Category: Child Development Lessons

Infants in Motion: A Physical Development Video Project

When teaching about the physical development of infants, I like to assign Infants in Motion: A Physical Development Video Project to my students so they can see the growth and development sequentially. Before students can put their video together, they must understand what is happening and, therefore, must do a bit of research. Read on to see how I introduce and build up to this assignment.

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Piaget Based Play-doh Mats

Instead of having students make the busy books at the end of the Piaget Relational Concepts lesson, I created this Piaget based Play-doh mats project. In doing so, I found students to be just as engaged, if not more so, the projects were a lot neater and overall, found it was a more interactive and creative assignment that reinforced the relational concepts! It’s a keeper!

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Families in Children’s Books

Many years ago Carol Erwin, of Nebraska, shared an activity with me that gave students the chance to analyze the work of the family. Students enjoy reading  about different families in children’s books as they complete a series of prompts. It’s important for children to see how families interact and be able to recognize and relate to different family structures, stages of the family life cycle, and family functions. So if you have access to a variety of children’s books about families or a local library, you may want to grab some books and check this lesson out.

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Nature & Outdoor Play

As children, my siblings and I played outside everyday mostly because we loved it and wanted to, but sometimes because our parents insisted that it was too nice a day not to! I know, I know…it was a different time. But sadly, have you ever noticed how few children you actually see playing outdoors anymore? I decided to poll my students and see what their thoughts were on the subject and then take a hard look at why we need to bring nature & outdoor play back and get children engaged on a regular basis!

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Delayed Gratification, Patience & Consistency

In a world of “instants” does patience still exist? And, should we be teaching children delayed gratification skills and how to be patient instead of immediately giving into their every “whim”? This lesson explores this topic and demonstrates to students why being consistent and teaching children to be patient yields greater success later on in life.

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What Children Need Silhouettes

What do children need physically, intellectually, emotionally and socially in order to grow and develop? Students brainstorm ideas and share their knowledge of children’s needs to raise awareness and show others the responsibilities of parents and caregivers as they create their own “What Children Need Silhouettes”.

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Empathy Lesson

Do you have students that find it difficult to put themselves in another’s shoes and see things from someone else’s perspective? Have they ever judged someone without really getting to know them? My guess is you have; we all have! This lesson explores empathy as students practice applying empathy skills in order to strengthen their emotional intelligence which will help them as they move forward in life.

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Nessie: Hand-Sewing Infant Toy

Enrichment means to improve something…in this case the “something” was basic sewing skills (and fine motor skills). This year I chose to do a hand-sewing enrichment activity that was an extension of the rattle lesson in the infant unit.  Students worked on their small motor skills while creating and hand-sewing an infant toy or rattle which was affectionately named Nessie.  Please note, this project could easily be adapted to machine sewing if you have sewing machines in your classroom.

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Rattles & Infant Development

While shopping for a baby gift, I noticed the variety of rattles available for infants. There were rattles that were simple, plush, noisy, colorful, interactive, chewable and even battery operated….so many to choose from! I had a difficult time choosing one to add to my gift and it got me to thinking that new parents must feel the same way.  Do infants and babies even need rattles?  What is their role in infant development?   It was then that I decided to add a lesson and project about rattles and how they affect development to my infant unit!

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Children & Self-Esteem

Teaching students about self-esteem is important at any age, but it’s super important to emphasize how critical it is to a child’s development. In this lesson I share some ideas and activities that help students understand what self-esteem is, the difference between positive and negative self-esteem, how it’s developed, why it’s important and who/what helps to influence it. So, read on to learn more about this lesson!

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