Early Childhood Development

32 Hours / Access Length: 180 Days / Delivery: Online, Self-Paced

Course Overview:

Learn the best ways to care for a child, and unlock the skills and knowledge you need to promote early childhood learning and development with this online course.

Students will:

• Understand childhood development milestones
• Gain practical skills for handling and caring for a baby
• Stimulate development through various modalities Identify and address challenges in child development
• Develop a daily routine for happy, developing children

Course Outline:

Module 1:

Lesson 1: Routine Ready

We begin this course by gaining a profound understanding of a baby's experience outside the womb and how this can affect their behavior. The importance of routine in settling a baby will be discussed and the student will obtain the skill to create a daily routine that will aid in having a more settled baby.

Lesson 2: Comprehending Crying

Why do babies cry? In this lesson, the student will learn more about why babies cry and how they use this system to warn us that something is bothering them. We investigate the various reasons why babies cry and develop an elimination list to help us narrow down and find the reason for a baby's cries.

Lesson 3: Successful Sleeping

Sleep and baby in one sentence- does not sound right! In this lesson, we delve into the art of successful sleeping. We discuss how much and how often babies should be sleeping, look at various ways to help babies fall asleep and sleep safely and master the skill of swaddling.

Lesson 4: First Feeds

In this lesson, the student will learn more about how much and how often babies should be feeding in the first few months. We explore the requirements for introducing solids and learn more about feeding safety.

Lesson 5: Blissful Burping

From food to burping. This lesson explores why babies need to be burped and the many different ways that this can be done. We discuss various methods for burping a baby in terms of positioning, execution as well as pros and cons to each method so you will be able to choose the best method for you and your baby.

Lesson 6: Keeping Clean

Let’s get messy- by learning how to interpret the contents of a nappy, how to clean baby safely and effectively and learn more about how appropriate nappy care can keep a baby healthy and happy.

Lesson 7: Constant cuddlers

We explore the world of the fourth trimester and how this can affect your baby's behavior in those first few months of life. We look at ways to help both career and baby get through the day without compromise and learn the skill of baby massage.

Lesson 8: Tummy Time

We finally make sense of tummy time in this lesson. We look at why babies should be doing tummy time and for how long and when to start introducing tummy time. We discuss the various ways that tummy time can be done to accommodate a baby's needs (yes even a baby with reflux!) and explore how to have a happy tummy time experience for you and baby.

Module 2:

Lesson 1: Regulation Rollercoaster

We explore the rollercoaster of how babies regulate themselves throughout the day and learn more about what this means in terms of their behavior and overall happiness. We learn how to identify warning signs of overstimulation and use the routine planning skills we learned in Module 1 to help keep your baby well-regulated throughout the day.

Lesson 2: Tantalizing Toys

The world of toys can be daunting for a new caregiver. In this lesson, we take a look at the importance of toys, how they can be used in play and discover what types of toys will help further the development of a baby and toddler.

Lesson 3: Contrasts and Cacophonies

This lesson starts our journey into the sensory world of development. We learn how the sense of sight and hearing can affect and contribute not only to development but to the regulation of a child. We take a look at responsible screen time and discuss practical ways in which sounds and colors can be used to improve participation.

Lesson 4: Touches and Tastes

Continuing our journey through the sensory world, we take a look at the sense of touch and taste in this lesson. We look at why babies should be playing with their food and the reasons behind it. This lesson also takes a look at finger feeding and helps you plan the ultimate finger feeding dish.

Lesson 5: Gross Motor Grooves

Lesson 5 takes a look at gross motor development. We learn more about what it is, how it develops and why it is important for the later years in a child's life. We make gross motor play easy with our key principles for enhanced development.

Lesson 6: Fine Motor Fun

Following our gross motor lesson, we take a look at the smaller muscles and fine motor development. We understand how it develops, and look at fundamentals for successful fine motor development. We discuss various fine motor activities their key principles for development.

Lesson 7: There's No Play Like People Play

This lesson explores the ultimate toy - YOU! We look at the importance of human interaction on development and the various ways in which we can stimulate development by just making contact.

