Toddlers can get pretty difficult at times. They do not always pick the time for a tantrum very thoughtfully either. A child can have a tantrum during quiet time, when crossing the road, at the checkout, or while dressing up.

No matter what happens and where, there are theories and constructive guidelines on how to handle those situations in a positive and brain-friendly way.

Neuropsychiatrist Dr. Daniel J. Siegel explains that it is the child's undeveloped brain that is the reason for those tantrums and there is nothing the young child can do to avoid that reaction to an overwhelming situation.

Parts of the brain are still developing until the mid-twenties, so no wonder small children cannot manage their every emotion and act 'properly'!! The adult's job is to calm, guide, and help the child to understand his reactions and discuss them through.

Children learn something new every day, but how about us teachers? When have you taken some time for your own learning, new ideas, and exciting inspiration?

Here is a list of books that are worth reading for everyone working in the field of early childhood education! Every educator around the world can take a look at these tips and hopefully find something interesting!

Playful learning in early childhood education in Finland

Pirkko Karvonen et.al. 2022

"This book is intended for all persons working with children aged 0-7 years and who do the vital work, for instance, in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) centres, kindergartens, nurseries or schools. This book is also an excellent tool for training ECEC teachers.

The focus of the book is to describe early childhood education and care in Finland from a theoretical and practical perspective. The book contains over 100 practical and playful activities for children under seven years of age. The authors give concrete examples and ideas for how to implement activities with children to learn through play.

The book is based on the Finnish pedagogical practices, scientific research, and development projects from ECEC and is also based on Finnish National Core Curriculum for ECEC."

- Otava Publishing house

→ Read more about the book and Finnish education from here

 → Finland's play pedagogy by Kindiedays

The Giant Encyclopedia of Lesson Plans for Children

Kathy Charner, Maureen Murphy & Charlie Clark

"Written and created by teachers, The GIANT Encyclopedia of Lesson Plans has more than 250 complete lesson plans, covering topics from colors and numbers to seasons and nursery rhymes.

Each lesson plan is complete with learning objectives, a circle or group time activity, book suggestions, snack ideas, five learning center activities, assessment strategies, and related songs, poems, and fingerplays.

With easy-to-use lesson plans for more than an entire school year, this book belongs on every teacher's bookshelf!"

- Gryphon publishing house

→ Read more about the amazing lesson plans here

→ See the entire Giant Encyclopedia series from here !

The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind

Daniel J. Siegel & Tina Payne Bryson

"A toddler throws a tantrum in the middle of a store. A preschooler refuses to get dressed. Do children conspire to make adults’ lives endlessly challenging? No-it’s just their developing brain calling the shots!

In this pioneering, practical book, Daniel J. Siegel, neuropsychiatrist and author of the bestselling book Mindsight, and parenting expert Tina Payne Bryson demystify the meltdowns and aggravation, explaining the new science of how a child’s brain is wired and how it matures.

The “upstairs brain,” which makes decisions and balances emotions, is under construction until the mid-twenties. And especially in young children, the right brain and its emotions tend to rule over the logic of the left brain. No wonder kids can seem-and feel-so out of control.

By applying these discoveries, you can turn any outburst, argument, or fear into a chance to integrate your child’s brain and foster vital growth. Raise calmer, happier children using twelve key strategies."

- Dr. Daniel Siegel

 → Download the Whole-Brain Child how-to-react sheet  

→ A note to child's caregivers about how to handle behavioral challenges 

→ Read more and order the book from here

Effective Practices in Early Childhood Education: Building a Foundation

Sue Bredekamp

"Provide the building blocks for understanding effective practices in early childhood education!

Inspired by her own classroom experiences, Sue Bredekamp designed Effective Practices in Early Childhood Education: Building a Foundation to empower a new generation of teachers who can make a difference in children’s lives.

An entire chapter introduces readers to developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) for early childhood education. Subsequent chapters are organized according to the NAEYC guidelines, which Bredekamp has co-authored for over 30 years.

Building on the DAP framework, Bredekamp focuses on three themes that are essential to quality teaching: intentional teaching, developmentally appropriate curriculum, and evidence-based, effective practices.

Also, an expanded discussions of ways to support and protect the role of play in children’s education, a completely revised chapter on STEM teaching and learning, and a great focus on culturally responsive curriculum keep readers up to date on the dynamic field of early education."

- Pearson publishing house

Young Investigators: The Project Approach in the Early Years

Judy Harris Helm & Lilian G. Katz

Get organized and paper free!

Gone are the days of paper-filled folders overflowing the office space! Store your documents and files online with cloud-based services such as Google Drive. Share the link to the document to allow access for Educators and Families from Kindiedays Apps.

Learn how to enhance Kindiedays with a document/file archive!

A modern childcare center has more and more documents and files in digital form such as instructions, forms, manuals, weekly plans, learning activities, etc.

The majority of these documents are created, edited, and used from a PC outside the daily learning process managed with Kindiedays. However, storing and sharing them in paper form or on the PC is not convenient and access rights are difficult to manage.  Thus we recommend storing and organizing the information in a common digital archive (cloud service) such as Google Drive. Apple and Microsoft also provide cloud storage that works in a similar way.

