About
Well trained early childhood educators can help young children's development in so many ways. This program is designed for people interested in conducting specialized training sessions for early childhood educators.
Who is it for? The workshop has been designed primarily with child care providers in mind, though others may benefit from the training.
Current program subjects include but not limited to:
Kids Deserve a Safe Place to Grow: What child care providers can do about child abuse and neglect
Have you ever been worried that a child in your care is being abused? Did you wonder what you should do or how to help? One of our responsibilities as caregivers is to protect and help children and their families.
What is the workshop about? This curriculum provides activities and information to help caregivers of young children in responding and reporting their concerns about potential child maltreatment as well as prevention tips for staff and children.
The workshop focuses on:
- Recognizing child abuse & neglect
- Responding to disclosures
- How, what, when, where to report suspicions of child maltreatment
- Policies for homes and centers to keep children and staff safe
- Four types of child maltreatment
The workshop is designed for three hours.
Why? The overall goals of the curriculum are to increase participants' knowledge of:
- The four types of child maltreatment
- How to recognize child maltreatment
- How, when, where and what to report when one suspects child maltreatment
- How to respond when a child discloses abuse
- Program policies to protect children and staff
- Caregivers' responsibilities and rights related to child maltreatment
Let's Get Creative: Art Activities for Young Children
Have you ever seen a sand witch? A flying wagon? A square light bulb? Creative thinking is something we often try to foster in child care. Art is one way to help children expand their creative thinking.
What is the workshop about? This fun curriculum provides information and instructions for conducting a workshop for caregivers wanting to foster creativity in young children. And it lets providers stretch out their own creative thinking.
The workshop focuses on:
- What creativity is
- what every creative art program needs
- developmentally appropriate creative art activities
- troubleshooting potential problems around children and art
The workshop is designed for three hours, though shorter formats are possible.
Why? The overall goals of the workshop are to increase participants':
- desire to support the development of creativity in children
- knowledge about the development and importance of creativity and ways in which creative art fits into an overall developmental curriculum
- ability to identify appropriate creative art activities for young children, ones that promote rather than stifle creative expression
- use of developmentally appropriate creative art activities in their child care programs
Art for All Seasons
Tired of art programs tied to traditional holidays such as Christmas, Easter, and Halloween? Art activities designed for these holidays are often inappropriate for an increasingly diverse population. Activities coupled with the seasons - from Snow pals to Dip and Dye Butterflies, Foil Critters to Hi-Bear-Nation - offer a good alternative.
What is the workshop about? This curriculum provides information and instructions for conducting a workshop for caregivers wanting to foster creativity in young children using art activities not tied to holidays. And it lets providers test out a host of non-traditional activities, as well.
The workshop focuses on:
- the advantages of a non-holiday, anti-bias art program
- developmental stages of artistic development
- non-traditional creative art activities to enhance children's creativity during spring, summer, fall and winter
- troubleshooting potential problems around children and art
The workshop is designed for three hours, though shorter formats are possible.
Why? The overall goals of the workshop are to increase participants':
- desire to support the development of creativity in children
- knowledge about the development and importance of creativity and ways in which non-bias creative art fits into an overall developmental curriculum
- ability to identify appropriate creative art activities for young children, ones that promote creative expression but are not tied to traditional holidays
- use of non-traditional creative art activities in their child care programs
Look What I Can Do: Physical Development of Young Children
Isn't it fun to watch a baby learning to take his first steps? Or a toddler learning to walk and clap his hands together at the same time? Or an older preschooler learning how to skip? The experiences provided by caregivers are crucial to children's physical development.
What is the workshop about? Many early childhood educators love watching children learn the fundamental physical activities. However, educators may not always know the developmental appropriateness of physical activities or how to incorporate age-appropriate activities into a daily curriculum.
The workshop focuses on physical development and activities for:
- infants
- toddlers
- preschoolers
- school-agers up to age 12
The workshop is designed for three hours, though shorter formats are possible.
