Child Development
Reflect on and prepare your CNC program
Is your CNC program set up to help promote resilience and support the social and emotional development of young children? Here are some checklists to help you take a closer look! Start this new school/program year off in the best way possible: Reflective Checklists for Infant/Toddler Care, Reflective Checklists for Preschool
Let’s team up with Active for Life!
Research shows that the pandemic may have a lasting impact on the physical activity of children - and we need to get kids active! So we’ve teamed up with Active for Life to promote physical literacy in our programs. Active for Life is a privately funded national charitable initiative that helps Canadians raise kids who love to move. At Activeforlife.com parents and educators will find fun activities, engaging articles and free resources to get kids active, healthy, and happy. Get all you need by connecting with Active for Life via their social media channels and subscribe to their parent and “pro” newsletters. Watch for an upcoming webinar as well as Active for Life articles and resources to help you incorporate active play into each day.Multilingual Activities Guide: Enhancing and Practicing Executive Function Skills with Children from Infancy to Adolescence
This activities guide offers a variety of age-appropriate activities and games to support and strengthen various components of executive function and self-regulation in children. Each chapter contains activities suitable for a different age groups, ranging from infants to adolescents. The full guide is also available in Arabic! And two sections—5 to 7 year-olds and 7 to 12 year olds—are available in French.Teaching Emotions to Young Children: Tips and Tricks
With all of the research out there on emotions, the studies are far from complete, but one thing is very clear – naming our feelings helps us develop skills to manage our emotions. This article is full of tips and tricks to help us give the children in our programs the important emotional tools and language they need.Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math for Preschoolers?
Lately, everyone seems to be talking about STEAM. It’s a hot topic in the world of education, but what does it really mean? STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, art and math. You may think some of these subjects seem lofty for young children to grasp - and in some ways, that’s true. But young children can build a strong foundation for future learning by exploring STEAM preschool skills and concepts through play. And there are lots of STEAM activities that you can do with children to keep them engaged and learning using simple household items!Free Toolkit: Engaging Families in Healthy Development
Parents are their child’s first teachers—and when they’re actively involved in promoting early development, the results are better outcomes and stronger parent– child bonds. Children with involved parents are more likely to get the support they need and be prepared for school and future success. Adapted from the trusted Ages & Stages Questionnaires (ASQ®) family of products, you can use this toolkit of resources to help you engage families in nurturing their child’s development - and help them get their children off to the best start in life!CMAS Tutorial: What is Executive Function?
For many of us, executive function sounds like a really abstract term that might not hold much meaning. But executive function is actually an incredibly practical, useful and important set of skills that children start to develop in the early years.
In this tutorial, we’ll help you to understand what executive function is, and why it’s important. We’ll also share some resources and ideas for how we can support the development of executive function for the children in our programs.
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.
CMAS Webinar: School Readiness with Newcomer Centre of Peel
School readiness means that children are ready for school, and families are ready to support their children's learning - and CNC programs play an important role in preparing newcomer children and families for this transition. In this webinar, participants joined Jacqueline MoonSammy, Aisha Ilyas, and their team from Newcomer Centre of Peel (NCP), to talk about how they noticed a need in their CNC community, and developed a program to support school readiness for the children in their program. They talked about some of the challenges they faced, as well as some helpful tips and strategies you can use in your program to help prepare children for kindergarten in the fall!