At the beginning of this school year, at an in-service program, we were asked by our administrators to do three things within our respective curriculums. One: Implement more projects. Two: Use more technology. Three: Become more multi-disciplined. With that being said I…
Category: Child Development Lessons
Prenatal Nutrition
Eating healthy is always important but especially when you are expecting a child! As a pregnant mom you are your child’s lifeline to good health and nutrition. So remember if you eat junk so does your developing baby, but if…
Sensory Play
From birth children begin to learn about their world through their senses. Research even tells us that sensory play contributes to brain development. This lesson focuses on why caregivers need to provide sensory rich environments for children and challenges students…
Snacks for Kids Cookbook Project
Creativity & Play The Dr. Seuss Way
As soon as my students see the cans of Play-doh sitting out they get excited! Common questions are “Is that for us?” or “Do we get to play with that today?” And why not? As a child I enjoyed creating things out of Play-doh and still do today. Play-doh is fun and creative! I also enjoy Dr. Seuss books for the same reason. So why not combine the two? When we teach our students about children and the importance of literacy and play, I think it’s only fair to include the importance of creativity and imagination. This interactive lesson strives to connect the areas of development with creative play in a way that, I hope, would honor Dr. Seuss!
Time to Feed the Baby: Homemade or Store Bought?
Technology & Toddlers Activity
It’s hard to escape the children’s toy lesson without addressing the prevalence of Apps for Smart phones and tablets as the new toys for toddlers. Give it just a couple of years and this lesson will be obsolete as the students you’ll be teaching grew up playing more with Apps than physical toys and they will have no idea why that may be a problem. Regardless of your bias, we need to teach tomorrow’s child care workers & parents how to evaluate Apps that are good for children from the ones that are fluff.
Diaper Cost Analysis Project
What do Babies Think? Alternative Activity
This is an activity I came up with after reading the What do Babies Think Lesson previously shared on the website. I couldn’t assign the experiment included in the lesson because my students didn’t have access to children in that age range, but I did find a site where students could find their own interesting picture of a baby and literally put baby’s thoughts into words. It’s called “Blabberize” and it’s super easy to use and free and my students had a great time with it. I made a class account and students just saved their work individually which also saved trees and in the end they can view each others work very easily.
Bedtime Fears & Fear Me Not Community Service Lessons
This amazing lesson is the Winner of our Child Development Lesson Plan Competition! The goal of this lesson is to explore bedtime issues/fears of children & how to respond to them. Students will also create a community service project called “Fear-Me-Not” characters to help children in abuse shelters feel more secure and safe during their stay.