Content and Resources
Group activities to promote social-emotional learning (age 1-2)
Group activities to promote social-emotional learning (age 2-3)
Group activities to promote social-emotional learning (age 3-5)
SEL
Engaging a classroom in group activities offers a range of benefits for fostering social-emotional learning. Involvement in games that involve following rules and collaborating towards shared objectives promotes teamwork, fair play, and a deeper understanding of social boundaries. Children also learn by observing others, cooperating, and have opportunities to take on leadership or "public speaking" roles.
Communication Styles with Preschoolers
SLP
Effective communication is the cornerstone of nurturing preschoolers' language development. Here is a quick self assessment to ensure your communication style is setting the stage for optimal learning.
Check out these 6 strategies to prevent and respond to children when they engage in unsafe or challenging behaviors.
Guidelines and recommendations for sleep and naps in preschool aged children, when to drop the nap and transition to quiet time, an the laws in childcare facilities in regards to sleep.
How to plan for, respond to, and reflect on physical aggression in toddlers.
Sensory play for infants supports cognitive development, fine and gross motor skills, and sensory processing abilities. Engaging in sensory activities helps babies explore their environment, sparks curiosity, and lays the foundation for future learning and growth.
Resilience is the ability to handle and overcome challenges. This includes managing stressful situations, using coping strategies, ‘bouncing back’, trying again after a mistake or failure, and having the confidence to overcome an obstacle. Resilient children can recover from setbacks and move on more quickly.
Preschoolers are actively developing language at their unique pace. Here are some effective strategies for nurturing language development in all preschoolers, including those with delays.
When a child is dysregulated, it's important to provide them with a safe and supportive environment to express and process their emotions. Here are the steps to follow in response to a big expression of emotion and how to help a child regulate.
Indirect language stimulation techniques help children learn language naturally during everyday activities. Adults use these techniques to enrich children's language skills without pressuring them to speak. The focus is on engaging in activities and providing words that children will use later.
Praise and encouragement, while both positive, serve different purposes. Although some praise is certainly beneficial, relying solely on praise can have significant long-term implications. It’s important to consider the value of encouragement, which can foster deeper, more sustainable growth and motivation.
A visual that supports children in taking an idea and creating a plan!
Group Activities for Language Development (age 2-3)
Games to build foundational expressive, receptive, and pragmatic language skills.
Using the term “be careful” can be a quick response to children engaging in risky behavior. However, this can be unclear to children, as they do not know what you are referring to. It can also limit “safe risk taking” or a child’s ability to take small risks that result in building confidence and new skills. Try to limit the use of the term “be careful” , instead assessing the risk and determining if you even need to respond to keep them safe.
Creating a thematic curriculum that incorporates speech and language development as well as early literacy into Circle Time can build both language and social skills as well as introduce early learning concepts. Here are some ideas and tips for implementation.
By incorporating these strategies, you can create slowly teach self- regulation skills and create an environment where babies can discover and practice self- regulation skills on their own.
In the realm of early childhood education, educators play a crucial role in nurturing a child's learning and growth. Two key concepts that guide effective teaching practices are scaffolding and the "just right challenge."
Try some of these ideas in the classroom to support gross motor development.
Active listening is a style of communication that increases connection between two people. It helps the child feel seen, heard, and understood. It signals that you are fully present, understanding their words, embracing their point of view, and valuing their circumstances.
Play is essential for the overall development of preschoolers, helping them develop social (relational), emotional (regulatory), cognitive, and physical skills (sensorimotor). There are several types of play that are developmentally appropriate for preschool-aged children. Further, understanding the different types of social play behaviors allows parents, educators, and caregivers to support children's social development effectively.
Here are some language strategies to help guide children’s behavior and choices towards safety and respect for others.
A combination of structured and unstructured activities provides a well-rounded approach, addressing various aspects of a child's development – cognitive, social, emotional, and physical. Exposure to both types of activities helps preschoolers become adaptable and flexible, preparing them for different learning environments.
Individualized learning tailors education to each student's interests and abilities. It involves utilizing the Zone of Proximal Learning, providing supportive interactions, and monitoring progress toward important goals for individual children.
Ways to support the development of gross motor skills indoors!
Frequent dysregulation in children can hinder their classroom engagement. Watch for these signs of dysregulation in children and employ strategies for improved regulation throughout the day.
Sensory bins are a great activity to develop attention, motor skills, and creativity. They can include a base texture (i.e. rice, beans, sand), tools (i.e. scoops, shovels), and themed-items (i.e. ocean animals, trucks). Here are some ideas for themed-sensory bins to use in the classroom.
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To create a calming space for kids to relax and refocus, you want to include soft seating, cozy blankets, and quiet activities. With soothing colors, soft lighting, and mindfulness tools, it's a space designed for peace and self-regulation.
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Tips for parents and teachers to make the school drop-off as smooth (as possible!)
We understand that starting preschool can be an emotional and exciting time for both parents and children. To ensure a smooth and positive drop-off experience, we have compiled some guidelines to help you navigate this transition.
Power struggles are no fun. What can you do to prevent power struggles with children in the clasroom?
How to immerse children in a language-rich environment to support speech and language development.
Do you notice children making "mistakes" in their speech? Sometimes it's not a mistake, its a process! Most phonological processes are typical as children develop speech by imitating adults. However, if these processes persist beyond the expected age, monitoring and referral to a Speech Language Pathologist may be necessary.
Use this chart to see the typical ages that children develop capacities in speech and language. Categories: language understanding, language use, speech sounds, and social pragmatics.
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Anxiety in Children
SEL
Anxiety is when you feel really worried or scared that something bad might happen. It's like having butterflies in your stomach. Sometimes when you're anxious, you might want to avoid things that make you feel that way, or you might ask for a lot of reassurance from others.
