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Ages: Birth to 8 Weeks

Infants come into the world ready for learning. At first, it may seem like there's not a lot a caregiver can do to help support their development in terms of activities or engagement, but the reality is that infants learn best from observing and watching their caregivers.

At this age, infants are...

D1: Beginning to Know About Ourselves and Others

What do children this age do?

1. Express and regulate own feelings, and shows patterns for self-regulation

2. Shows awareness of own body, characteristics, and abilities

3. Interacts and responds to caregivers and peers

How can caregivers support children in this age group with this concept that are grounded in developmentally appropriate practice, cultural sensitivity, and individual needs?

1. Providing shatter-proof mirrors at the infant’s level throughout the classroom can help the infant associate themselves with their body and its movements.

2. Give plenty of opportunities to hold the infant at eye-level with you. Offer lots of close physical contact via cuddles while talking with the baby or singing to them.

3. Limit screen time, offer intentional one-on-one time with the baby instead. Play some music in the background and dance while holding the baby or choose a book and read to the baby while holding them. Close physical contact and consistent, intentional time with the baby will help form secure attachments.

D2: Beginning to Communicate

What do children this age do?

1. Shows sensitivity to noise and responds to sounds in their environment

2. Listens to words from caregivers and imitates facial expressions

3. Vocalizes in coos and babbles, and initiates social interactions

How can caregivers support children in this age group with this concept that are grounded in developmentally appropriate practice, cultural sensitivity, and individual needs?

1. Playing soft music in the classroom can help them learn to respond to different auditory stimuli in their environments. For a culturally-sound classroom, caregivers can speak with families about music they play at home and play it in the classroom as well.

2. Tune-in to non-verbal signs and gestures your baby gives you. For example, if during feeding time the infant begins to turn their head away from you or they become fussy, it may be time to transition to something else, or the infant may be tired. These gestures are your infant’s only means of communicating, and if their caregiver is aware of them and responds to them, it can help build the foundations of their communication skills

3. To help develop language in infants, caregivers can talk with infants in their care. Home language should also be applied in the classroom as well. Caregivers can show daily items (i.e., and apple or a book) and state what it is in the infant’s home language.

D3: Beginning to Build Concepts

What do children this age do?

1. Observes and explores the environment around them

2. Focuses on a toy for several seconds

3. Repeats certain actions and does simple actions to make something happen

How can caregivers support children in this age group with this concept that are grounded in developmentally appropriate practice, cultural sensitivity, and individual needs?

1. Providing soft toys and toys with different textures can help engage infants and encourage them to use their hands and feet to explore. This can also support the development of hand-eye coordination.

2. Caregivers can model different actions to infants, such as showing them how to touch objects, grasp things, or point to various things in the environment.

3. Place materials in the classroom at infants’ level so that it creates visual stimulus and encourages play.

D4: Beginning to Move and Do

What do children this age do?

1. Uses hands and feet to touch materials or people around them, and begins to show control over hands and fingers

2. Moves both arms and both legs

3. Holds their head up when lying on their tummy

How can caregivers support children in this age group with this concept that are grounded in developmentally appropriate practice, cultural sensitivity, and individual needs?

1. Creating opportunities for tummy time can help infants build strength in their hands and arms, which in turn helps them learn to control their appendages.

2. To support the baby with holding their head up during tummy time, lay the infant on their tummy while they’re awake and place various toys in front of them at eye level. This will encourage the infant to lift their head. Be sure to supervise tummy time each and every time!

3. Providing a variety of soft and textured materials can encourage babies to touch and develop sensory awareness.

D5: Developing Approaches to Learning

What do children this age do?

1. Shows interest in people, objects, and different events happening around them

2. Shows curiosity and creativity in exploring objects in new and different ways

3. Watches caregiver for an extended amount of time

How can caregivers support children in this age group with this concept that are grounded in developmentally appropriate practice, cultural sensitivity, and individual needs?

1. Engage the infant while performing routine tasks such as diapering, feeding, or simply holding them by talking with them, singing to them, or playing with them.

2. Use open-ended toys such as blocks or stacking rings that don’t have a singular way to use them. This encourages infants to stimulate creativity in using materials in new and different ways.

3. Provide consistent routines for sleeping and feeding times. This helps build structure and can help baby become aware of what to expect next.

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Ages: 8 Weeks - 12 Months

Now baby is on the move! Children this age begin to develop their large motor control in some big ways. This includes rolling over, crawling, moving their limbs, and learning to walk. Older infants in this age range are also working on their communication skills and will begin to babble in an attempt to copy communication.

At this age, infants are...

D1: Beginning to Know About Ourselves and Others

What do children this age do?

1. Explores new things in the environment as well as the shape and size of things

2. Develops object permanence

3. Expresses self by moving to music, with dramatic play materials, and art

How can caregivers support children in this age group with this concept that are grounded in developmentally appropriate practice, cultural sensitivity, and individual needs?

