Often families, especially for their first child, are worried about sending their baby to group care, having absorbed the idea of a single primary caregiver being the ideal. But Babies in Groups: Expanding Imaginations, by Ben S. Bradley, Jane Selby, and Matthew Stapleton, is a painstakingly researched book demonstrating how infants are socially engaged and engaging creatures from birth, and from six months can observably take pleasure in interacting with other babies. This article from The Conversation offers some of their findings, and would make a great addition to your enrollment packet!

Worried about sending your baby to daycare? Our research shows they like being in groups (theconversation.com)

For reflection:

How do the babies in your care participate in the group?

In what ways can you facilitate their participation?

Has this article changed the way you see their interactions?

Will le da de comer a Maya, su hija de 8 meses. Por un momento pausa y Maya usando sus manos hace el signo de “más”. Will se ríe. “¿Quieres más? ¡Bueno, aquí viene! “. Cuando el tazón está vacío, Will señala y dice “Se acabó. Maya se comió toda la comida. Se acabó todo.” Maya lo mira y sonríe.

Los niños desarrollan conceptos y habilidades de matemáticas muy temprano en la vida. Desde el momento en que nacen, los bebés comienzan a construir ideas sobre las matemáticas a través de experiencias cotidianas y, más importante aún, a través de las interacciones con adultos de confianza.  El lenguaje – la forma en que hablamos con los bebés y los niños pequeños sobre ideas de matemáticas, por ejemplo, palabras como más, vacío y lleno – tiene gran importancia.

¡Las matemáticas existen en todas partes!

Usamos un vocabulario de matemáticas básico todo el tiempo, sin darnos cuenta. Por ejemplo, cuando separamos la ropa por color, usamos los conceptos matemáticos de clasificar. Cuando llevamos la cuenta durante un juego y determinamos cuánto se adelanta o atrasa nuestro equipo (número y operaciones), o le damos a alguien direcciones para ir de un lugar a otro (relaciones espaciales), eso es matemáticas. Constantemente usamos palabras de comparación (medición) como grande y pequeño y usamos patrones para explicar el orden de las rutinas y actividades diarias (“Nos lavamos los dientes después del desayuno”). Con nuestros niños, jugamos y cantamos canciones que usan números y cuentas (como “Uno, dos, abrocha mi zapato”).

Incluso sin el apoyo de uno, los bebés y niños pequeños usan conceptos de matemáticas para dar sentido a su mundo. Por ejemplo, los bebés como Maya señalan cuando quieren más comida. El más es uno de los primeros conceptos matemáticos que entienden los niños. Los bebés indican, a menudo de forma dramática, que saben la diferencia entre los adultos conocidos y los desconocidos (clasificando). Los niños pequeños tratan de subirse a cajas de varios tamaños (relaciones espaciales) y decir palabras y frases de cuentos o canciones familiares que utilizan la repetición (patrones).

Podemos lograr que las matemáticas que ocurren en la vida diaria sean visibles para los niños a través de la charla de matemáticas. Cada día tenemos numerosas oportunidades para ayudar a los niños a ampliar su comprensión de los conceptos matemáticos. Entre más hablemos a cerca de las matemáticas, más oportunidades tienen los niños de construir una actitud positiva hacia el aprendizaje de las matemáticas y el aprendizaje en general.

Conceptos básicos de matemáticas

Al conocer los primeros conceptos de matemáticas, uno puede ser más consciente en sus interacciones diarias con los bebés y niños pequeños. Aquí hay cinco conceptos básicos de matemáticas que pueden ser incorporados en las conversaciones diarias con bebés y niños pequeños.

1. Los números y las operaciones: comprender el concepto de números, la cantidad, el orden, las formas de representar los números, la correspondencia de uno a uno (que un objeto corresponde a un número) y el conteo.

• ” Tú tienes dos ojos, y tu oso también tiene dos. Contemos: –1, 2.”
• “Tengo más galletas que tú. Ves, yo tengo 1, 2, 3, y tú tienes 1, 2. Me voy a comer una de las mías. ¡Ahora yo tengo lo mismo que tú!”
• ” Ésta es la tercera vez que te escuché decir “mamá”. ¡Has dicho “mamá” tres veces!

2. Figuras geométricas y relaciones espaciales (geometría): identificar y nombrar las figuras geométricas, entender la relación física entre uno mismo y otros objetos y las relaciones entre los objetos.