Why? The overall goals of the workshop are to increase participants':
- knowledge of what is physical development;
- knowledge of age-appropriate physical activities for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and school-age children; and
- use of developmentally appropriate physical activities in their child care programs.
Follow My Lead: Developmentally Appropriate Physical Activities for Young Children
Have you ever wondered about what kids of certain ages are able to do and not do? Or how you can encourage children to be physically active and healthy?
What is the workshop about? The curriculum provides information and instructions for conducting a workshop for child care providers on age-appropriate physical development and activities for infants, toddlers and preschoolers.
The workshop focuses on:
- Physical development;
- Age-appropriate physical activities for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers;
- Planning for developing the skills of fundamental movement;
- Knowledge of physical fitness
The workshop is designed for three hours, though shorter formats are possible.
Why? The overall goals of the workshop are to increase participants':
- knowledge of physical development;
- knowledge of age-appropriate physical activities for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers;
- awareness of the need to plan for developing the skills of fundamental movement;
- knowledge of physical fitness;
- use of a wide range of developmentally appropriate physical activities; and
- knowledge of Pre-K standards and how they can be used in the group care.
Unlocking the Mysteries of Positive Guidance
Have you ever been puzzled or frustrated by a child's behavior? Did you get stressed at times wondering why the children in your care don't behave as you think they should? One of the most challenging and important jobs of caregivers can be helping children learn social skills.
What is the workshop about? This curriculum provides activities and information to help caregivers of young children to use positive guidance in their programs, teaching children social skills and increasing positive interactions in child care settings.
The workshop focuses on:
- Goals of positive guidance and discipline
- Understanding children and guidance
- How the environment impacts children's behavior
- Skills and strategies for caregivers
The workshop is designed for three hours.
Why? The overall goals of the curriculum are to increase participants' knowledge of:
- goals of positive guidance and discipline
- children and guidance
- impact of environment on children's behavior
- ways to set up an environment to decrease misbehavior
- skills and strategies for positive guidance
- developmental standards for socially and emotionally healthy children
See It, Say It, Play It: Language Development for Young Children
What's in a word? For a young child, a lot. Language development is a key part of any early childhood program. Strong language skills are one of the best predictors of success in school.
What is the workshop about? The See It, Say It, Play It workshop takes participants through a typical day at the Jelly Belly Child Care program. The workshop features useful information on how to foster children's language development, as well as a host of language enhancing activities.
The workshop focuses on children's:
- speaking
- listening
- reading
- writing
The workshop is designed for three hours, though shorter formats are possible.
Why? The overall goals of the workshop are that participants will:
- become acquainted with a wide variety of language arts activities
- gain knowledge about the language development of children and how this pertains to the child care curriculum
- learn how to carry out a well informed language arts curriculum
Detective T is on the Case: Understanding Temperament
Have you ever wondered why some kids seem stubborn and others are easy going or why one child in your care must put their clothes on in a specific order? Detective T will help you solve the mysteries of different temperaments of children and staff in your child care program making your days with children more fun and enjoyable.
What is the workshop about? The Detective T curriculum provides information and instructions for conducting a fun, interactive workshop for child care providers wanting to better understand children and staff in their program.
The workshop focuses on:
- Understanding individual temperament
- Identifying temperament traits
- Learning how temperament affects how each of us interacts in the world
- Understanding how temperament influences relationships between children, adults and peers
- Identifying behaviors associated with temperament traits
- Strategies to help each child be successful and develop positive relationships
The workshop is designed for three hours, though shorter formats are possible.
Why? The overall goals of the workshop are to increase participants':
- Temperament is a person's natural tendency to respond
- Temperament traits appear in the first few months of life
- Temperament remains fairly consistent throughout life
- Temperament traits are neither good nor bad
- Our responses to children's temperament can help them succeed and enhance the relationships they develop
- Accepting children as they are gives them the message that who they are and who they are becoming is okay
Buckaroo Bunny: Steering Kids to Literacy
Is there anything better than seeing a young child curled up in the corner looking at a book? Or a group of children gathered around a teacher, their eyes alive as they follow along with the book?