Cognitive problem-solving games are crucial for preschoolers as they enhance critical thinking, memory, and concentration, foster social and language skills, and prepare children for academic challenges. Through engaging activities, these games promote persistence, creativity, and emotional regulation, laying the foundation for holistic cognitive development in early childhood.
Check out this example of a behavior support plan for a preschooler. Behavior support plans are typically used when a child is engaging in an unsafe or disruptive behavior and the staff and family work together to support the child to move away from that behavior.
Anxiety is when you feel really worried or scared that something bad might happen. It's like having butterflies in your stomach. Sometimes when you're anxious, you might want to avoid things that make you feel that way, or you might ask for a lot of reassurance from others.
Modulation games and activities are designed to help children develop the ability to regulate their energy levels, emotions, and responses to sensory input.
This handout includes ideas such as labeling, visual schedules, visuals for social skills, and classroom set up to promote first words in the infant classroom.
All children under age five are developing impulse control, attention, and regulation skills. Some kids might need more support than others.
This handout serves as a guide for setting up different classroom stations for preschoolers. The stations promote sensory and motor development.
What does the research say about visuals in the preschool classroom?
This guide provides teachers with strategies and guidelines to effectively support children with diverse needs in classroom activities in order to create an inclusive environment for all.
Ideas to support children experiencing sleep challenges, such as difficulty separating at bedtime, or waking up in the night.
Transitions can be really hard. Here are some ways to make transitions smoother for everyone!
We discuss night-time separation anxiety, bedtime resistance, frequent waking, sleep walking, night terrors, and nightmares.
This guide provides teachers with strategies and guidelines to effectively support children with diverse needs in classroom activities in order to create an inclusive environment for all.
Scavenger hunts are a great way boost vocabulary! Here are some ideas to play on your next walk, park visit, or even in the classroom.
Project-Based Learning (PBL) in preschools is a teaching method that allows children to explore real-world situations by following their natural curiosities. PBL is an approach to learning that supports the development of critical thinking and problem solving skills, teamwork, and social-awareness. Elements of PBL can be incorporated into a play based curriculum in a preschool setting.
Games with rules promote teamwork, fair play, sportsmanship, and understanding of social boundaries. They also enhance cognitive skills like problem-solving and strategic thinking and can present children with the “just right” challenge in a safe and playful environment.
When considering the diversity in sensory profiles amongst children, there are some important topics to consider: the schedule, the environment, and some having some general knowledge of the types of sensory profiles that may show up in the classroom.
In analytic language processing, children start by learning small language units like individual words, progressing to forming phrases, sentences, and conversations in a bottom-up approach. Conversely, gestalt language processing follows a top-down approach, where children learn entire language chunks or "gestalts." In this handout, we delve into the specifics of each type, exploring their developmental details and challenges.
Pragmatic language is the use of appropriate communication in social situations (knowing what to say, how to say it, and when to say it). It is the ability to adapt language for different purposes, listeners, situations, and following “rules for conversation."
Things to do while reading with children to promote language and literacy.
Check out this list of fine motor milestones and developmentally appropriate activities.
Tips and guidelines of how to discuss the benefits of a play-based school philosophy with caregivers.
Use of signs can support language development! Babies can move their bodies to make signs before they learn to use their voices. These are the six most common signs to teach children.
What is normal? When should you be concerned? This handout explains it all from how to prevent aggression to what to do once it has already occurred.
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Teachers can create a rich and varied learning environment that supports the developmental needs of infants through individualized and engaging interactions. Helping babies make connections supports cognitive growth!
Engaging children in the problem-solving process help develop skills like critical thinking and independence, while nurturing their creativity and building resilience. It empowers them to take ownership of solutions, preparing them for future challenges and boosting confidence in their own abilities.
Children often exhibit different behaviors in various settings, such as at home and at preschool. Understanding these differences can help us navigate and support our children's development. Here are some key factors to consider
Prolonged pacifier use can cause dental issues and speech delays. Infants can start making sounds around 10 months, a good time to wean off pacifiers for proper growth and speech development. The earlier the pacifier is removed, the easier the transition.
How can you strike the balance between keeping children safe, while giving them space to explore and learn from their experiences. Taking risks are opportunities to learn. Find out more.
This handout covers layout, fine motor, gross motor, seating, and sleeping suggestions for infant, toddler, and preschool classrooms.
Leaving a preschool or child care center can be challenging for young children, especially when they have a familiar routine, close friends, and teachers they are attached to. We want to support children through this transition in a developmentally appropriate manner. Our goal is to inform them about the changes ahead, acknowledge and honor their feelings, provide opportunities for meaningful goodbyes, and help them look forward to new experiences.
This handout includes 4 ways to promote language development in the toddler and preschool classroom.
The environment is a powerful tool in early childhood education. By being intentional about the toys, activities, and overall classroom setup, preschool teachers can create a space that enhances children’s development, participation and regulation.
This handout includes information on how to identify when a child needs help regulating, and how to offer support.
This decision tree presents you with scenarios and the choices you can make when a child is dysregulated. Should I intervene?
The 5 most common challenges in the classroom: A child hits another child, a child gets over excited and loses control of their body, a child not participating and distracting others, separation anxiety at drop-off, child throwing or knocking items off shelves.
We discuss night-time separation anxiety, bedtime resistance, frequent waking, sleep walking, night terrors, and nightmares.
Understanding why children form "cliques" and exclude others, and what to do about it.
A social story is a short, personalized narrative that teaches children how to navigate social situations, routines, or emotions using simple language and clear examples. They help improve understanding, reduce anxiety, and build social-emotional skills by explaining what to expect and modeling responses.