• “¡Mira, Jason pasó por debajo del trepador y Aliyah está arriba!”
• “Estás sentado al lado de tu hermano.”
• “Algunas de las galletas que tenemos hoy son cuadradas, y algunas son redondas.”

3. Medidas: tamaño, peso, cantidad, volumen y tiempo.

• ” Es difícil mover la silla. Está pesada.”
• “¡Tu siesta duró mucho tiempo hoy!”
•  ” Vamos a contar cuántos pasos se necesitan para llegar al buzón.

4. Patrones, relaciones y cambios – reconocer (observar las relaciones que constituyen un patrón) y/o crear repeticiones de objetos, eventos, colores, líneas, texturas y sonidos; entender que las cosas cambian con el tiempo y que el cambio puede ser expresado con un vocabulario matemático. ¡Estos son los componentes básicos del álgebra!

• “Papá tiene rayas en su camisa: blanca, azul, blanca, azul, blanca, azul”.
• “Aplaudamos al ritmo de esta canción”.
• “Yo pongo los bloques en el recipiente; tú los tiras. Devuelvo los bloques al recipiente; ¡tú los tiras!”
• “Nuestra planta se ve más alta hoy. Creo que creció de un día para otro.”

5. Colectar y organizar la información – juntar, clasificar y analizar la información (datos) para ayudar a dar sentido a lo que está pasando en el medio ambiente.

• ” Vamos a poner la tapa grande en el tazón grande y la tapa pequeña en el tazón pequeño. “
• “¡Siempre sonríes cuando mamá te canta!”
• ” Coloquemos las muñecas en la canasta y las pelotas en la caja.”

Inténtalo.

Hable de las matemáticas con su hijo de forma habitual. Por ejemplo, el momento de cambiar los pañales, la hora de la comida y del baño, los paseos por el vecindario y las salidas de compras son momentos ideales para contar, identificar figuras geométricas y tamaños, hablar de patrones y describir cómo las cosas son iguales y diferentes.

Haz una lista de palabras y frases de matemáticas. Colócala en el refrigerador o en algún otro lugar a mano para recordarte que debes aprovechar las oportunidades de hablar de matemáticas.

La charla de matemáticas enriquece las experiencias de aprendizaje cotidianas de los bebés y los niños pequeños. Se sorprenderá de lo mucho que saben y pueden aprender. Su charla de matemáticas de hoy puede ayudar a sus hijos a tener éxito en las matemáticas a medida que crecen.

Original English Article – Math Talk With Infants and Toddlers

Manipular, almacenar, calentar y alimentar con leche materna puede parecer que tiene muchos pasos. Este PDF imprimible repasa cómo proporcionar leche materna de forma segura a los lactantes cuyas familias se la proporcionan, incluyendo el almacenamiento, la preparación y la alimentación. A continuación, también encontrarás un vídeo de Head Start en el que se ve a una profesora de Early Head Start dando el biberón a un bebé y demostrando la alimentación receptiva y la interacción con un bebé a la hora de comer.

Gestión de la leche materna en el cuidado de los niñosHandlingBreastmilk

In the RIE philosophy, there is a great emphasis on ensuring that caregiving times are relaxed and enjoyable for children and their caregivers. While this might be a dramatic reframe for some– is it really possible to enjoy changing diapers? — it can make mundane tasks much more pleasant.

Family child care is a unique profession– some days drag out, but many others fly by. Taking any opportunity to slow down and be mindfully present with the children is a way to build relationships with each child and ensure that there is time each day spent in warm individual interactions.

The major criterion that makes an activity “want something” quality time is that the adult has an agenda for the child to participate in. This is typically participating in a care task like diapering/toileting, feeding/eating, or dressing. How can these sometimes stressful occasions become enjoyable for everyone? The answer is simple: play!

When a child is getting changed, songs and nursery rhymes (“This Little Piggy”, “Hickory, Dickory, Dock”) have natural gestures that can be incorporated into dressing the child. Taking some pressure off of meals and offering conversation or even calm games for older toddlers, like “I spy on my plate” or discussing the attributes of the meal.

It’s normal for a child to offer some resistance during care times; babies and toddlers try to roll away from diaper changes, or spit out food, or tantrum to avoid getting dressed. Approaching the child in the spirit of collaboration and fun, while not an immediate “cure” for these behaviors, will change the tone of these interactions over time.

Reflection Questions:

• What “want something” times are most difficult right now?
• Consider a child you have struggled to connect with, or who struggles when participating in care tasks: how and when could you use want something quality time to build that relationship?

