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Early Learning Guidelines

Across all five domains

24–36 months

Stage Infants Toddlers Preschool Early elementary
Age 0–9 months 8–16 months 15–24 months 24–36 months 3-year-olds 4-year-olds 5-year-olds 6-year-olds 7-year-olds 8-year-olds
Domain All domains I. Approaches to Learning II. Physical Well-Being, Health and Motor Development III. Social and Emotional Development IV. Communication, Language, and Literacy V. Cognitive Development
Show Both What educators might observe Ways educators might support the child's development
I

Approaches to Learning

A

Curiosity and Interest

Child approaches the world with curiosity and develops knowledge about specific topics.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Include nature in the learning environment:
    • Non-poisonous plants
    • Butterfly farms
    • Fish tanks
  • Model curiosity. Ask open-ended questions and then provide the answers (e.g., “Oh look, here is an acorn. I found it on the ground near the tree. Where did it come from? How did it get in the grass? Look I think it fell from the tree. I think squirrels like acorns. Maybe we should leave it by the tree and maybe a squirrel will come by.”).
B

Initiative

Child pursues their own goals.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Engage the child in taking care of their stuffed animals or baby dolls in ways that mirror their self care: washing, diaper changing, trying to use the potty, reading books, and preparing for rest time with a blanket and lullaby
  • Allow child to attempt tasks by themselves without doing it for them right away
C

Persistence and Attentiveness

Child focuses on tasks and perseveres in accomplishing them.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Provide materials and opportunities that meet their growing skill level. For example:
    • Scissors that cut well and are designed for leftor right-handed dominance
    • Small pitchers and stable cups so that children may pour independently
    • Easy to manage clothing such as pull-on pants
    • Sinks and toilets at child level or safely adapted for independence
D

Creativity and Inventiveness

Child uses their imagination to create and invent.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Provide different kinds of music and encourage the child to move to the different beats and tempo
  • Include open-ended props for dramatic play, such as boxes, bags, and large pieces of cloth
  • Provide everyday items for children to play and create with, such as paper towel rolls, tissue paper, yarn, string, and tape
II

Physical Well-Being, Health and Motor Development

A

Large Motor Skills

Child uses and coordinates their large muscle groups.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Play ball with children, introducing concepts of taking turns, catching, and throwing
  • I ntroduce action songs such as, “Animal Action,” “Sammy,” and “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt”
  • Give children opportunities to walk barefoot on different surfaces, such as carpets, wood floors, linoleum floors, sand, concrete, or soft matting
B

Small Motor Skills

Child controls the small muscles in their hands and wrists.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Include materials in the learning environment that foster fine motor skills
    • Balls
    • Blocks
    • Cardboard tubes to string with yarn
    • Knob puzzles
    • Large pegboards
    • Modeling compound
    • Spoons and scoops in sand and water areas
    • Cloth to collage
    • Safety scissors
    • Paper to crumple/rip
    • Variety of painting supplies
C

Sensory Integration

The child uses sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, proprioception (deep pressure), and vestibular function (balance) to perceive and respond to the world around them.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Create a learning environment that provides opportunities for children to develop their senses; consider Including:
    • Beautiful objects
    • Heavy objects for children to move and carry, such as phone books wrapped in duct tape or laundry detergent containers filled with sand
    • Large pieces of cloth in which children can wrap themselves
    • Opportunities for practicing balance, such as riding a rocking horse
    • Water and sand tables
    • Materials that can be stretched, squeezed, and rubbed
D

Self-Care

Child cares for their physical well-being.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Talk to families about their values. (Are independence and autonomy important to them? In which areas?) Acknowledge different perspectives.
  • Provide the child with opportunities to do tasks that their family expects them to learn to do independently
    • Pour their milk and help themselves to a rice cracker from a plate on the table
    • Dress and undress themselves
    • Brush their teeth
    • Set the table for meal times
    • Put on their shoes
  • Offer the child appropriate choices when dressing (“Do you want to wear your star shirt or your elephant shirt?”)
  • Post supporting visuals to encourage independence; for example, show the steps of hand washing above the sink or the steps of washing their own cup and plate in the kitchen
  • Explore toileting by reading:
    • Everyone Poops , by Taro Gomi
    • Once Upon a Potty , by Alona Frankel
    • Diapers Are Not Forever , by Elizabeth Verdick
E

