Information for Early Childhood Educators

You spend your day working with, playing with, and watching children, and you are already familiar with many milestones – such as pointing at objects, smiling, and playing with others – that mark a child’s development. All children are unique, but sooner or later, you will see a child who is not developing as they should.

You are a valuable resource to parents! They look to you for information on their child, and they trust you. The “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” campaign has created a series of resources to help you educate parents on the full range of child development.

Tools and Resources

“Learn the signs. Act early.” materials are not a substitute for standardized, validated developmental screening tools.

Free Materials
You can view, download, print, and order the various materials for the "Learn the Signs. Act Early." campaign designed for child care providers.

The Childcare Provider Resource Kit includes a CD-ROM with fact sheets on child development that you can print out, along with three growth charts, three small posters, and 50 flyers for parents.

“Go Out and Play!” Kit for early childhood educators

The campaign is happy to offer a new tool to help you monitor childhood development during an activity you do everyday with your students – play!  The kit also contains information about monitoring developmental milestones, suggestions for a safe and successful activity day, tips about talking to parents if you suspect a child has a developmental delay, and a special pullout section with activities to share with parents for at-home play.

Milestones
See milestones that children should reach from 2 months to 5 years of age, plus interactive tools for parents and staff to help keep track of the milestones.

Development Tip

 

Did you know that physical activity in infants and children affects social, emotional, and cognitive development?
Find out more on the Child Care Aware website.

For more tips, click here.

Hand Out Milestone Checklists
You can print out milestone checklists for parents or your staff to complete. This information is useful to all parents as a child begins a new school year or celebrates a birthday.

Include “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” Print Ad in Your Newsletter
We have a print ad that would be great to include in your newsletter to tell parents about the campaign.

English JPG (Zip file)
English PDF
Spanish JPG (Zip file)
Spanish PDF

Link Your Website to Ours
We have developed a button that provides an icon, Web address, and description to help you put a link on your site.

Links to Other Websites

Center for Evidence-Based Practice: Young Children with Challenging Behavior
The Technical Assistance Center on Social Emotional Intervention for Young Children, also known as TACSEI, takes the research that shows which practices improve the social-emotional outcomes for young children with, or at risk for, delays or disabilities and creates free products and resources to help decision makers, caregivers, and service providers apply these best practices in the work they do every day.

The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL)
CSEFEL is focused on promoting the social emotional development and school readiness of young children birth to age 5. They have user-friendly training materials, videos, and print resources which are available directly from this website to help early care, health and education providers implement this model.

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) 
NAEYC provides accreditation for schools that meet certain standards, as well as resources, tools, and information for families and childcare providers.

National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY)
Locate organizations and agencies within each state that address disability-related issues.

Zero to Three 
Provides professionals working with very young children and their families an extensive collection of resources aimed at supporting the work of professionals in a variety of early childhood settings.