Author Archives: carecourses

Cooking with Children: Overnight Oats

Explor­ing food through smell, taste, sight, and touch is an impor­tant part of children’s devel­op­ment. Expos­ing chil­dren to new fla­vors and tex­tures is ben­e­fi­cial, and engag­ing in a fun cook­ing activ­i­ty can help lit­tle ones feel more con­fi­dent when try­ing some­thing new. Inter­est­ed in learn­ing how to cre­ate a fun learn­ing expe­ri­ence with overnight oats? 

What is a Personal Philosophy Statement?

Do you want to learn more about what a per­son­al phi­los­o­phy state­ment is for your CDA Pro­fes­sion­al Port­fo­lio? And what you should include in it? After you col­lect your resources and reflec­tive state­ments of com­pe­tence, you are ready for the last step in cre­at­ing your CDA pro­fes­sion­al portfolio.

What is Baby Sign Language?

Between 9 and 13 months of age, infants can begin asso­ci­at­ing cer­tain ges­tures with objects, events, or needs and using these ges­tures to com­mu­ni­cate with oth­er peo­ple. Both par­ties ben­e­fit when adults work with infants and tod­dlers to estab­lish a con­sis­tent sys­tem of mutu­al­ly under­stood non­ver­bal communication.

Top Reasons to Be a Childcare Provider

The oth­er day our team was dis­cussing the chal­lenges of work­ing in child­care (the low pay! the stress! the par­ents!) and also the many rea­sons to be a child­care provider. 

We start­ed to list all the won­der­ful, mag­i­cal rea­sons to spend days with chil­dren and began review­ing mes­sages from our stu­dents. We found more and more pos­i­tive respons­es and rea­sons to be a child­care pro­fes­sion­al, and our list turned into this blog.

Finger-Painting Ideas

Fin­ger paint­ing is a fun, open-end­ed activ­i­ty appro­pri­ate for chil­dren at any stage of motor devel­op­ment. There is no right or wrong way to fin­ger paint. Every child is a suc­cess­ful fin­ger painter!

Creative Art Activities for Children

When you think of art activ­i­ties for young chil­dren, do you think of col­or­ing books with print­ed images? Or projects where chil­dren attempt to copy a sam­ple cre­at­ed by an adult? Often in these sit­u­a­tions, an adult instructs chil­dren in cre­at­ing a desired out­come or prod­uct. These types of activ­i­ties are prod­uct-focused. They do not encour­age children’s cre­ativ­i­ty or exploration. 

How to become a PD Specialist

The term PD Spe­cial­ist stands for “Pro­fes­sion­al Devel­op­ment Spe­cial­ist,” a trade­mark of the Coun­cil for Pro­fes­sion­al Recog­ni­tion (also called the CDA Coun­cil). PD Spe­cial­ists are ear­ly child­hood pro­fes­sion­als who use their ECE exper­tise to assess CDA Cre­den­tial can­di­dates’ competencies.

Fun Indoor Activities to Do with Kids

Are you look­ing for fun indoor activ­i­ties for kids and young chil­dren in child care or at home? We know that care­givers are always look­ing for new activ­i­ties that will spark chil­dren’s imag­i­na­tion. Try out some of the below art activ­i­ties and phys­i­cal activ­i­ties for kids, and let us know how they go!

Free Online Child Care Training Course: Playing Outdoors

Play offers many ben­e­fits for young chil­dren, and the out­doors offers lim­it­less pos­si­bil­i­ties for children’s play. As a result, out­door play is impor­tant even when the weath­er isn’t perfect.

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