Healthy Sexuality

Child develops a healthy relationship to their body, pleasure, and others. This healthy sense of self is supported and demonstrated through respectful, caring, and loving relationships with families, educators, and other children.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • When toilet-teaching, use accurate language to describe genitals; validate children’s curiosity and provide accurate, age-appropriate answers to their questions
  • Engage in two-way communication with families regarding toilet teaching , and include
    • Words for penis and vagina in the child’s home language
    • Cultural expectations for privacy in the bathroom
  • Encourage children to read facial expressions and other body language (scared, sad, frustrated, happy, angry, etc.)
III

Social and Emotional Development

A

Trusting Relationships with Adults

Child develops trusting relationships with nurturing adults.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Connect families to community supports such as parenting programs, book groups, and peer learning communities
  • Welcome the child as they are coming back to check in with you, and express confidence in their ability to go out and explore the world
  • Observe children playing independently and offer guidance when needed (e.g., “I see you want to play with a truck with Diego. I found a truck you can play with.”)
  • Listen carefully and with interest to what the child says and expand on the conversation (e.g., “When you went to the park, Daddy brought you an apple? What color was it? I like apples too.”)
  • Thank the child when they follow directions or help another child
B

Sense of Belonging

Child experiences a sense of belonging in environments that link, extend, and affirm the child’s family and community. Child expresses comfort and joy with human diversity.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Invite families to celebrate the child’s culture and traditions with the group (e.g., family comes to school snack time and serves sushi to children)
  • Gently introduce the child to a new learning environment, verbally and physically showing the child items to be played with and places their caretaking needs will be met; allow the child to observe and enter the environment at their own pace
  • Point out familiar items or people within the environment (“Look, Susie is here! You played with Susie yesterday with the cars.” “There is a maraca; you have a maraca like this at home.”)
  • Facilitate the initiation and inclusion of children in play
C

Sense of Self

Child develops a sense of self through noticing and developing their own interests, preferences, and abilities. Child increasingly develops self-awareness, confidence, family pride, and positive social identities.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Use songs and tell stories that are rooted in children’s home languages and cultures
  • Provide the child with a variety of materials and experiences to help them discover preference and abilities; add materials based on child’s interests
  • When appropriate, provide choices and respect children’s preferences (“Would you like to brush your teeth first or go to the bathroom first?”)
  • Proactively deepen your knowledge of children’s families, communities, and cultures so that you can provide culturally responsive care
  • I nclude books in the learning environment that promote a positive sense of self
    • My Heart Fills With Happiness , by Monique Gray Smith
    • I Can, Can You? by Marjorie W Pitzer
D

Empathy

Child forms deep, caring, human connections by imagining what someone else may be thinking or feeling and responding with care. Child recognizes unfairness and understands that unfairness hurts.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Provide pets for the children to observe and care for (“I wonder if our fish is feeling hungry?”)
  • Empathize with the child (“I know it’s hard to wait for a turn.”)
  • Rethink the use of ‘I’m sorry,” as children may not know what this means; instead describe children’s feelings (“Look at Sheila. She’s sad. She’s crying. She’s holding her arm where you pushed her. Let’s see if she’s ok.”)
E

Cooperation and Negotiation

Child navigates friendships with peers through cooperation and negotiation.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Respond to conflicts objectively, using simple language to describe the conflict and phrases such as, “We have a problem, so what can we do to solve it?”
  • Stay with children until the conflict is resolved
  • Notice and verbalize children’s feelings (“I see you really want to play with that toy and it is hard to have to wait for it.”)
  • Provide alternate objects and activities while children wait for a turn
  • Show respect for the child’s choices and attempts at problem solving (“Hmm, I see you want that toy and you said, ‘Turn please.’ I wonder if we could find another toy to trade with Diana?”)
F

