Programs and Activities

Teaching Diversity without the Tourist Approach

One of our greatest strengths in CNC programs is our diversity. Unfortunately, even with our varied backgrounds, caregivers sometimes fall into the trap of teaching children about diversity mainly through special cultural holidays or events. This is referred to as the “tourist approach” because it gives a narrow view of a culture. This article, Teaching Diversity without the Tourist Approach, shares some ideas for how to integrate culture into child care programs in a more holistic way.

Top 25 ECE blogs from HiMama

Looking for craft ideas or physical and fine motor activities? Check out these blogs which were selected as the favourites of early childhood educators for 2017.

40 Fine Motor Skills Activities

Before a child can learn to write they need strength in their hands and fingers and hand-eye coordination. Here are 40 fine motor activities for babies to five year olds that help to build these skills. These ideas are not only well-explained but are simple, open-ended and make use of art, sensory play and simple manipulative games.

WEBINAR: Trauma-Informed Early Education Classroom Design – Designing Spaces for Recovery from Trauma

This webinar is part of the Trauma Reduction in Early Childhood Series. Educators will look at creating spaces that support children who have been impacted by trauma. It’s an opportunity to look at play and space design principles for children who have experienced trauma and to brainstorm ideas for your program space. The webinar is 1.5 hours and there is a certificate of completion.

Quick Tip Video – Stop Sign: A Conflict Resolution Tool

In this 2-minute video, learn how and why to use a stop sign as a conflict resolution tool in your program!


Video: Identifying Feelings

Through a read aloud, Jennifer Hawkins has her students identify and describe the feelings of fictional characters. Jennifer reads the book No David and asks her students to hold up face puppets that show the emotions of the characters in the book. Watch how this lesson helps students to develop empathy!

Bundle Up and Get Outside: Why is Outdoor Play Important in Winter?

In the winter weather, play is often limited to the indoors - especially for newcomer children! Adult fears about safety and negative attitudes towards the cold are often a barrier. But outdoor play shouldn't be restricted to warm weather - try these ideas to welcome the winter with a playful attitude!

Wouldn’t it be fun to sing O Canada with children in their home languages?

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra recorded our national anthem in 12 languages:  Arabic, American Sign Language, Cree, English, French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Punjabi, Spanish, Tagalog, and Tamil. This is part of celebrating Canada’s 150th birthday (sesquicentennial) starting in 2017.

Video: Building Emotional Literacy

Jennifer Hawkins teaches students to identify and describe feelings by reading Go Away Big Green Monster and engaging in related activities. In this video, we see students looking at themselves in mirrors and developing an understanding of what different emotions look like when expressed on faces.

Video: What is Challenging Behaviour?

Over 900,000 people have watched this quick video that explains the difference between behaviour that is difficult, but likely to improve, and behaviour that is challenging and likely to require intervention.