One important part of teaching young children about math is helping them learn the concepts of “more than,” “less than,” and “equal to.” These concepts are key in beginning to understand addition and subtraction. With society increasing focus on the importance of reading, writing, and arithmetic, we are beginning to see more advertisements pushing for the use of flash cards, even beginning in infancy. Although this is a popular trend, using flash cards to help young children memorize math and …
Being a child care provider means doing your very best to provide excellent care and learning opportunities to young children, including those with disabilities and other special needs. A recent study has found that child care providers who have experience and training in caring for children with special needs along with typically developing children find it challenging, but also rewarding, to be able to provide such a valuable support to these families.*
Providing valuable support …
The young children of military families need the same kind of child care experiences that all children need: care that is warm and responsive, learning opportunities that are developmentally appropriate, and relationships that respect the whole family. But providing high-quality care also means understanding the many ways that children and families differ and tailoring our care in response. When we enroll military-connected families into our program, that means taking responsibility to learn all the ways that military service impacts children …
Puppets provide a wide range of benefits for children in a child care setting. Child care providers can use puppets, whether they are purchased at the store or homemade, to enhance almost any area of the child care curriculum. Children of all ages can enjoy using puppets in child care.
Puppets are a great way to engage the attention and imagination of children of all ages. Using puppets in the child …
Supporting young children in child care includes helping to strengthen parent-child relationships. Many families who enroll their children in child care may be young, inexperienced parents. First-time fathers in particular may need extra encouragement as they establish relationships with their young children, and that’s a role child care providers are well suited for, yet often overlook.
Supporting father involvement with children may be especially important for child care programs that include military families. These families face the possible absence of …
Learning how to read doesn’t happen overnight. It is a lifelong process that begins at birth when children are immersed in literacy. Child care providers and parents play an important role in supporting children’s literacy, simply by reading to children.
Emergent literacy refers to the ways that children learn about books and print text through everyday activities. Emergent literacy signs aren’t hard to identify. As a child care provider, have you ever noticed preschoolers beginning to …
Being a military kid is a big deal for a child! Big enough, in fact, for child care providers as caring adults to acknowledge and support it as part of the child’s developing self-identity and to reflect and respect it in the child care environment in which military kids spend a big chunk of their time.
How do child care providers do that? Below we discuss in depth four strategies to integrate reflections of military life into the child care …
Childhood obesity is a growing problem in early childhood. Child care providers can play an important role in preventing obesity by helping children stay active and learn the importance of physical activity. Here are 15 things to consider as you help the children in your child care program stay physically active.
If you are a child care provider working with children in military families, it is important to understand the stresses of military life and to find ways to help children relieve stress in the child care setting. Even the youngest children may experience stress during major changes related to military service, such as the absence of a parent during deployment or moving to a new home.
Children also respond to the stress of the people around them. When the parent …
There’s no question that military life can be stressful for all members of military families, including young children. Child care providers working with children from military families need to recognize that living in a military family has emotional ups and downs and find ways to help children cope with the stresses of military family life. The first step in helping children manage their stress is to understand how and why children in military families experience stress.