Emotional Self-Regulation

Child expresses and manages their feelings and impulses.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Invite the family to provide a comfort object from home, such as a blanket or a stuffed animal that a child may use to calm down
  • Use words to teach children to associate feelings with proper names (e.g., “She’s smiling. Do you think she’s happy, excited, or silly?”)
  • Talk with children about the feelings characters are having in books
  • Support the child by reflecting back their responses and reactions (“I see you. You are hitting and kicking. I am here to help you.”)
  • Stay with children while they are having strong feelings, and let them know they are safe
  • Notice and acknowledge the child’s preferred strategies for managing their feelings
G

Rhythms, Rules, and Routines

Child follows the rhythms, rules, and routines of the learning environment.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Meet with families to discuss the rules in their home. Identify which of these rules families consider cultural values; establish rules in the classroom that provide continuity with the children’s experience at home.
  • Agree on a simple set of rules with your team of educators
  • Provide time for children to learn and practice rules
  • Create a picture schedule and post at the children’s level to help children anticipate transitions; review the picture schedule at the start of the day
  • Encourage children to feel ownership of the learning environment; for example, provide access to a small sponge so they can wipe up their own spills
IV

Communication, Language, and Literacy

A

Speaking

Child will develop the ability to speak and/ or sign in increasingly complete, complex, precise, and varied ways.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Encourage families to read, sing, and play with their child in their home language
  • Have meaningful conversations with the child; notice what they are thinking and talk to them about it
  • Pause and wait for the child to respond to your questions
  • Demonstrate that you are committed to understanding children who speak a different home language than you
  • Reflect on personal biases and assumptions about “proper speech.” Ask families about words and grammar from language variations with which you are unfamiliar
B

Listening and Understanding

Child will develop their ability to listen and understand complete, complex, precise, and varied language.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Encourage families to limit screen time and be active viewers with the child by talking about what they are seeing on the screen
  • Give specific descriptions of objects, events, and activities in the child’s world (“We are going to school with the blue door tomorrow, and you will see your friends and Miss Tatia.”)
  • Read to the child and have them turn the page and answer simple questions (“Where’d doggy go? Oh, there he is, under the bed.”)
C

Social Communication

Child uses language to relate to others according to the social expectations of their family, community, and culture.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Use phrases like “my turn,” “your turn,” and “When you’re finished, can I have a turn?”
  • Encourage awareness of the larger social world by participating in activities where familiar faces are seen and community is encouraged
    • Take a walk around the local park
    • Visit the library
    • Go to the farmer’s market
D

Engaging with Stories and Books

Child enjoys, attends to, understands, and makes meanings from spoken and written language of storytelling and books.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Select books that are connected to a child’s life
    • Read books in the child’s home language
    • Read books that take place in the child’s community or culture
    • Read baby books to a child whose sibling was just born
    • Read books related to the child’s developmental experiences (e.g., toilet learning )
  • When reading, emphasize connections with the child’s lived experience; while reading a book about going to the doctor, for example, point out similarities to the child’s own doctor, or when reading about a market trip, comment on the foods a child might see in their local store
E

Phonological Awareness

Child develops the ability to recognize and manipulate the different sounds in spoken language(s).

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Draw focus to words with similar endings (e.g., Oh, yes, you have a nose, and the nose smells the rose!”)
  • Read stories with short sentences that emphasize rhyming sounds (e.g., B rown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? by Eric Carle)
F

Composing

Child uses materials and/ or language to make meaning for themselves and/or an audience.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Observe children’s interactions with toys and art materials
    • Are they telling a story as they play?
    • Are they arranging objects and marks with greater intentionality?
    • Are they pretending to be a character?
  • Acknowledge and extend children’s story-making
  • Provide many and varied writing tools and materials, including markers, crayons, pencils, and chalk
G

Creating and Interpreting Multimedia Texts

Child views, creates, and makes meaning of visual communication and multimedia documentation, which includes drawings, collections, photographs, videos and displays.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Take photographs of local landmarks, familiar community members, or children’s houses; make a book of them or post them in the classroom
  • Document experiences that were meaningful to the child, such as a time they jumped off a step, and use the documentation to reflect on the experience with the child
  • Use photographs of the children in the classroom to create a picture schedule of the day
V