1. Peek-a-boo is a popular activity that helps develop object permanence

2. Choose books that have pop-ups or flaps that reveal objects. This can also be a hands-on activity for the infant to engage in: encourage them to open up any flaps in these books.

3. Offer shape-sorting toys, such as containers with shaped blocks and shaped openings on the lid for the infant to drop the block into.

D2: Beginning to Communicate

What do children this age do?

1. Pays attention to speaker and responds nonverbally, follows one-step requests alongside gestures and words

2. Uses sounds, words, and gestures to communicate

3. Participates in stories and songs, and begins to experiment with writing tools

How can caregivers support children in this age group with this concept that are grounded in developmentally appropriate practice, cultural sensitivity, and individual needs?

1. While reading with your infant, using different voices or acting out gestures or activities from the book you’re reading can encourage engagement from the infant.

2. While speaking with the infant, engaging with them at eye-level and using different tones of voice encourages the infant to focus on who is speaking

3. As you read, point out things you see in pictures

D3: Beginning to Build Concepts

What do children this age do?

1. Explores new things in the environment as well as the shape and size of things

2. Develops object permanence

3. Expresses self by moving to music, with dramatic play materials, and art

How can caregivers support children in this age group with this concept that are grounded in developmentally appropriate practice, cultural sensitivity, and individual needs?

1. Peek-a-boo is a popular activity that helps develop object permanence

2. Choose books that have pop-ups or flaps that reveal objects. This can also be a hands-on activity for the infant to engage in: encourage them to open up any flaps in these books.

3. Offer shape-sorting toys, such as containers with shaped blocks and shaped openings on the lid for the infant to drop the block into.

D4: Beginning to Move and Do

What do children this age do?

1. Controls hands and fingers and uses them to explore objects

2. Develops the beginnings of hand-eye coordination, and begins to help with personal care

3. Begins to understand safe and unsafe situations

How can caregivers support children in this age group with this concept that are grounded in developmentally appropriate practice, cultural sensitivity, and individual needs?

1. Provide various sensory-play toys, and help the infant play in different positions to develop movement and balance

2. Offer lots of opportunities for the infant to lay on their back, on their tummy, and standing with assistance to help support large-motor development.

3. Invite the infant to look at their reflection in the mirror and point out each part of their body.

D5: Developing Approaches to Learning

What do children this age do?

1. Shows initiative by demonstrating own likes and dislikes

2. Shows curiosity through exploration of their environment

3. Notices changes in routine and responds to order, focuses longer on interesting things

How can caregivers support children in this age group with this concept that are grounded in developmentally appropriate practice, cultural sensitivity, and individual needs?

1. Offer infants choices, such as showing them two toys and allowing them to choose which one they would like to play with

2. Praise the infant’s efforts when they choose to explore their environment, and engage them by verbalizing the things they’re showing interest in

3. Voice any changes in the schedule or routine, even with infants. When adults speak to infants, this helps language development by modelling to them essential communication skills.

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Ages: One Year Old

Now that our child has almost mastered using their limbs to move around and pick things up, they're moving on to learning to talk more and more. They've spent their first year of life listening to their caregivers and have picked up on talking and communication skills. They're also constantly moving around and using their large motor control to explore their environment!

At this age, toddlers are...

D1: Beginning to Know About Ourselves and Others

What do children this age do?

1. Begins to demonstrate self-regulation skills

2. Demonstrates a beginning awareness of personal characteristics and abilities

3. Forms secure, trusting relationships with caregivers, and begins to use social skills with peers

How can caregivers support children in this age group with this concept that are grounded in developmentally appropriate practice, cultural sensitivity, and individual needs?

1. For relationship-building experiences, parallel talk and play encourages children to play independently but with adult support. For example, when a child is building with blocks, you can say “You’re putting the blue block on top of the green block. What happens if you put the red block on top of the blue one?” This shows caregivers take interest in their child’s activities and interests.

2. Offer lots of verbal encouragement when children display positive behaviors. “I like how you shared your toy!” “Great job sitting at the table. Now you’re ready to eat!”

3. Whenever children show different emotions, caregivers can verbalize what they observe to begin building emotional intelligence. For example, when a child is upset, you can say “You seem sad” or “You seem angry! What happened?”. The same can go for when a child is excited or happy.

D2: Beginning to Communicate

What do children this age do?

1. Participates in songs and stories, shows interest in books

2. Experiments with a variety of writing and art tools by using them to scribble

3. Communicates needs through simple words, and uses sound combinations and gestures

How can caregivers support children in this age group with this concept that are grounded in developmentally appropriate practice, cultural sensitivity, and individual needs?

1. Provide opportunities for shared reading experiences with age-appropriate books. Reading the same book multiple times and inviting children to interact with books helps build content retention and builds a stronger bond between caregiver and child.

2. To encourage interest in books, invite the toddler to help with choosing a book to read and with turning the pages. Ask lots of questions while reading the book and provide encouragement when given responses, including non-verbal (i.e., “How does this puppy in the book feel? Great job touching the puppy!”)

