Baby Talk: Resources to Support the People Who Work With Infants and Toddlers
Issue No. 38, July 2014
Great Resources from ZERO TO THREE (ZTT)
The Power of Play
When you see a baby wiggle to reach a rattle, a toddler stacking blocks, or a preschooler pretending to fly a rocket ship, you are watching children “in the zone”—engaged, exploring, and discovering. The first three years offer rich opportunities for learning that unfolds through play with adults, siblings, and peers. Learn more about how these play skills emerge and what you can do to support play in infants and toddlers in ZTT’s booklet The Power of Play, available in English and Spanish.
http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/ThePowerofPlay.pdf?docID=161(English)
http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/ElImpactodeJugar.pdf?docID=141(Spanish)
Let’s Play! is a free app from ZTT with fun activities, organized by age and routine, for family members and providers to use to support a young child’s early learning. With Let’s Play you can search for play-based activities for children from birth to 5 years old, snap a photo of a child playing, and share activities with other.
The Let’s Play app is available from iTunes or the Google Play Store
Essential Contributions of Fathers
Fathers who spend more time taking care of their newborn child undergo changes in brain activity that makes them more apt to fret about their baby’s safety, a new study shows. In particular, fathers who are the primary caregiver experience an increase in activity in their amygdala and other emotional-processing systems, causing them to experience parental emotions similar to those typically experienced by mothers, the researchers noted.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_146451.html
Essentials for Parenting Toddlers and Preschoolers
This free, online resource, developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is designed to support parents of 2-4 year-olds. Essentials for Parenting addresses common parenting challenges, like tantrums and whining using articles, fun and engaging videos, frequently asked questions and downloadable resources like chore charts and daily schedules. Positive parenting skills and techniques can reduce parenting stress and provide parents with ways to encourage good behavior and reduce misbehavior using proven strategies like positive communication, structure and rules, clear directions, and consistent discipline and consequences. This resource can help to build the foundation of a positive parent-child relationship and contribute to more confident parenting.
Books and Reading Make a Difference
Growing up in a home with lots of books and being read to as a toddler have a bigger impact on the performance of a child starting school than their temperament or socio-economic background, new research shows. Researchers found the quality of a child’s learning environment when they were toddlers was the most significant indicator of their ability to manage themselves at school.
Baby Talk is a free, one-way listserv that is distributed each month. Each issue features one or more resources, the majority of which are available to download at no cost. To join the listserv, send an email with no message to subscribe-babytalk@listserv.unc.edu. To suggest resources, please contact Camille Catlett at camille.catlett@unc.edu or (919) 966-6635.