What Child Care Providers Can Expect in the Thinking and Language Development of 6 – 8 Year Olds

Child using binoculars

As children begin elementary school, they also show important advances in both thinking and language skills. They become better at logical thinking and problem-solving. They are motivated, active learners. School-age children begin to learn bigger words, to produce longer and more complex sentences, to manipulate language in new ways, to learn subtle exceptions to grammar rules and to understand their native tongue much better.

Child care providers in out-of-school child care programs can support the development of thinking and language …

What Child Care Providers Can Expect in Preschoolers' Thinking and Language Development

Preschool circle time

During the preschool years, children develop new thinking skills and become competent at using language to communicate. These newly developed thinking and language skills enable preschoolers to begin solving complex problems, asking and answering questions, and using their imagination to create and act out stories. Child care providers can support thinking and language development in preschoolers through conversations, reading, math and science activities, creative questions, and opportunities to pretend. The following are common milestones of thinking and language development in …

Language Development in Child Care

Teacher reading to children

Child care providers play an important role in supporting early language development. The building blocks for language development are present in children’s lives beginning at birth. Newborn infants follow the sound of their parent’s voice. Babies who are only a few weeks old prefer their parents’ voices. Infants begin making their first language sounds within the first few months of life.

Child care providers can help children learn language in easy yet exciting ways. As a child care provider, you …

Talking with Babies in Child Care

Woman and baby smiling at each other

Child care providers sometime feel shy about talking with babies, because they think the babies don’t understand what you are saying. But brain research tells us that talking with babies is important. Talking with babies helps them to learn a great deal about language and communication, even before they are old enough to understand the meaning of the words you say.

One of the easiest ways to talk with babies in child care is to build conversation with babies into …