3. Invite children to explore age-appropriate drawing materials, such as bulky crayons, washable markers, and watercolor paints. Provide large sheets of paper and give encouragement when children use these materials. With art materials, caregiver supervision is essential!

D3: Beginning to Build Concepts

What do children this age do?

1. Begins to express themselves through art and dance

2. Explores environment and plays with dramatic play materials, imitating real-life scenarios

3. Begins to explore size and shape and begins to understand quantity

How can caregivers support children in this age group with this concept that are grounded in developmentally appropriate practice, cultural sensitivity, and individual needs?

1. Provide shape-sorting materials, such as a bin with a lid that displays various basic shapes (circle, square, triangle, etc.) and invite children to sort the blocks into each shaped hole.

2. Provide frequent opportunities for dancing and large motor movement by playing music the child or children enjoy – even model some moves for them and get involved!

3. For dramatic play, provide children with life-like materials, such as toys that imitate real foods (don’t forget to add cultural foods!), serving ware, and furniture.

D4: Beginning to Move and Do

What do children this age do?

1. Explores materials with hands in a variety of ways

2. Develops hand-eye coordination and control over hands and fingers – develops a pincer grasp when holding objects

3. Begins to show awareness of personal needs and begins to understand safe and unsafe situations

How can caregivers support children in this age group with this concept that are grounded in developmentally appropriate practice, cultural sensitivity, and individual needs?

1. Offer children materials such as modeling clay, shaving cream, and paper to practice using a pincer grasp.

2. Provide age-appropriate climbing materials while playing outside such as a small slide with steps. Caregiver supervision is essential!

3. When giving age-appropriate safe risks for children to explore – such as using the climbing equipment listed above – use parallel talk to narrate what the child is doing and how they can stay safe (i.e. “You’re going to use the slide! Be careful climbing the steps, let’s use the railing to stay safe.”)

Developing Approaches to Learning

What do children this age do?

1. Uses senses to explore their environment

2. Shows likes and dislikes, and begins to focus longer on interesting things

3. Notices changes in routine and begins to find different ways to problem solve

How can caregivers support children in this age group with this concept that are grounded in developmentally appropriate practice, cultural sensitivity, and individual needs?

1. Offer opportunities for children to practice problem solving skills on their own by providing open-ended questions (i.e., “Where do you think this toy goes?”)

2. For toddlers, display materials and toys at their eye-level to encourage exploration. Toddler-sized furniture makes materials easily accessible.

3. Encourage use of all senses. For example, when served food, model smelling the food and ask children, “How does it smell?”. Provide sensory toys with different textures and feels to encourage exploration through touch.

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Ages: Two Years Old

Older toddlers are using all of their skills to explore the world around them and to make new friends. They're becoming more and more aware of themselves, and they're learning what they like and do not like. They're learning about their own emotions, and they're learning how to communicate their needs.

At this age, older toddlers are...

D1: Beginning to Know About Ourselves and Others

What do children this age do?

1. Shows sensitivity towards own feelings as well as the feelings of others and begins to use self-regulation strategies.

2. Demonstrates self-confidence and independence

3. Imitates and portrays relationships and starts to demonstrate pro-social skills

How can caregivers support children in this age group with this concept that are grounded in developmentally appropriate practice, cultural sensitivity, and individual needs?

1. In order to support emotional sensitivity, caregivers can model emotional regulation skills for children in their care. For example, if a child becomes upset, you can say “You look like you feel sad. I like to have a hug when I’m sad. Would you like a hug?” Or “Lets take some deep breaths together, like this.”

2. When children try something new and take risks, offer plenty of praise and parallel talk rather than fixate on the outcome. “I see that you tried to put your shirt on by yourself. Great job!” Even if the task isn’t done the way you’d like it, starting with verbal encouragement inspires further attempts at independence.

3. Offer toddlers simple choices rather than instructions. Instead of instructing children to play with one specific toy, you could instead say “Would you like to play with the blocks or the cars?” and support their decision.

D2: Beginning to Communicate

What do children this age do?

1. Shows increased understanding of questions and begins to build vocabulary

2. Initiates social communication

3. Asks questions in home language

How can caregivers support children in this age group with this concept that are grounded in developmentally appropriate practice, cultural sensitivity, and individual needs?

1. When reading with children, offer responsibility to them and invite them to participate. Caregivers can offer toddlers opportunities to turn pages and point out illustrations.

2. When introducing new things or topics to children, offer new vocabulary to them and explain it to them in terms they understand (i.e., “This is a cucumber. Can you say cucumber? It is a food, it’s a vegetable.”

3. To encourage children to ask their own questions, caregivers can model this for them by asking open-ended questions to encourage curiosity.

D3: Beginning to Build Concepts

What do children this age do?

1. Organizes materials and notices how some items are different or the same

2. Shows interest in numbers and quantity

3. Expresses an understanding of cause and effect

How can caregivers support children in this age group with this concept that are grounded in developmentally appropriate practice, cultural sensitivity, and individual needs?

