Resource Books

Movement-inspiring activities reinforce good nutrition, health and motor skills! Young children learn best when they connect physical activity with learning! Up, Down, Move Around is packed with fun, simple activities that will have your children jumping, shaking, rolling, dancing, and clapping as they learn! From the Healthy Food Obstacle Course to the Bendy Bodies Stretch, children ages 3 to 6 will get moving as they learn and support an awareness of nutrition and health concepts as well as fine and gross motor-skill development. Paperback. 144 pages.

Parents are eager to help their children learn, but teaching young children complicated scientific and mathematical concepts can be intimidating. Simple STEAM helps parents realize they don't need to be engineers or scientists to support STEAM learning. Help children explore STEAM concepts with fun and engaging activities. Discover STEAM learning opportunities in everyday activities and experiences. Prepare children for kindergarten and build crucial 21st century learning skills, including collaboration, communication, creativity and problem solving, curiosity, and critical thinking. 152 pages.

Get your class moving with this exciting Wiggle Giggle & Shake - Move and Learn Book with 200 Activities to Get Active. This book provides 200 ways to move and learn. The engaging pages explore 38 popular themes to encourage children to problem solve, explore their feelings, and participate physically in their own learning. This book promotes gross motor skills and collaborative play. Include 216 pgs.

The CDs you've been waiting for are finally here! The companion to the best-selling book, these CDs feature 50 songs to keep children singing and learning all year long with a variety of engaging musical styles.

Play is learning! But play in the early years is endangered by the emphasis on push-down academics, mounting parental expectations, and pressures on early childhood teachers to prepare young children for the rigors of kindergarten and beyond. With all of that, gains made by play experiences, including readiness skills and social-emotional development, have fallen away. Young children learn best through play. This book helps educators understand the different types of play and the rich opportunities offered through carefully planned time and environments designed for valuable pre-K play experiences. Paperback. 184 pages.

3 years & up. Leave your fears of science behind! Respond to children's natural curiosity with over 600 teacher-created, classroom-tested activities guaranteed to teach your children all about science while they are having fun. The result of a nationwide contest, the GIANT Encyclopedia of Science joins our bestselling GIANT Encyclopedia series. 575 pages.

Energize your classroom with lively literacy lessons based on more than 70 popular children's books. Includes over 150 activities, theme connections, lesson objectives, vocabulary list, concept list, and related music for hours of fun. 232 pages.

Each chapter describes an issue that infants face every day, making this a perfect resource for all infant providers. There are scenarios that illustrate the challenges and suggest solutions to meet baby's needs while learning about the developmental stages. This hands-on resource is for infants 6 weeks to 18 months old and for your resource library.

3 years & up. A comprehensive collection of the best art and craft activities for young children! These teacher created, classroom-tested art activities will engage children's imaginations! The result of a nationwide competition, these art and craft activities are the best of the best. Paperback 500 pages.

"Jump into Science" is the perfect way to turn children's love of active games into learning opportunities! The activities in each chapter are organized by level of difficulty and each one incorporates fun, exciting science experiences with movement. Most activities require few or no materials and include related children's books or music to extend the learning. The science skills index is an invaluable reference tool giving teachers flexibility to plan around children's interests. Paperback. 132 pages.

A young child's brain is uniquely sensitive to the effects of stress and trauma, which can have detrimental, long-term developmental impact. "Helping Them Heal" provides answers, ideas, and specific classroom strategies to move trauma-affected children in positive directions. Educators will learn ways to help children build resilience, self-regulation, and self-competence using this sensitive, supportive, and practical guide. Paperback. 192 pages.

If the timing is right, the learning that occurs in the first five years can be a gold mine, promoting valuable cognitive and physical development that lasts a lifetime. Boosting Brain Power provides 52 strategies - one for every week of the year - to help teachers stimulate healthy brain growth in young children. In addition to well-researched strategies, each snippet of information offers teachers evidence-based instructions for how to bring the concepts to life in the classroom. In this book, teachers will: be armed with the basics of how young brains grow and how children connect with the world, see how important attention, bonding, and communication are in these critical years, and explore new ways to boost children's existing growth and prime them for future learning.

With 100 days of plans, Daily Preschool Experiences has learning center activities for preschool learners at every developmental level. The daily plans are organized by theme into 20 units, each with a 5-day plan. Each daily plan includes subjects on morning circle activity, differentiated activities for 3 learning centers, related children's book, vocabulary words, extension activities, review of the day's experience. Because every child is unique, teachers can select the activities that fit the developmental levels of the individual children in their classes. The learning center activities for each unit in the book have three developmental levels of learning: beginning, developing, and experienced.