Lesson 8: Scintillating the Senses

The last lesson in module 2 takes a look at the remaining senses of our sensory world. We discuss how stimulating these senses can contribute to development, behavior and regulation and use our newfound knowledge to plan a multi-sensory play activity.

Module 3:

Lesson 1: The Huff About Milestones

We start off module 3 discussing why so much emphasis is placed on milestones and when they should be reached. We break down milestone development into its many parts and discuss how the knowledge we gained in Module 2 can be used to help us support milestone development.

Lesson 2: Great Graspers

Lesson 2 looks at how grasp develops from birth to toddlerhood, and how it, in turn, stimulates other areas of development. We discuss activities for grasp development and principles to use in play.

Lesson 3: Ready, Set, Roll

Let’s roll- We discuss the how, why and when of rolling. We take a look at why this skill is so important and how we can help a baby achieve this milestone.

Lesson 4: Sitting Pretty

Lesson 4 looks at sitting and how this skill develops. We discuss when babies should start sitting and the various ways in which this can be achieved.

Lesson 5: Crawling Cuties

And we are on the move! In this lesson, we start moving. We take a look a how babies reach the crawling milestone, how you can help them, the benefits of crawling and how to make your environment crawling-safe.

Lesson 6: Standing Steady

Up, up and away! Lesson 6 looks at standing - how a baby gets in and out of the standing position when they should start getting into these positions, safety tips as well as Top Tips to help support standing development.

Lesson 7: Willful Walking

These boots are made for walking! In this lesson, we look at those first steps. We discuss how and when walking develops, look at safety tips for your environment and discuss Top Tips to help support the development of walking in a baby.

Lesson 8: Driving Development

There are many areas of development, not just fine and gross motor. In the final lesson of module 3, we discuss the various other areas of development. We understand where language and thinking come from and why your baby can start copying the actions that they see around them. Children never develop only one aspect at a time, rather, multi-area development occurs continuously. Let's explore how all these areas contribute to your child's overall growth and development.

Module 4:

Lesson 1: Sign Right Here

We start off Module 4 with baby signing. Adding to the knowledge you obtained in module 3, we look at how baby signing can be used to aid in communication when language is still developing and how this can reduce frustration for you and your baby. By the end of this lesson, we teach you three basic signs to use with your baby.

Lesson 2: Equipment for Everything

In this lesson, we look at the various types of equipment available to make child care easier. We discuss the various types of equipment, their positive and negative characteristics and help you identify equipment that you can use as well as how to use them responsibly.

Lesson 3: Marvelous Meal Plans

In lesson 3 we combine our knowledge of the touch and oral-sensory senses with nutrition to make the ultimate meal plans and food experiences for babies and toddlers. We discuss the importance of well-balanced meals and ways to motivate a child to try new or disliked foods.

Lesson 4: Potty Party

Lesson 4 takes a look at potty training. We discuss how continence develops, ready signs for potty training and how to make potty training fun.

Lesson 5: Breaking Bad Habits

The good and the bad- In this lesson we learn how bad habits and behaviors are formed, understand how they can influence a household and even future milestones, and teach you the skills you need to address these challenges successfully.

All necessary course materials are included.

• Cable and DSL internet connections are recommended for the best experience.

• CPU: 1 GHz or higher
• RAM: 2 GB or higher
• Resolution: 1280 x 720 or higher
• Speakers / Headphones
• Microphone (Webinar / Live Online sessions)

• Microsoft Windows 7 or 10 (Home, Pro)
• Mac OSX 10 or higher.
• Latest Chrome OS
• Latest Linux Distributions

NOTE: While we understand that our courses can be viewed on Android and iPhone devices, we do not recommend the use of these devices for our courses. The size of these devices do not provide a good learning environment for students taking online or live online based courses.

• Latest Google Chrome is recommended for the best experience.
• Latest Mozilla FireFox
• Latest Microsoft Edge
• Latest Apple Safari

• Office suite software (Microsoft Office, OpenOffice, or LibreOffice)
• PDF reader program (Adobe Reader, FoxIt)
• Courses may require other software that is denoted in the above course outline.