1. Provide age-appropriate materials such as blocks, buttons, and even colored paper (beware small pieces – avoid materials small enough to create a choking hazard) and encourage children to sort them into groups. Provide simple containers that are marked visually to represent categories, such as a basket with a piece of red paper for red pieces and another basket with blue paper for blue materials.

2. Incorporate counting into everyday tasks for early exposure with quantity. For example, if a child is climbing steps to get to a slide, a caregiver can ask “How many steps?” and count aloud with them as they take each step.

3. Parallel talk can help develop an understanding for cause-and-effect. For example, when participating in an activity such as water play, a caregiver can narrate “You are pouring water into your cup. It’s filling up.” To further this, caregivers can add on an open-ended question, such as “What happens if you keep pouring the water into the cup when it’s full? Look, it’s spilling out!”

D4: Beginning to Move and Do

What do children this age do?

1. Begins to show a better command of coordination and control of body

2. Demonstrates hand-eye coordination and uses simple tools without support

3. Shows an increasing awareness of personal care and participates in healthy care for themself

How can caregivers support children in this age group with this concept that are grounded in developmentally appropriate practice, cultural sensitivity, and individual needs?

1. Caregivers can offer lots of opportunities for running, jumping, and climbing for toddlers in their daily routine to help build better coordination.

2. While music is playing, caregivers can encourage students to try different large-motor moves by inviting them to try stomping and spinning. This also continues to encourage self-expression!

3. In order to help toddlers learn healthy safe-care habits, caregivers can model these habits for them praise them when an attempt to participate in these activities is made. For example, implementing proper hand-washing techniques and participating alongside them as the attempt to follow along gives children a visual of what is expected, and giving verbal praise during the activity helps reinforce the positive behavior.

D5: Developing Approaches to Learning

What do children this age do?

1. Shows curiosity and attempts to learn new things

2. Makes choices and takes risks

3. Participates in imaginative play and demonstrates a sense of curiosity

How can caregivers support children in this age group with this concept that are grounded in developmentally appropriate practice, cultural sensitivity, and individual needs?

1. In supporting toddlers with curiosity and learning new things, caregivers can offer open-ended materials such as natural objects, musical instruments, and stacking toys. Again, parallel talk and open-ended questions can also encourage exploration.

2. As toddlers try new things, they are taking risks. To support this, caregivers can offer praising efforts rather than results. For example, if a toddler is balancing a toy on top of some blocks and it falls over, caregivers can say, “Good job trying to balance your toy! I see that it fell. Let’s try again!” Making mistakes is a part of the learning process and encourages problem-solving skills for toddlers.

3. To inspire creative and imaginative play, caregivers can provide toys and materials that invite children to create their own scenarios. Offering a play kitchen with pretend food and serving ware with various dolls is a great way to inspire creativity. Caregivers can also engage in creative play to help inspire children by using toys in fun and imaginative ways (i.e., using a hair brush for a doll as a microphone, or acting like a doctor and giving a stuffie a check-up).

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Early Preschool: Early Steps to Literacy Knowledge!

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Early Preschool: Early Steps to Literacy Knowledge!

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Ages: Three Years Old

The Early Preschool age is when most children turn their communication skills into the first steps for literacy. The building blocks for phonological awareness and other literacy skills can be picked up in this age group. Children this age may be enrolled into an Early Pre-K program to get a jumpstart in literacy knowledge.

At this age, early preschoolers are working on...

D1: Physical Development, Health, and Well-Being

What do children this age do?

1. Shows increasing balance on a beam while walking on it

2. Uses writing materials and experiments with scribbling, attempts to write and draw with meaning

3. Attempts to unzip and unbutton clothing

How can caregivers or teachers support children this age?

1. Using masking tape or duct tape, tape out a line (straight at first, but to include a challenge, change it to a zig zag or add small obstacles) and invite children to practice balancing on it. Invite students to try with both arms up, each arm up and the other down, and then both arms down.

2. Crumple up paper sacks to imitate rocks and encourage children to practice rolling the rocks across a finish line.

3. Provide a “busy board” with zippers and buttons for children to practice fastening

D2: Literacy

What do children this age do?

1. Follows 2-step directions that are related with some caregiver support

2. While a story is being read, listens and answers simple questions about what is happening in the story

3. Recites familiar chants and rhymes

How can caregivers or teachers support children this age?

1. Provide letter blocks to children and encourage them to try to build a letter wall, pointing out the letters on each block. For an added challenge and when developmentally appropriate, prove a simple word (3-4 letters) in print for them to copy with the blocks.

2. In a shallow tray, provide a laminated alphabetic letter and cover it in a thin layer of sand. Invite children to use their fingers to trace the letter they see in the sand.

3. Read the same story 2-3 times a week and then provide small props and a copy of the book for them to reenact.

D3: Numeracy

What do children this age do?

1. Increasing ability to count objects to determine quantity

2. Understands that numbers can determine quantity, begins to rote count to 5

3. Sorts objects by a single attribute

How can caregivers or teachers support children this age?