When planning activities for mixed-age groups, there are a number of considerations to make. Keeping all children safe, engaged, and supported takes a lot of practice and skill! Thankfully, there are a number of ways to provide individualized experiences within one activity to meet the needs of all children.

1. Safety first: Modify the environment so infants and toddlers cannot access choking hazards that older children may be using. This might involve baby gates or having the older children work on an inaccessible tabletop while infants and toddlers work on a lower surface.
2. Plan for complexity: if you are planning a painting activity, have different materials available to accommodate and build on different skill sets. Infants and toddlers can fingerpaint, while preschoolers and school-age children can use brushes of different sizes and experiment with purposeful color mixing.
3. Allow for “helpers”: preschoolers and school age children can feel pride and competence when given tasks to help adults– especially to distinguish themselves from the “babies.” Giving older children the responsibility of helping to maintain their own materials (washing paint brushes, putting away blocks, wiping up spills) is beneficial for their development and will help them feel ownership over the space and materials.
4. Make a “yes space”: There are going to be times that the older children need more attention or are engaging in an activity too complicated for toddlers. Having a smaller space where the younger children cannot get into the older children’s activities becomes important at these times. While it must be in a space that can be supervised at the same time as the older children, it should be fully child-proofed and stocked with items that will keep the younger children’s interest.

With all of the challenges working with mixed age groups can present, there are so many benefits for the younger children, who get to spend their days with role models, and the older children who get to practice being compassionate and caring friends.

This printable PDF from the CDC

outlines the steps involved for a diaper change that minimizes the chance of spreading pathogens such as pinworms or hand foot and mouth. These are crucial to the health and safety of the provider and all of the children they care for.

What it doesn’t show is the incredible opportunity for relationship building that is also present at every diaper change. How often are you just a foot or so away from the child’s face for such a focused time? Spending diaper changes talking to the child is one high-impact way to build relationships, and also make the diaper changes themselves easier. What toddler is going to try to roll or wrestle away when one of their favorite people is talking to them, or playing “this little piggy” with their toes?

It doesn’t add a significant amount of time to really pay attention to the child being changed, but the payoff in peaceful diapering and overall relationship can’t be overstated!

Early Childhood Education can have a lot of buzzwords and misunderstandings. This “Philosophy Spotlight” series intends to introduce you to the origins of a number of currently used philosophies directly from the writings of their founders and accomplished practitioners, as well as modern practices and ideas associated with these philosophies. Note that many of the philosophies and philosophers we reference in the US are Euro-centric in origin. I will do my best to integrate philosophies of development and learning from a more diverse body of knowledge, for the benefit of all children and providers. You’ll notice a significant amount of overlap between philosophies, as well as some stark differences. Use these articles to consider your own approach to early education, and maybe refine how you see you work and design your program. These are intended to be broad overviews; please see the references if you’d like to learn more about each one! 

Origins: After Italy had been destroyed as a fascist power during World War II, there was a movement to rebuild the country in a way that would support its citizens in pursuit of freedom from oppression. The first Reggio Emilia school was built by families seeking to create a new school for their children as they rebuilt their community. They quickly grew into a network of preschools and infant toddler centers through the 1960s and 70s. In 1991, Newsweek called the Diana school, one of Reggio Emilia’s preschools, one of the best schools in the world.

Modern Regulating Bodies/Standards: The term “Reggio Emilia Approach” is trademarked, leading to many programs describing their philosophy as “Reggio Inspired”, although there is no regulating body outside of Italy that controls the use of the term. A school cannot be certified as a Reggio Emilia school, nor can a teacher be a certified Reggio Emilia teacher. There are organizations in the International Network that further the spread of information about the Reggio Emilia approach, but do not serve as regulators.

Theories and Theorists:

Loris Malaguzzi is considered the founder of the Reggio Emilia approach. He was a psychologist trained in pedagogy and had previously co-founded a school for children with disabilities and learning difficulties. While working there, he was approached to collaborate with the new network of preschools and infant-toddler centers.

Values:

Children are active protagonists in their growing processes: Every child can and has the right to create their own experiences as an individual and member of a larger group.

Progettazione/Designing: Education is shaped by the design of environments, participation, and the design of learning situations. It does not happen to the same degree in predesigned programs or curricula that are premade.

The hundred languages: The Hundred Languages of Children are a metaphor for the potential of children and their thinking and creative processes. It is a central value to honor all of children’s forms of self-expression equally.

