On May 24th our family happily welcomed Baby M. The past 3 weeks have been wonderful as we watch him get acclimated to the world, our family and especially his big sister Miss H. Every day I am reminded of both how amazing infants are and how important it is to meet their needs . When we [...]
Posted in Be a PhD, Headlines, Infant, Infant/Toddler Series, Quick Tips 
Tags: caregiving, infants, newborns 
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Before children are even using writing utensils to attempt to write letters, they are making them with whatever they can find. Here are a few basic items to have in your classroom that children can use to explore the shapes, sizes and structures of letters for the first time:
Posted in Be a PhD, Headlines, Infant, Letter and Word Recognition, Literacy, Preschooler, Quick Tips, Toddler Tags: alphabet, exploratory play, fingerpaint, letters, manipulatives, playdough, sand No Comments »
Before becoming a college professor and developing my Early Childhood Education program, I was privileged enough to teach infants, toddlers and preschoolers at a Reggio Emilia-inspired laboratory school at Virginia Tech. While a teacher at the school, I worked deeply with the Reggio philosophy and was able to see what can happen when teachers listen to [...]
Sensory Play Week! Make your own sensory tables with different size/height plastic bins. What have you filled them with?
Posted in Be a PhD, Headlines, Infant, Preschooler, Toddler Tags: cognition, exploration, senses, sensory development, sensory play No Comments »
It’s PUZZLE time! Buy your puzzle rack when your baby is born and add puzzles as they grow! I’ll tell you what puzzles to introduce at what ages and what you can expect your infant, toddler and preschooler to do and learn from them.
Posted in Be a PhD, Headlines, Infant, Preschooler, Toddler Tags: cognition, cognitive development, infants, learning, letters, numbers, preschoolers, puzzles, shapes, toddlers No Comments »
Keeping reading and retelling stories with your infants, toddlers and preschoolers. After reading a book go one step further and retell with manipulatives. Try these for Jan Brett’s “The Mitten.” Great as masks or as felt board pieces.
Posted in Be a PhD, Headlines, Infant, Preschooler, Toddler Tags: cognition, cognitive development, literacy, manipulatives, reading, retelling, story retelling No Comments »
There are different types of books and literacy materials that you can introduce as children grow from infants to toddlers to preschoolers.
Posted in Be a PhD, Headlines, Infant, Preschooler, Toddler Tags: big books, board books, books, cognition, cognitive development, easel, infants, literacy, preschoolers, reading, soft books, toddlers 1 Comment »
Magnetic letters are for all ages AND are cheap and easy to find.
Posted in Be a PhD, Headlines, Infant, Preschooler, Toddler Tags: alphabet, cognition, cognitive development, fridge phonics, infants, letters, magnetic letters, sounds, toddlers preschooelrs, words No Comments »
Have a infant? All you need is a floor and a blanket. Lay them down and let them explore the most interesting “toys” they have – their body parts and their environment! You can do this from day one – each day your baby will lay down longer and longer…