1. With blocks or similar materials, line 1-5 out in a row and invite children to try pointing to each one and counting. If needed, model this to them and invite them to count with you. For dual-language learners, you can practice in their home language.

2. In a pile of manipulatives such as counting cubes or animal-shaped counters, encourage children to try to grab things with a single attribute (i.e., grab all the red counters; grab the ones that look like cats). For self-guided help with the children, provide prompt cards with single attributes that they can cycle through and practice sorting.

3. Give children a number (1-5) and invite students to find however many of a specific item. For example, a caregiver might ask children “Can you grab 3 squares?” either out of a designated pile or from around their environment. If needed, provide support by holding their items and modelling how to count them.

D4: Aesthetic Creativity

What do children this age do?

1. Participates in simple activities that demonstrate a sense of self-expression

2. Communicates ideas and feelings through music, imaginative and dramatic play, art, and acting out a story

3. Shows appreciation for the arts

How can caregivers or teachers support children this age?

1. Provide strips of colored paper and invite students to create their own collages. Model to them how to apply glue to the strips of paper and stick them onto a larger paper to create a design. For an added challenge, invite students to create a self-portrait or their favorite animal.

2. Invite children to practice free drawing with materials rather than coloring on coloring pages. The more opportunities they have to create open-ended pieces of art, the more opportunities they have for self-expression.

3. Provide dramatic-play materials based on real-life items and support children in all of their choices in how to use these items. If a child were to grab a banana and use it as a pretend phone, caregivers can support this by grabbing a similar item and playing with them.

D5: Scientific Conceptual Understanding

What do children this age do?

1. Guesses what may happen next by forming a hypothesis

2. Uses sensory information to explore the environment around them

3. Begins to learn about seasonal and weather changes

How can caregivers or teachers support children this age?

1. In a tray with sand (perhaps at a sensory table), damp the top layer of sand with a spray bottle and invite children to create handprints in the sand.

2. With counters of various sizes (such as small, medium, and large counters), invite children to compare the sizes of the counters. For example, grab a medium sized counter and a small counter, then ask “Which one is smaller? Which one is bigger?”. Then, for an added challenge, swap the smaller counter for a large one and ask the same questions again.

3. To make children aware of the weather changes and the seasons, keep a chart or calendar that visually tracks weather and seasons. Check in with it daily and ask children what the weather is like outside. To encourage them to think about the season, a caregiver can ask “Why do you think it’s cold outside?” and relate the temperature to the current season.

D6: Self, Family, and Community

What do children this age do?

1. Shows awareness of own behavior and begins to show responsibility for their personal items

2. Plays with others and may share toys or materials with others

3. Uses negotiation and compromise with others with caregiver support

How can caregivers or teachers support children this age?

1. Positive reinforcement paired with parallel talk can help children become aware of positive behavior and expectations. A caregiver could say, “You are putting the blocks away just like I asked. Great job! You’re being a great helper.”

2. Create an environment where children are encouraged to think of themselves and of others while playing by supporting an expectation of “helping hands”. Explain what helping hands means (“What do helping hands do? Helping hands are gentle and kind with others. Helping hands share toys with others and helping hands clean after themselves too.”) Whenever a child demonstrates a positive behavior, be sure to offer lots of encouragement and praise as positive reinforcement!

3. Caregivers can be proactive with supporting children with negotiation and compromise with their peers by modeling this behavior for them or acting out scenarios with puppets.

D7: Approaches to Learning

What do children this age do?

1. Plays with others and self, and participates in transitions with support from caregiver

2. Focuses on tasks up to 5 minutes, but may move on when problems arise

3. Uses props to mimic real-life scenarios

How can caregivers or teachers support children this age?

1. To support children with transitions, it helps to follow the same daily routine as closely as possible. Structure means familiarity, which means predictability. Until children are used to a new routine, caregivers can verbally announce time markers and what the next activity is (i.e., “Five minutes left to play, then it’s time for snack).

2. Support an environment where children are free to choose their activities when appropriate. For example, if it’s time for outside play, invite students to select what they’d like to do.

3. Provide lots of materials that inspire dramatic and imaginative play and rotate through these materials seasonally. For example, caregivers may provide a pretend fruit stand for a couple of months where children can play as if they were selling their own fruits and vegetables, and then the same stand could be made into a make-shift pretend doctor’s office.

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Early preschool child building with blocks

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Ages: 4 Years Old

Children in this age group are establishing the foundations for their academic careers and their understanding of the world around them. Preschool age children are always learning through their senses, and they're learning to apply their skills of observation to learning new concepts.

At this age, preschool children are working on...

D1: Physical Development, Health, and Well-Being

What do children this age do?

1. Transitions between large-motor moves

2. Throws and kicks a ball

3. Shows increasing command over fine motor skills

How can caregivers or teachers support children this age?

1. Invite children to pass a bean bag or a ball between them and count how many throws they can complete before a miss. For an added challenge, increase the distance between partners.

2. Choose a child to play as a leader and invite students to copy the leader’s movements as they stand in one place. For an added challenge, go from stationary movements to moves that can be copied while following the leader in a line and walking.