Temperament is defined as individual differences in reactivity and regulation in the domains of affect, activity and attention -Rothbart & Bates

Temperament is relatively stable and it emerges already early in life. Every child's temperament is shaped for example by genetics and living environment.

According to research, children’s temperament has been linked to important outcomes such as academic performance, social development, and behavior adjustment. Therefore, it is important especially for parents, teachers, and childcare providers to understand different ways to communicate with children with different temperament types.

Understanding individual differences in children’s temperament are particularly important in early childhood as children typically enter their first structured educational setting and face environmental demands that may be quite different from those of the home environment.

What are the temperament types?

Thomas and Chess (1977) identified three temperament types:

Everyone has their preferred learning style, and you can assess it through close observation.

"Learning styles is a term that refers to different ways in which we learn, process, and retain information. All young children learn through meaningful hands-on experiences—through touching, doing, and moving. And children also learn through seeing and hearing." Abilitypath

As you follow what the children are doing and what their interests are, you will begin to see strengths and preferences that tell you something about each child’s preferred learning style. The 4 learning styles are:

• Visual (learning through seeing)
• Auditory (learning through hearing)
• Tactile (learning through touching)
• Kinesthetic (learning through doing and moving)

Visual learners

Visual learners learn through seeing. Children who are visual learners like to observe others' body language and facial expressions. Children learn through concrete examples and demonstrations. For older children who can read, written instructions are helpful in addition to verbal ones. These children tend to have a good imagination and they might even think in pictures. Maps, pictures, and other visual aids are good for this group. Too much action in the classroom may cause distraction.

→ Create a visual timetable of the day

→ When learning to count, help by drawing 2 + 2 with apples, etc

Auditory learners

Auditory learners learn through listening and sound. Children who are auditory learners learn through discussions and talking. Verbal directions help with written information. Too much noise may be distracting, so children with this learning style are best in the more quiet learning environment.

→ Practise storytelling

→ Listen to audiobooks

Tactile learners

Tactile learners learn through touching and using their senses. Children who are more tactile learners enjoy activities and projects that include doing by hand and touching different types of items. Children with this learning style might like to draw to help with memorizing things.

→ Make puzzles

→ Provide messy play (eg. slime)

Kinesthetic learners

Kinesthetic learners learn through moving and doing. Children who are more kinesthetic learners enjoy physical movement and they may have trouble sitting still. They often do two things at the same time, such as count and rock their chair. A hands-on approach that allows the child to actively explore around helps her learn best.

→ Count while jumping

→ Spot shapes from the environment

As a teacher, you may want to foster each child’s strengths by finding them suitable tasks according to their personal learning styles. It is also good to keep in mind that giving some challenges helps children to learn and grow as well. Also, some children can perform well in many learning areas. Therefore, offering a variety of learning experiences encourage the children to develop new experiences, strengths, and interests.

Kids Learning Style Survey (Love to Know)

How to support children's unique learning styles in early education?

Early childhood education programs are often organized so that it supports the needs and strengths of all little learners! Below is a checklist that helps you to analyze your center's ways of operating.

Does your center offer?

• Places and periods for free movement (eg. gym, outdoor play, activities that include moving, breaks between activities)
• Guided activities with teacher's guidance (eg. baking session)
• Circle time with a group of children (eg. morning circle 20min every day)
• Music and singing (eg. listening to songs, playing with instruments)
• Reading area (eg. regular storytime, books from different themes available for children to look/read independently audiobooks)
• Art area (Some materials like coloring pictures and crayons can be freely available for children. Paints, markers, scissors, and glue can be used under the teacher's supervision)
• Manipulatives/areas for fine motor skills (eg. Hama beads, legos, playdough)
• Role play area (eg. costumes/masks, shop, dolls)

Balance

Circle time includes group discussion, talking, and listening so it is ideal for auditory learners. Circle time is also appropriate for visual learners as well as guided activities when the teacher shows and gives examples. Tactile learners enjoy for example art area and manipulatives. Kinesthetic learners probably head over to the home corner and role play area. As you can imagine, many activities and learning areas include good learning environments for multiple types of learners, so they can all mix and match!

All these activities support the participation of children with a wide range of learning styles, but it also offers children experiences they may not typically go for. It is great if children can freely access different stations and choose the activity they enjoy. At times, it is anyway important to have also guided activities that have been planned by the teacher and circle times and storytimes.

How to deepen children's learning experiences?

Teachers can help children understand their strengths and individual differences and to respect those similarities and differences in each other. It is also a good idea to seek out real-world experiences that extend the children’s learning. For example, if a child is interested in playing shop, visit the local grocery store. The child will develop a broader understanding of the world if the information is meaningful and presented in a way that meets his or her individual learning style.

You may also go to the library and borrow books that belong to the same theme, extend the shop play by making your own kindergarten money, invite parents and sell real products such as self-made bookmarks and cookies... The sky is the limit! The more you extend the play = the more versatile learning experiences the children are going to get.

Here are some links to further reading regarding learning styles:

• Children's Learning Styles (Abilitypath)
• Diverse learning styles in early childhood education (Resilient Educator, 2018)
• Auditory, Visual & Kinesthetic: Helping Kids Succeed Through Different Learning Styles (Sarah Mead)
• How Children Learn by Observing Behavior of Adults (Eliza Martinez)

Happy learning!