Lilian Katz has spent many years conducting workshops for teachers, parents, and students all over the world, and during those workshops she has often referred to her son Stephen, and what she has termed the "intellectual emergencies" she experienced during the years he was growing up. Her responses to these "emergencies," the moments when he analyzed her actions and challenged her decisions as a parent and a teacher, are pulled together in this book. With music and words from Stephen incorporated into the book, Katz presents an inspirational work for parents and teachers, or anyone who has ever looked into the face of a child and wondered if she was making the right choices.

Turn children's love of active games into learning opportunities with these activities. Each chapter is organized by level of difficulty and each one incorporates fun math experiences with movement. Most activities require few or no materials and include related children's books or music to extend the learning. The index is an great tool as it gives teachers flexibility to plan around children's interests. Use these activities during circle or group time, or use them to reinforce other lessons. Research shows that the most effective way for children to learn concepts is to experience them physically. Paperback. 132 pages.

"99 Tips for School Readiness" is designed to provide simple, developmentally appropriate activities to help children ages four and five get ready for school. The activities progress in difficulty within each skill area and can be used by families or by teachers. Skill areas include: Self-Help, Social-Behavioral, Gross Motor, Fine Motor, Language, and Cognitive. Book measures 9"L x 6"W x .25" thick.

The children in today's early childhood classroom are more culturally, linguistically, and ability diverse than ever. As a teacher, your challenge is to partner with each family through recognizing their individual strengths, concerns, priorities, and resources. Dr. Johnna Darragh Ernst offers practical ideas for creating a welcoming atmosphere for families that will encourage them to participate in their children's learning community. From improving children's school readiness to encouraging positive engagement with peers, promoting student academic achievement, increasing graduation rates, and helping reduce the negative impact of poverty, the benefits of engaging families early will impact the young children in your care long after they leave your classroom! Paperback. 152 pages.

A beginner's primer to providing professional child care for toddlers and two-year-olds! The elements of a quality learning environment are not the same for every age. The toddler years are unique, and what for preschool does not always work with toddlers. Complete with tips for creating a developmentally appropriate environment and experiences that stimulate muscles and minds, Focus on Toddlers gives caregivers the tools to craft a quality learning environment that's as unique as the needs of the children in their care.

3 years & up. Introduce STEM concepts to your class with this exciting Science Is Simple Engaging STEM Activities Book for Preschoolers. Like learning to count or read, understanding the fascinating world of science is an essential skill. This innovative book encourages young children to predict outcomes, ask questions, and investigate answers. Watch preschoolers develop essential observational and analytical skills as they eagerly jump into the hands-on, interactive process that is science.

With over 600 activities, The GIANT Encyclopedia of Monthly Activities is the result of a nationwide search for the most unique, fun, developmentally appropriate, and educational experiences for children. The activities included were selected as the best-of-the-best, and are organized by month for easy use by teachers. Teachers will love the creative ideas that span the traditional areas of the curriculum such as science, math, art, and music and movement, as well as the additional experiences including field trips, cooking, and holidays. Each activity includes instructions and a list of materials, plus possibilities for extending the activity further into the curriculum. Many also include lists of related children's books to further both literacy and imaginative play. 540 pages.

A young child's brain grows at a phenomenal rate in the first years of life. Revised and updated to reflect the latest research on how children learn, 125 Brain Games for Toddlers and Twos is packed with everyday opportunities to contribute to brain development. Each game is accompanied by an annotation on the latest brain research and how the activity promotes brain power in the critical period between twelve and thirty-six months. Paperback. 144 pages.

Forget stuffy, structured craft activities; your child needs time to create! Rather than merely teaching your child to name colors and to hold a pencil, the hands-on process art experiences in Time to Create encourage discovery through a variety of art media, including drawing, painting, print making, collage, and sculpture. With ideas for encouraging creativity, advice for choosing the right art project, and suggestions for minimizing the mess, you and your child will be on your way to fun-to-do art explorations in no time! Christie Burnett is the writer and founder of the popular Australian parenting blog Childhood 101. She has worked as an early childhood educator for many years and is the mother of two young girls.

3 years & up. Introduce more activities to arts and crafts lessons with this wonderful Activities Guide for Preschool Art Clay and Dough Crafts with Recipes. Encourage your children to explore art though clay and dough. This guide includes 50 easy activities with an emphasis on the process of art, not on the product. Also included are recipes to create play dough, tissue Mache, yeast dough and more. Follow along for fun classroom activity ideas. Paperback. 58 pages.

Now teachers can bring the magic of each season into their classrooms with these activities that introduce children to the wonder of the seasons with a year full of fun! Classroom-tested teacher favorites, this book features activities that teach children to understand the difference between the seasons, as well as activities that can only be done during certain seasons. Children will love making paper cutout fall leaves, suns, and snowflakes as they celebrate the joy and excitement of the world outside all year long! 128 pages. Paperback.