3. Encourage children to find a peer to partner with and invite children to try dressing each other with over-sized dress-up clothes such as button-up shirts and jackets that zip. This not only helps with fine motor control, but encourages self-help skills too!

D2: Literacy

What do children this age do?

1. Holds conversations with 3-5 exchanges

2. Asks and answers relevant questions relating to a story, infers information

3. Recognizes rhymes and adds rhyming words

How can caregivers or teachers support children this age?

1. To help children focus on the ending sounds of words, caregivers can model how to say a word in “slow-mo”, taking extra care around the end of the word. Invite children to copy you!

2. While reading the same story 2-3 times a week, invite children to finish sentences that rhyme. For example, if a book states “The dog is tall, the dog chased the ball”, caregivers can read the sentence a couple of times then invite students to finish them: “The dog is ___, the dog chased the ___”. For added emphasis, ask children “Do tall and ball rhyme? How do you know?”

3. To encourage following directions and active listening, caregivers can play “Walk, Walk, Stop”. In this game, the care giver will repeat “Walk, walk, walk, walk…” however many times until the state “Stop!”. Children follow the action while anticipating the stop and follow the state directions. For an added challenge, swap out “walk” for a similar move such as march, jump, or skip.

D3: Numeracy

What do children this age do?

1. Counts objects up to 15 and rote counts higher

2. Names and identifies numbers up to 10

3. Sorts many objects based on one or more attributes

How can caregivers or teachers support children this age?

1. When learning about patterns, invite children to squeeze their hands into fists and relax them. Point out that a pattern is something such as a series of movements or images that repeats over and over. Tightening your hands into a fist and relaxing is a pattern. Caregivers can also provide colored counters or plastic chain links to create patterns, or tape a colored piece of tape (i.e., red for the right foot and blue for the other) on children’s shoes and encourage them to watch the pattern of color as they walk.

2. Invite children to explore the classroom and try to identify numbers they are familiar with. For an easy start, show the number 4 (how old they are) to them and encourage students to find other instances of 4. For scaffolding, display a number line or a chart that has printed numbers and corresponding quantities and invite children to find certain numbers (i.e., “How can we find what the number 5 looks like? Let’s look at the number line and count. 1, 2, 3, 4….5! This number must be 5.”

3. Choose a series of 4 items, 3 with the same attribute and one that does not follow that attribute (i.e., 3 red buttons and a blue button). Invite students to figure out which item does not belong, and invite them to explain why they think so.

D4: Aesthetic Creativity

What do children this age do?

1. Participates in familiar or new activities as a form of self-expression

2. Appreciates different forms of self-expression

3. Communicates ideas and feelings and begins to explain what they are

How can caregivers or teachers support children this age?

1. Air-dry clay is a great way to encourage a means of self-expression. Invite children to recreate something that they care about, such as an animal or a pet.

2. Encourage children to explore all sorts of means for self-expression by making different mediums available for them. Provide various musical instruments (including culturally significant instruments), music to dance to from various cultures, and different kinds of materials with which to create.

3. Integrate various opportunities for children to participate in free-selection play, where children can opt to choose their own activity.

D5: Scientific Conceptual Understanding

What do children this age do?

1. Uses multiple senses to investigate and can describe their experience

2. Continues to hypothesize, but forms hypotheses based on experience or observation

3. Ties current weather to the current season

How can caregivers or teachers support children this age?

1. Provide various unmarked canisters with different aromas in them and invite children to match two of the same scent. To encourage critical thinking, invite children to try to name the scent they’re experiencing.

2. STEAM projects help encourage exploration and problem solving. Present children with a problem (“This doll needs a house to live in”), provide materials such as blocks, paper towel tubes, glue, tape, clay, and invite children to work together to try and solve their problem. To guide this, ask open-ended questions.

3. For sensory play, provide a tub of water (or soapy water) and basters and droppers, then invite students to explore how each tool holds water.

D6: Self, Family, and Community

What do children this age do?

1. Follows daily routines and shows care for personal items and items around them

2. Plays and interacts with peers, sharing ideas and experiences with them

3. Uses and accepts negotiation and compromise with peers with less and less caregiver support

How can caregivers or teachers support children this age?

1. Provide a visual daily schedule that children can interact with. For example, using a chart with a slidable arrow that points to the current activity can show students what is currently happening as well as what to expect next.

2. Show-and-tell is an amazing opportunity to encourage students to share their at-home experiences and stories. To make it relatable to what is currently being discussed in the classroom, educators or caregivers can have themes for their show-and-tells, such as inviting children to bring photos of their families during Family Week or bringing a toy that represents an animal when you’re discussing animals.

3. Children who are 4 are learning more and more social skills. When it comes to peer-to-peer conflicts, it can be best to resist intervening right away and to instead observe the interaction and provide support only when asked. Children need opportunities to learn negotiation and compromise skills, and sometimes the best way to learn these skills is through trial and error.

