Do It Yourself Early Learning

Making learning a hands-on experience, Do-It-Yourself Early Learning shows home child care providers how to find and use many of the inexpensive—and often overlooked—building, home-repair, and construction materials available at local hardware stores and home centers to create fun activities and toys that promote play, exploration, and discovery. This innovative guide takes teachers on a journey through the aisles of the local home center to help them find creative ways to teach young children to build, interact, and learn from a wide variety of materials—from plumbing and electrical supplies to paints and hardware items.

Anti-bias education begins with you! Become a skilled anti-bias teacher with this practical guidance to confronting and eliminating barriers.

Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.

Let children experience the learning power of play! Let’s Play is a handbook full of child-led, open-ended learning adventures. The 39 fresh, fun, and budget-friendly activities (plus more than 225 play variations) are packed with learning that helps children develop important motor, cognitive, language, and social skills. These activity starters were all tested by a slew of early childhood professionals and approved by the children they work with. Building on the early learning principles presented in the author team’s first book together, Let Them Play: An Early Learning (Un)Curriculum, they also support your transition to a play-based, child-led (un)curriculum. Jeff A. Johnson has more than twenty years of early childhood experience as a former child care center director and current family child care business owner. He is a popular keynote speaker, trainer, and author of six books. Denita Dinger has been a child care provider for more than ten years and is a frequent speaker at early childhood conferences, focusing on the topics of hands-on and play-based learning. This is her second book.

The Child Care Alphabet Book of Early Learning is the first in a series of ABC books examining what goes on in quality child care programs. This book looks at the learning that takes place while children are in care. It is fun for children and helps educate parents about what to look for in a quality early care and education program.

An inspiring step-by-step guide to documenting children's ideas, questions, and learning in a way that enhances teacher's thinking and understanding

Theory meets practical tips in this guide for leaders of early childhood programs