Now in a second edition, this popular resource shows teachers and childcare providers how to work with young children based on current neuroscience research. Revised and expanded, it contains a wealth of practical and specific activities and materials to use with infants and toddlers to enhance growth and development. For each activity presented, the text examines its relation to the rapid brain growth that characterizes the 0 to 3 years, including major developments in sensory reception, movement, language, cognition, memory, vision, and motivation. Featured materials, with guidance for their use and where to find them, include paint, mark-makers, man-made found objects, natural objects, clay, paper, and light and shadow. This edition features many full color images and two new chapters on using electronic technology with infants and toddlers written by outstanding early educators. This is an essential guide for trainers and professionals who work with very young children, as well as parents and other caregivers. Book Features: The interpretation of current neuroscience as a supplement to the wisdom of excellent early childhood educators. Numerous vignettes of teachers at work with young children inspired by the experiences of lifelong early educator Ann Lewin-Benham. New ideas regarding the responsible introduction of electronic technology to young children. Original color photos of children learning with traditional materials such as paint, clay, and fabric, as well as with electronic devices such as cameras and computers. Insights and practices of renowned cognitive psychologists, including Stanislas Dehaene. “In this well-researched and aptly illustrated book, master educator Ann Lewin-Benham surveys authorities (like Piaget), exemplary programs (like Reggio Emilia), materials (like paper and clay), as well as current research on the brain and on technology—and skillfully integrates them.” —Howard Gardner, Hobbs Research Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education “A wealth of information and specific suggestions for creating learning environments that capitalize on current knowledge make this an invaluable guide for practitioners and teacher educators.” —Young Children “Ann Lewin-Benham’s book represents an extraordinarily comprehensive yet usable guide to the neuroscientific state-of-the-art in infant and toddler cognitive development. Full of practical recommendations for engaging young children’s brains with the physical world around them, this volume will connect strongly with educators and caregivers alike.” —Mariale Hardiman, interim dean, School of Education, Johns Hopkins University “As we learn more and more from neuroscience about the development of the infant brain, two things have become clear: how competent babies are, and how much they depend on relationships to frame their early development. In her new book Ann Lewin-Benham helps us to understand how to respectfully relate to the developing brain.” —J. Ronald Lally, co-director, Center for Child & Family Studies, WestEd

Fully updated edition of essential resource for all who work with children under three, combining theory and practice.

Robin Lynn Leavitt presents in a provocative ethnography the lived experiences of infants and toddlers in day care centers. This text speaks to researchers and instructors interested in infancy, early childhood socialization, child care, and interpretive research. Leavitt's original application of multiple theoretical perspectives—interpretive, interactionist, critical, feminist, and postmodern— yields powerful insights into the problematic emotional experiences and relations between infants and their caregivers. The day care center is described as an institution that imposes a temporal and spatial regime on the lives of infants and toddlers. Vivid descriptions illustrate how caregivers create problematic situations for the children as they exercise unyielding power in the rigid management and control of the daily routines and play of children. As Leavitt documents the experiences of our youngest children, she engages in a philosophical exploration of the meanings of emotionally responsive, empowering care in group settings. Her analysis points to the need to care for caregivers, and for caregiving to become a self-reflective activity.

Presents a comprehensive resource guide for parents, caregivers, and educators who work with infants and toddlers, and features up to three hundred activities designed to promote physical, language and communication, cognitive, social, and emotional development at eight stages from birth to thirty-six months.

Fully updated edition of essential resource for all who work with children under three, combining theory and practice.

Infant and Toddlers: Curriculum and Teaching, 6e is the well established reference that takes a child-centered approach for the childcare provider called conscious care giving. This important and well rounded approach encourages a sense of empowerment and focuses on the respectful, purposeful, and careful handling of children in a childcare setting. The book is reader friendly, realistic, and easily applicable to real life. The 6th edition is updated with the latest information including new references and quotes as well as new brain research relevant to the first 36 months of life. There are case studies included, and the book also addresses the specific practices related to special needs children and children of different cultures. There are many key childcare philosophies addressed including that of the child, the caregiver, and parent involvement. The book provides an emphasis on the child's growth and development, and helps the reader to discover how they can best and most effectively influence that development within the child. This book provides the best information regarding the skills necessary to provide high quality care for infants and toddlers in any setting.

This book opens the door to teaching infants, toddlers and two-year-olds using an array of activities organized and framed by overviews of developmental domains. Simple Steps shows, step-by-step how to encourage young children to develop new skills, practice these skills, and move forward at their own pace. It provides easy-to-follow explanations of key developmental stages in a young child's life, and contains chapters on developing curriculum, working with parents, creating a learning environment, dealing with challenging behaviors, and establishing workshops. For teachers, parents, and early childhood professionals completing their infant/toddler program.

Learn the essentials of development and the best practices for caring for and teaching infants, toddlers and twos, and preschoolers.

Most children in Africa start working from a very early age, helping the family or earning wages. Should this work be abolished, tolerated, or encouraged? Such questions are the subject of much debate. International and national organizations, employers, parents, and children often have diverse opinions and put pressure in different directions. The contributions in this book offer intensive fieldwork and careful analysis of children's activities, considering childhood and family, work and play, work in rural and urban contexts, paths to learning, work and school, and children's rights. (Series: Reports on African Studies / Beitrage zur Afrikaforschung - Vol. 52)

Written by the president of the Parenting in the Workplace Institute, this is the definitive guide to proposing and implementing a business program in which parents can bring their babies to work for the first several months of life and care for their babies while doing their jobs. The book utilizes data and best practices from more than 115 organizations that have hosted more than 1,300 babies to date, and it provides an easy-to-follow process to enable you to make your own company more baby-friendly. Testimonial: I think your books are wonderful and, as far as I'm aware, utterly unique. I will include Babies @ Work in my recommended readings in my keynotes. Stuart Shanker, Ph.D., Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy and Psychology at York University; Director of the Milton & Ethel Harris Research Initiative; Director of the Council for Human Development and Past President of the Council of Early Child Development; Director of the Cuba-Mexico-Canada Research Initiative