D7: Approaches to Learning

What do children this age do?

1. Reaches out to caregivers whenever needed for support

2. Focuses on tasks for up to 10-15 minutes, and attempts more complex tasks or activities

3. Acts out social behaviors observed in adults

How can caregivers or teachers support children this age?

1. When children are faced with frustration, caregivers can offer support by asking “Do you need/want help?”.  Instead of simply stepping in and solving the problem for the child, this encourages them to make a choice and practice problem-solving skills. From there, a caregiver can guide a child through the problem-solving process by asking open ended questions.

2. To encourage children to stick with an activity, invite kids to find something they're interested in and ask them open-ended questions. For example, if a child were playing with a wooden train set, a caregiver could remark, “Wow, your train track is so long already! Where is your train going to head to?” This encourages the child to think critically about their experience and offers opportunities to extend their activity as well.

3. As children are acting out stories or scenarios, caregivers can inspire them by providing age-appropriate materials that mimic real-life (such as adult-sized clothing they can dress up in or a doctor’s bag or construction helmets). To further the experience, ask open-ended questions, and don’t be afraid to relate these experiences to real-life scenarios as well. For example, if playing restaurant or café with children, ask questions one might ask in a real restaurant setting.

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Early Elementary: The Beginnings of Academia! (Part 1)

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Early Elementary: The Beginnings of Academia! (Part 1)

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Ages: Five to Eight Years

These years are when children formally begin their academic careers. They continue learning how to socialize with each other, but each year they build on what they already know.

Early elementary children this age are working on...

Physical Health/Education

What do children this age do?

1. Advocate for personal health and the health of others, and begin to make decisions and set goals for their personal health

2. Shows increased interpersonal skills and distinguishes between verbal and non-verbal communications.

3. Comprehend health promotion and disease prevention concepts and take steps towards preserving personal health

How can caregivers or teachers support children this age?

1. Invite community helpers such as doctors and physicians to hold presentations with visuals and props to discuss personal health and disease prevention.

2. Invite students to keep a food journal for a week or so to document meals they’ve eaten with illustrations or magazine cutouts and writing. Caregivers could provide food charts with vitamin and mineral information of various foods and highlight the foods in their journal based on which group they belong to.

3. Encourage children to participate in fun runs at school or around the neighborhood. Participants can talk about things they saw or strategies they used after the fun run!

Language Arts/ELA

What do children this age do?

1. Asks and answers questions about a text while referring to the text and recounts stories from diverse cultures

2. Demonstrates increased phonetic awareness and distinguishes various vowel sounds. Uses spelling-sound correspondences and recognizes grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words

3. Uses writing to communicate information, such as information from books and texts read as well as personal experiences.

How can caregivers or teachers support children this age?

1. Read to or invite children to read cultural stories in small groups of peers. Provide guiding, open-ended questions for them to discuss among their groups, and invite groups to share ideas with the class.

2. Provide blank books and invite students to try their hand at planning out and writing their own stories, complete with their own illustrations.

3. Play interactive word games with students that help reinforce letter sounds and/or phonetic themes. For example, caregivers can play a version of “I Spy” and say something like “I spy with my little eye something that starts with the /b/ sound”. Caregivers can shift the phonological theme of the game as curriculum or age progresses.

Mathematics

What do children this age do?

1. Uses various number functions such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division for numbers up to 100

2. Counts by 5s, 10s, and multiples of 100, and begins to understand place values such as ones, tens, and hundreds

3. Analyzes shapes and their sides and angles, and combines and decomposes shapes to create new ones

How can caregivers or teachers support children this age?

1. Provide pre-cut 3-D shape templates for students to try to fold back into their intended shape. For example, a cube is constructed of four squares in a column and two additional squares to either side of the square second from the top. Students can then look at this template and try to problem-solve which shape it might create when folded. This activity could work with either paper templates or with magnetic tiles in various shapes.

2. Provide various measuring tools such as rulers and measuring tapes and invite children to measure examples of 2-D shapes they see in the environment around them. For an added element, students could work in pairs and document their experience by drawing down the shape they’re measuring as well as its measurements.

3. Visual aids such as number lines or charts that go to 100 with 5s and 10s highlighted can help children visualize how to skip-count using 5s and 10s.

Arts

What do children this age do?

1. Creates and develops new artistic ideas

2. Interprets artistic work and presents their own work

3. Analyzes and responds to own art as well as the art of others

How can caregivers or teachers support children this age?

1. Provide music of various energies such as fast-paced or slow or anything in between and invite children to free-draw to the music for two minutes. After the allotted time, switch up the music and invite students to repeat the activity. After a couple of rounds, invite students to reflect on their experiences. What was it like to draw with upbeat music? How did slower music change the experience?

2. Provide age-appropriate vocabulary that can be used to describe works of art such as rhythm, balance, shape, texture, etc. Use these words in context and lead conversations and/or projects centered around these concepts.