No way. The hundred is there: A Poem by Loris Malaguzzi (translated by Lella Gandini)

No way. The hundred is there.

The child
is made of one hundred.
The child has
a hundred languages
a hundred hands
a hundred thoughts
a hundred ways of thinking
of playing, of speaking.

A hundred always a hundred
ways of listening
of marveling, of loving
a hundred joys
for singing and understanding
a hundred worlds
to discover
a hundred worlds
to invent
a hundred worlds
to dream.

The child has
a hundred languages
(and a hundred hundred hundred more)
but they steal ninety-nine.
The school and the culture
separate the head from the body.
They tell the child:
to think without hands
to do without head
to listen and not to speak
to understand without joy
to love and to marvel
only at Easter and at Christmas.

They tell the child:
to discover the world already there
and of the hundred
they steal ninety-nine.

They tell the child:
that work and play
reality and fantasy
science and imagination
sky and earth
reason and dream
are things
that do not belong together.

And thus they tell the child
that the hundred is not there.
The child says:
No way. The hundred is there.

Participation: Children are welcomed to participate in relationships, in the classroom and community. This is to give children the “feeling of solidarity, responsibility, and inclusion, and produce changes and new cultures” (Reggio Children).

Learning as a process of construction, subjective and in groups: Every child constructs their own knowledge, through conversation, research, and discussion.

Educational research: Adults interacting with children should see themselves as researchers and use their documentation as research into children, groups of children, and learning. Educators should be encouraged to continue constructing and reconstructing their knowledge and practices.

Educational documentation: Adults and children take videos, photos, and work samples to document the learning the children are engaging in. These documents are used to provoke discussion and through between educators, between children, and between educators and children together.

Organization: Time, space, and work are all organized to reflect the values of the school and projects.

Environment and spaces: Interior and exterior spaces are all designed and organized to interact with the people in the space, shape learning experiences, and inspire thought and creativity. Care of the environment is critical, and maintaining the aesthetics of the space is intended to create pleasure and joy in the people who use the space.

Formation/Professional growth: Professional growth is the right of individual educators and the whole group. In Reggio Emilia, professional development is part of educators’ working time, and occurs within staff meetings and the larger city, national, and international context.

Evaluation: The schools should be evaluated frequently by their coordinators, educators, community members, and families to ensure that they are meeting the needs of the children and families.

What You Might Observe in a Reggio Inspired Program:

Many Reggio Emilia inspired programs place a heavy emphasis on the arts, particularly visual representations and planning, along with guided exploration of visual arts materials. There will likely be documentation of children’s work hanging up for children and adults. Oftentimes, children in Reggio Inspired programs use more “loose parts” than traditional toys. As part of the Reggio value of designing, children are offered “provocations” which are curated sets of materials designed for children to explore and experiment with to provoke their thinking and extend their interests. Provocations can look like a tray with small balls and ramps; unwrapped crayons, leaves, and thin paper for printmaking; boxes, tape, and crayons to create with; or anything else that children might use to carry out experiments on their own interests.

Influence on Modern ECE Programs at Large: 

Many programs use pedagogical documentation to show families what children have been participating in. Loose parts play is also becoming much more widespread in early childhood programs.

Questions for Your Reflection:

When you think of yourself as not just an educator, but a researcher of children, how does that influence your perspective on your work? What would you do differently as a researcher than as a teacher?

How does documentation differ from any other display of children’s work?

When you think about your environment, does it work with or against your program’s mission and vision? What would you like to change?

We know that babies learn language from being spoken and sung to, but new research states that young babies learn more from the rhythm and the way we speak than the individual sounds we’re making.

Why reading nursery rhymes and singing to babies may help them to learn language | University of Cambridge

This is just more reason to keep singing and reading to even the youngest babies throughout the day!

Remember, singing to the baby in front of you is much more powerful than playing recorded music.

“High cognitive scores during infant-directed singing suggested that engagement through song is just as effective as book reading or toy play in maintaining infant attention, and far more effective than listening to recorded music,” said [researcher Shannon] de l’Etoile. Mothers and infants connect through song | ScienceDaily

List of resources for baby sleep safely and ways to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and other sleep-related causes of infant death. Vital information for all that care for babies.

• Tips for Creating a Safe Sleep Environment for Infants in Child Care
• Infant Safe Sleep Policy Template 

• NIH Safe to Sleep® Campaign 

• AAP policy on safe sleep

• CDC Safe Sleep for Babies

• KID Fighting For Product Safety