FunShine Tells: Maintaining an Inclusive Classroom

This post will explore how to best support young children with disabilities. Let’s start by simply defining disability. A disability refers to a condition that makes it challenging for people to do certain activities or interact with their environment. Particular requirements may include the need to support mobility, communication, feeding, behavior, or any other skill or function so that the person can thrive and learn in everyday situations and environments. This is where inclusion, classroom adaptations, and developmentally appropriate practices play an essential role in early childhood.

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Learning Through Infant Care Routines: Diaper Changes

Infants have daily needs that need to be met for them to learn, develop positive attachment to primary caregivers, and know they will be loved and taken care of. Most of these needs revolve around basic care routines. The FunShine Express Buttercups Babies kits were designed to incorporate activity ideas into these care routines to create meaningful interactions each day.

Diaper Changes

Diaper changes happen many times throughout the day. As a care provider, some days you might feel like this is all you do. Some days you change a wet diaper and three minutes later the same baby has a bowel movement. Or you are in the middle of playing on the floor, and you notice the baby you are playing with has had a blowout, and you have to stop the activity for a diaper and outfit change. Use diaper changes, whether planned or unplanned, as a learning moment. Incorporating activities and fun interactions into diaper changes can engage a baby’s growing brain and social skills during this frequent care routine.

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Welcoming Kindergarteners in Your Setting: Tips and Resources

gateMany providers welcome kindergarteners and other school-age children during summer and as needed when school is closed. While our Fireflies curriculum tackles and reinforces many skills and concepts essential to kindergarten, we felt it important to offer you resources that will support you in extending our curriculum to meet the needs of and challenge the older children in your care.

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