3. Expose children to diverse and cultural works of art and artists. Encourage conversations around these works and invite students to choose their favorite artist to discuss with a peer. If age appropriate, invite children to do a small presentation or lead a discussion about their favorite artist and why they’re drawn to them.

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Early Elementary: The Beginnings of Academia! (Part 2)

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Early Elementary: The Beginnings of Academia! (Part 2)

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Early elementary children this age are also working on...

Science

What do children this age do?

1. Shows and increased understanding of weather and climate as well as the various relationships within ecosystems

2. Uses sources from research and provides evidence as an explanation as to why certain things happen and infers based on past experiences

3. Construct and deconstruct things to make something new

How can caregivers or teachers support children this age?

1. Educators and caregivers can provide simple age-appropriate experiments for children to participate in. An easy yet popular one is an experiment with baking soda and vinegar. A caregiver can either provide instructions for students to follow or they can lead a small group in doing the experiment. During the experiment as well as after, lead a discussion and ask students open-ended questions. What do you notice is happening? Can you describe everything you’re observing? What do you think is going on? Describe any chemical reactions as well.

2. STEAM projects are a great way to get students to think and solve problems critically. Giving students an age-appropriate problem to solve and materials to solve it encourages students to find creative solutions. A popular one that can be applied to various ages is to ask: how can we build a bridge using popsicle sticks that can hold a specific amount of weight? Students can then work in pairs, independently, or in small groups to solve their problem, and after everyone is finished, children can take pride in their work by presenting their work and explaining their process.

3. Invite children to explore a scientific concept that is age-appropriate (such as the weather, a certain animal, or an invention) to read about and do research on. For this activity, a caregiver or educator can take children to a library for an afternoon and learn about the process of finding materials that match their topic, after which they can either read or watch their found materials and write about their topic. For younger ages, choose a single topic that everyone can agree on (such as planets or a small group of animals to choose from) and provide a few books or videos for children to watch and get their information from, then invite children to find two to three facts about their interest they can share with a peer.

Social Studies

What do children this age do?

1. Begins to understand personal financial literacy and recognizes the financial systems of themselves and others. Begins to understand the difference between producers and consumers and understands that work is how people earn money for goods and services.

2. Understands rules and laws, why they are placed, and consequences for breaking them. Begins to understand government structure.

3. Begins to show understanding of maps and can point out various important landmarks and familiar places.

How can caregivers or teachers support children this age?

1. Invite children to participate in drawing a map of their community that includes their home, school, and points of interest they like to visit. Not only is this a great way to learn about a student’s home life, but it can be a great way for children to express themselves and what’s important to them.

2. Caregivers can set up a pen pal or virtual exchange with a classroom or a student in a different city, state, or even country. Invite children to share experiences from their daily lives as well as their interests, and when their pen pal responds, invite children to present the response and share what they learned about a different culture.

3. Having a “rewards store” in the school or classroom can help children begin to make choices that could later be related to financial literacy. Children can complete extra projects or tasks around the classroom or even community to earn currency to spend in the classroom or school store. This would help students understand that currency can be exchanged for goods or services, and that work can help build a person’s personal finances.

Social-Emotional Skills

What do children this age do?

1. Distinguishes between a want and a need and practices self-advocacy and advocacy for others

2. Shows responsibility and takes initiative with minimal caregiver support

3. Demonstrates an understanding and respect for others and other cultures

How can caregivers or teachers support children this age?

1. Playing a game such as feelings charades can help children match various emotions with their vocabulary. Provide children with flash cards that depict a variety of emotions, then invite students to take turns acting out the feeling on their card while their peers guess the emotion. Afterward, lead a discussion about how different various emotions can look and feel, and why it’s important to understand others’ emotions.

2. Invite children to sit in a circle and take turns giving the person next to them a compliment. Encourage children to focus on an aspect of that person’s character (i.e., “I like that you share your pencils when I need one”) rather than someone’s appearance if possible. This can help build empathy and open lines of positive communication between peers.

3. Encourage children to keep a list of “I Am” affirmations (i.e., “I am brave, I am a good friend”) that they can either refer to or share with others. This can look like a flash card they get to decorate themselves, or the front cover of a journal that they write their affirmations on. Explain that students can refer to this whenever they need, and if they have a peer that looks like they could use encouragement, they can change their “I Am” affirmations to “You Are” words of encouragement. As with any age, be sure to offer lots of verbal praise and recognition when students are observed doing this.

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Emotions and play: Babies. Raising Children Network. (2023, October 10). https://raisingchildren.net.au/babies/play-learning/play-baby-development/emotions-play-babies?

Bell, S. (2024, December 19). What we know about early literacy and language development. ZERO TO THREE. https://www.zerotothree.org/resource/what-we-know-about-early-literacy-and-language-development

Serena Patel, P. (2024, June 4). 3 activities to help develop object permanence skills - napa center. NAPA. https://napacenter.org/object-permanence

Sensory activities for 0-18 months. Pathways.org. (n.d.). https://pathways.org/sensory-activities-0-18-months

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.-b). Positive parenting tips. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/child-development/positive-parenting-tips/index.html