What is the workshop about? The Buckaroo Bunny hosts this fun curriculum that provides information and instructions for conducting a workshop for child care providers wanting to offer a developmental literacy curriculum.
The workshop focuses on sharing books with:
- infants
- toddlers
- preschoolers
The workshop is designed for three hours, though shorter formats are possible.
Why? The overall goals of the workshop are to increase participants':
- knowledge about sharing books with children
- knowledge about developmentally appropriate literacy concepts
- ability to identify appropriate literacy skills for young children
- use of developmentally appropriate literacy activities in their child care programs
Buckaroo Bunny's Reading Roundup
What are a Chartreuse Moose, a Maroon Baboon, a Blue Kangaroo, and a Yellow Swallow all doing on a language train? Bringing a trainload of ideas and language development activities for child care Providers, of course. The language experiences provided by caregivers are crucial to children's language development.
What is the workshop about? Join the Chartreuse Moose as he hosts this interactive curriculum designed for child care providers wanting to offer developmental language activities for young children.
The workshop focuses on language development and activities for:
- infants
- toddlers
- preschoolers
- school-agers
The workshop is designed for three hours, though shorter formats are possible.
Why? The overall goals of the workshop are to increase participants':
- understanding of developmentally appropriate language concepts;
- knowledge about the language development of children from birth through 10 years of age;
- ability to identify appropriate language skills for young children; and
- knowledge of a wide variety of developmentally appropriate language activities to use in their child care programs.
The Fabulous Five-Ring Math Circus
Come join us at the circus - The Fabulous Five-Ring Math Circus that is.
Young children and math, you ask? Many early childhood teachers cringe at the thought. Visions of dittos and flash cards rush through their minds. But much can be done by providing simple, developmentally appropriate math activities for young children.
What is the workshop about? This fun curriculum provides information and instructions for conducting a workshop for care givers wanting to offer a developmental math curriculum, all while enjoying a visit to our make believe circus.
The workshop features five foundation math skills:
- one-to-one correspondence
- sequencing and seriation
- spatial relations
- classifying and matching
- addition and subtraction
The workshop is designed for three hours, though shorter formats are possible.
Why? The overall goals of the workshop are to increase participants':
- knowledge about developmentally appropriate math concepts
- ability to identify appropriate math skills for young children
- use of developmentally appropriate math activities in their child care programs
The Chartreuse Moose and other Fun Language Activities for Children
What are a Chartreuse Moose, a Maroon Baboon, a Blue Kangaroo, and a Yellow Swallow all doing on a language train? Bringing a trainload of ideas and language development activities for child care providers, of course. The language experiences provided by caregivers are crucial to children's language development.
What is the workshop about? Join the Chartreuse Moose as he hosts this interactive curriculum designed for child care providers wanting to offer developmental language activities for young children.
The workshop focuses on language development and activities for:
- infants
- toddlers
- preschoolers
- school-agers
The workshop is designed for three hours, though shorter formats are possible.
Why? The overall goals of the workshop are to increase participants':
- understanding of developmentally appropriate language concepts
- knowledge about the language development of children from birth through 10 years of age
- ability to identify appropriate language skills for young children
- knowledge of a wide variety of developmentally appropriate language activities to use in their child care programs
Murphy's Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day: Emergency Preparedness for Child Care Programs
Emergencies can happen anywhere, anytime—and usually when least expected. It is important for child care programs to be prepared. With a well thought out plan, providers can ensure their staff, children, and parents know what to do if an emergency occurs.
What is the workshop about? The curriculum provides information and instructions for conducting a workshop for child care providers on developing or updating emergency preparedness plans.
The workshop focuses on:
- thinking about emergency situations
- steps to developing an emergency preparedness plan
- what to do after the plan is written
- helping children cope with emergencies
The workshop is designed for three hours, though shorter formats are possible.
Why? The overall goals of the workshop are to:
- increase participants' awareness of the importance of having an emergency plan
- increase participants' knowledge of the elements of a solid emergency plan
- provide an opportunity for providers to begin the planning process for how emergencies will be handled if they do occur
