Helpful Links

Helping Newcomer Parents Start the School Year Strong

There are lots of multilingual resources on our website for you to share with parents to help start the school year strong!  We’ve compiled a list of our favourites.

How to Plan & Observe: Play Ideas for Babies & Toddlers

To plan effectively for the 0-2 Years age group takes a little thinking outside the box. Here, you'll find ideas for planning play experiences and programming for babies and toddlers that are not only easier and faster, but also more meaningful and effective for the children and educators.

Children need to be active, so Have a Ball!

Physical activity is essential to healthy child development, and the early years are the best time to give kids an active start. But where do you begin? The Have a Ball Together website will give you the tools you need to be able to promote and encourage physical activity for children 0-6.

Open-Ended Art: Setting Up for Success

Open-ended art is defined as an art activity where children are free to use their imagination as they explore a variety of materials without a planned idea of what the final project will look like. This usually takes place in the form of an art centre where children have large blocks of uninterrupted time to explore art materials and create projects at their own pace. However, when children have free access to an art centre, teachers may be challenged by mess and waste. The key is setting up the environment for success.

New Canada Food Guide

The iconic Canada Food Guide has provided Canadians with a snapshot of healthy eating recommendations for over 75 years, and Health Canada has just released the first updated edition in over a decade! The new Canada Food Guide suggests a focus on drinking water, plant-based diets, and home-cooking.

Safe Kids Worldwide

Safe Kids Worldwide is a global organization dedicated to protecting kids from unintentional injuries. When we talk about preventing injuries, we’re not talking about skinned knees, bruised shins and scraped elbows. Those are the telltale signs of a curious child, exploring the world, pushing limits and seeking adventure. But there are things we can all do to ensure that those bumps and bruises don’t turn into more disabling injuries and deaths. Safe Kids Worldwide has lots of safety checklists, videos, resources and reports here to support your work with families.

Disinfection Options in Child Care Facilities

This helpful little handbook explains how germs are spread in child care facilities. It also explains the difference between cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting; the use of household bleach as a sanitizer/disinfectant; and the use of acceptable alternatives.

Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for the Early Years (0-4 years)

As young children grow and develop they need to move, sleep and sit the right amounts each day to be healthy - and this simple visual helps us to understand just how much moving, sleeping and sitting children of different ages need each day!

NEW! Eat Right Be Active Booklets

We all want children to grow up healthy and feeling great- and these booklets can help! They are full of everyday ideas that busy parents and caregivers can put into action so toddlers, preschoolers, and school-agers can eat well and be active.

New Online Tutorial- Managing Risk: Supervision of Children

Most serious occurrences and injuries are predictable and preventable, but when supervision strategies break down, children can be at risk. We know that children must be supervised at all times, but what does that actually mean? Managing Risk: Supervision of Children provides a list of common mistakes and risks to consider when developing or reviewing your policies and procedures, checklists, tools and strategies for keeping the children in your care safe. At the end of the tutorial, you’ll also find resources, references, a facilitator guide and added group discussion questions so that you can easily facilitate your own team training.