used to help a whole group transition. For example, a hula hoop can be placed in the room or hallway for all children to jump in and out on their way to the next location. Or they could limbo under a jump rope!

3. Make the transition into a game.
When children are having fun during the transition, even those who typically struggle might have better cooperation.

During clean up time or another challenging transition, bring in a little excitement by asking children to do the task in a new way. Maybe they can pretend they are elephants and pick up toys with their "trunk!"

When moving from one area to another, incorporate movement! Hop on one foot, walk like a crab, or tip toe.

Sometimes adding a time challenge is just the motivation children need to initiate the transition. Set a timer and challenge them to clean up or line up before the timer goes off, or play a song and let the end of the song be the target for finishing the transition task.

4. Use a fun finger play during waiting time.
The Get Set for School Sing Along album contains two finger plays you can use to engage children anytime you find them having to wait for an activity to start. Five Fingers Play and Ten Little Fingers Play are both easy to memorize and fun! (They teach important fine motor and school readiness skills too!)

5. Involve the senses.
Consider incorporating olfactory cues into transitions!

Keep a bottle of air freshener made with child-safe essential oils handy. Teach children that when they smell it, it's time to transition! Using lavender essential oil to signify the transition to rest time might serve a double purpose!

Increase auditory stimulation with fun sound effects. Download a sound effects app and experiment with using different sounds to signify the end of an activity or the start of a new one. Maybe a gong sound could signify it's time to come to circle time and birds chirping means get your coats on to go outside!

6. Add an academic component.
Here's an idea usin g 1-2-3 Touch & Flip Cards that also challenges children to demonstrate their knowledge of number recognition and ordinal numbers. Randomly pass out the number cards to children at the end of an activity. Ask them to line up at the door in numerical order according to the number on their card, or the number can represent whose turn is first, second, third, etc. in a turn-taking activity. ABC Touch & Flip Cards can be used similarly with children organizing themselves in alphabetical order.

Making Positive Transitions with Learning Without Tears

Many preschool teachers consider the ability to transition independently and successfully to be one of the essential skills children need to learn prior to Kindergarten. Using a transition activity can increase success for your children and make the difference between a good day and a bad one. The tips and suggestions above are a great place to start. Experiment and find out what works best to help the children in your life transition successfully at home and school. To learn more about the Learning Without Tears activities mentioned above, visit .

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6 Transition Activities for Preschoolers and Toddlers

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If you've been around kids for a while, or have your own, you know that transitioning between activities and locations can be challenging for toddlers and preschool aged children. Think about how many times each day children start an activity, stop an activity, clean up, wash hands, eat, go outside, come inside, and so much more!

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Sensory Processing Issues Explained - Child Mind Institute

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Sensory processing issues are often first recognized during the toddler years. Parents notice that a child has an unusual aversion to noise, light, shoes that are deemed too tight and clothes that are irritating. Learn more about sensory processing and get our sensory checklist.

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Sensory Seeking Behaviors?I Sensory System

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I recently gave a talk at a nature play group, in the middle of the woods, about activities to do with your child that involve natural resources and that encourage interaction with the natural world. Here are those ideas that I gave in that talk, plus many more, with links to some fabulous articles from some talented writers around the web!
Concoct with it in a mud pie kitchen
Paint with it The Chocolate Muffin Tree

Have a princess mud tea party The Golden Gleam

Simply play with it Sun Hats and Wellie Boots

Make instruments, weave material, and play games with them The Good Long Road

Push them into play dough Mummy Musings and Mayhem

Wood and recycled materials sculptures Let the Children Play

Collect rocks and write a journal Creative Family Fun
Simply sort and play with them
Paint them Putti's World

Create some woodland people Red Ted Art
Make herbal play dough
Discover their magic tricks Creative Family Fun
Print with them Nurture Store
Make homemade lavender play dough
Grow a Sunflower Fort in the garden Let's Lasso the Moon
Make rose petal perfume
Pound them to create beautiful art Rhythm of the Home

Make a sculpture The Chocolate Muffin Tree
Serve them in a pretend play cafe
Create pine cone people Red Ted Art

Turn them into funny creatures Mummy, Mummy, Mum

Water
Jump and Splash Word Play House

Make natural ice boats Reading Confetti
Paint with the rain Sunhats and Wellie Boots
Search through rock pools Tinkerlab
Make your own rock pool at home
20 Ways to explore the rain Sun Hats and Wellie Boots

Collage
Make a contact paper collage using natural materials The Chocolate Muffin Tree
Add natural elements to the art table Let the Children Play
Stick leaves to make a crown

3D sculptural art Sun Hats and Wellie Boots

Try out geocoaching Messy Kids

Go on an outdoor sound hunt Sunhats and Wellie Boots

Land Art
Create art with natural materials in a tray Smiling Like Sunshine
Make pebble patterns on the beach Taming the Goblin
Make land art outside with found materials

Dinosaur land with beans and plants
Frog pond with water and rocks Let the Children Play

Make a magical fairy garden

For the days that you can't get outdoors and explore nature first hand, go and gather some natural materials from your local woods, fields or beach and gets creative at home! Bring the nature home and let the connection with the natural world continue whatever the weather.

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60 Nature Play Ideas for Kids! - The Imagination Tree

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Here are 60 amazing ideas for exploring nature with your child through play, art and investigation! I recently gave a talk at a nature play group, in the middle of the woods, about activities to do with your child that involve natural resources and that encourage interaction with the natural world.

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Rethinking Loose Parts Four Key Principles Beyond the  Stuff