Category: Child Development Resources

Multiple Intelligences with Potato Head Toys

If you teach about the multiple intelligences, you may want to give this one a try. Multiple Intelligences with Potato Head Toys will not only engage your students because this is a hands-on activity, but you may even get a smile or two out of your students as they “play”—oops, I mean “learn” about this topic!  So, if you have some of these classic toys stashed away, it may be time to dig them out and give them a new life and purpose in your classroom!  If not, I’ve linked them below.

Children’s Book Character K-Cups

Last fall, I saw a lot of cute children’s book character pumpkin projects surface all over social media!  While the pumpkin characters are/were super cute, I feel like the project limited itself to only the fall season.  With that being said, I wanted to come up with a similar project, but one that could be done ANY time of the year and with minimal cost as empty K-Cups are used as the base of the character!  AKA~ Book Character K-Ups!  How’s that for sustainability and upcycling!

P.I.E.S: Puzzle Piece Activity

I love when teachers take ideas from the website and add to them!  That is exactly what Shannon Stevens, a FCS teacher from Ohio, did with my P.I.E.S: The Areas
of Development lesson. Shannon created the P.I.E.S: Puzzle Piece Activity to use with students in her Child Development class. She wanted to add a component for the students to share their knowledge of P.I.E.S. along with something that could be displayed in the classroom for other classes to enjoy. Additionally, she wanted a technology free activity!

Prenatal Mystery Bags

you’re like me, you don’t always want to teach things the same way; you want a refresh!  When teaching about prenatal development and the changes associated with both mother and baby, the Prenatal Mystery Bags assignment offers just that…a refresh!  This ready to teach assignment is one I did years ago, but decided it needed an update so, in this post, you will find two different ways to use this with your students.  Choose the one that works best for you and incorporate many of the 4 C’s (communication, critical thinking, collaboration and creativity) as your students work through the activity!

The Value of Cardboard Toys

Toys purchased from stores can be expensive only to have children play with them for a brief period of time before setting them aside for something else. Empty boxes and containers, on the other hand, make great toys and allow for way more imagination and creativity. Better yet, they don’t cost you anything extra as you were probably going to recycle them anyway! Let students learn about the value of cardboard toys as they explore and engage in the following lesson.

POP! Figure Project

Because of the recent popularity Funko Pop characters have gained on TikTok, this fun POP! Figure Project was created and shared by Cayla Young of Texas! While she uses it with her Culinary Arts students, there are a variety of ways to incorporate the project into other classes.

Exercise & Children Hyperdoc

With growing concerns about the overall wellness of children, I often include special topics in my child development class that address specific issues and/or concerns. This Exercise & Children Hyperdoc is one of them! Exercise and being healthy is one of my personal passions and, in my opinion, begins in childhood! So, I hope you find this Exercise & Children Hyperdoc lesson useful in your classroom, regardless of how you are teaching this year.

Panicked Pumpkins: Labor & Delivery Project

Thank you, Tracey Eatherton of Ste. Genevieve High School, Ste. Genevieve, Missouri for sharing this FUN, educational and interactive lesson! If you teach parenting or child development, especially at this time of year, then the Panicked Pumpkins: Labor and Delivery Project is a must do activity! It also makes a great display if you have a showcase you maintain in your school! Read on to see what’s included…

Erikson’s Theory of Development

Erik Erikson’s theory of development is one my students have always enjoyed learning about, and pre-COVID was taught in a more hands-on way. Since many of us may be teaching with both students in the actual classroom as well as those taking the class virtually, in real time, I’ve updated my lesson to Erikson’s Theory of Development to incorporate Iron Chef & Instagram activities, making it more tech friendly and usable in both teaching worlds!

Birth Defects Guided Hyperdoc

Assigning hyperdocs for distance learning may seem like you aren’t the “sage on the stage”, however, even as the “guide on the side”, you can make them somewhat interactive. I use this “Birth Defects Guided Hyperdoc” as my plan or outline. Students complete it in sections, but we come together to discuss or go over parts along the way. This is one of the best ways I can make my hybrid virtual (Zoom) classroom mirror my traditional classroom. Doing this saves me time and frustration, in the end and I’m really just reworking my original activities, just in a little different format. So, please check out the “Birth Defects Guided Hyperdoc” to see what I mean!