Cognitive Development

A

Understanding Stability and Change

Child recognizes and develops the ability to explain how material objects change and how they remain stable.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Set up activities such as mixing color stations or watercolors over ice cubes to show how things change properties
  • Plant bean or grass seeds and watch them grow
  • Notice and respect children’s feelings about puppets and costumes
B

Representing

Child uses symbolic thought to represent.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Provide fabrics and props for the child to use in dramatic play so they can create scenarios
  • Encourage child to talk about or point to specific parts of their drawings, paintings, and sculptures by saying, ”Tell me about your…” or “Oh, you are pointing at a red tree!”
C

Memory and History

Child develops the ability to store, retrieve, and share information about past experiences.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Provide the child with photographs or objects to bring home to inspire family conversations about what the child did at school
  • Discuss previous events if the child brings them up, such as a trip to the grocery store or a bus ride to school
  • Provide props so that the child may reenact their experiences
  • If multiple children are remembering a past experience, acknowledge each story, but also point out details such as the time of day, or who they were with
D

Investigating and Exploring

Child becomes a scientific thinker by manipulating objects, asking questions, making observations and predictions, and developing generalizations.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Engage in multi-sensory activities that invite investigation
    • Cooking in the classroom
    • Mixing and stirring natural materials in buckets
    • Walks in the neighborhood, woods, or park
    • Floating scarves in the wind
    • Freezing objects in ice and watching them thaw
    • Digging holes
  • Ask “wh” questions, such as “What is that?” “Who is that?” “What if...?” “What do you think?” and “What happened?”
  • Listen to children’s questions and provide descriptive answers
E

Understanding Cause and Effect

Child understands and explores the causes and effects of actions and events.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Narrate what may be happening during an event that the child is curious about
  • Use the phrases, “I wonder...” and “Let’s see what happens if…”
  • Allow child plenty of time and repetition to explore an event or item; add materials to extend learning such as different size balls to roll down a ramp
F

Engineering: Problem-solving with Materials

Child plans and uses hands, tools, and technology to solve problems with materials.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Allow child time to figure out problem for themselves, instead of intervening immediately; for example, build time into the schedule for child to try and get their shoes on before going outside
  • Encourage child to try doing a task, or suggest ways that they may be successful, such as getting a stool to reach the sink
  • Ask if the child needs help and acknowledge and respect the response
G

Math

1. Comparing and Categorizing

Child recognizes some similarities and differences between familiar and unfamiliar people, objects, or experiences.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers
Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Provide puzzles and toys that encourage matching, such as shape sorters
  • Incorporate categorization into games with children; for example, make up a story together in the block area about a family of goats and a family of sheep
  • Label the same objects in a group in different ways (“mommy, child, baby” and then “big, small, tiny.”)
  • Encourage child to group toys and compare similarities and differences between them (e.g., “Let’s find all the toys with wheels.”)

2. Number Sense and Quantity

Child understands and explores numbers and quantity.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers
Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Encourage children to set the table for snack or lunch with one cup, one plate, and one napkin at each chair
  • Use language to describe quantity throughout the day (“We have a lot of apples for snack! We have many more apples than we can eat.”)
  • Incorporate counting into representational play with children (“There are three bears in the house. One, two, three.”)
  • Provide egg cartons, ice cube trays, and muffin tins with small blocks so children can practice one-to-one correspondence

3. Patterning

Child develops the ability to identify, describe, extend, and create patterns.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers
Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Look for patterns in the natural and built environment with the child
  • Encourage the child to help set the table at mealtimes
  • Engage children in cooking activities where patterns are reinforced (e.g., when taking turns mixing, chant, “Stir, stir, stir, pass! Stir, stir, stir, pass!)

4. Spatial Sense and Geometry

Child understands how objects, points, lines, and shapes fit in space.

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers
Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Outline shapes on the floor using string or tape, and encourage the children to go inside
  • Provide different sized boxes, wagons, and wheelbarrows that the children can climb in and out of and can use to move objects or other children
  • Talk about the shapes of blocks with children; compare the blocks with one another
  • Emphasize words describing where objects are in relation to one another (“beside” and “between”)
  • Help the child to find themselves in space (“Where is your pinky finger? Where is your elbow?”)

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