Early Childhood Education

Sample Lesson - Introduction

Lesson 1.02: Infancy

Womb with a view—get it?
(Source)

Let's backtrack a skosh.

Before they're born, babies have a pretty cushy gig. They automatically get food and warmth from Mom, and get to bust out some mean xylophone on Mom's ribs anytime they please. Babies have a sweet deal, and they're in no hurry to shake things up.

That is, until they're born. Birth is a pretty rude awakening for our recently-gestated friends. Now that they've been kicked off auto-pilot, infants have to learn how to get what they need. How can they get fed when they're hungry? How can they get cuddled when they're lonely? How can they get a clean diaper?

They cry.

And cry.

And cry.

Did we mention that they cry?

When you're lacking in the word department, there aren't a lot of other communication options. Fortunately for babies, crying gets results. Nothing sends a parent or caregiver hustling faster than a five-alarm wail. Unfortunately for you, it's not so easy to figure out what those cries might mean. Or, more importantly, how to make them stop.

Sadly, there's no foolproof guide to cry-decoding, but we do have some tips to help you figure out what's behind those whines and whimpers. If you know what skills a baby's working on, it might clue you in to what they're trying to communicate.

Guidelines are great, but you'll still need to use your own gray matter to unlock the meanings behind each baby's cry. Sure, a baby might be the right age for teething, but don't break out the gum-numbers unless you see swollen gums or tooth buds. Every baby hits milestones at a different rate, so developmental stages are more like helpful hints than set-in-stone-signs.

Trust us—we wish there was a Google Translate for baby cries. Until technology catches up, we'll just have to use our empathy and contextual clues to decode those cries ourselves. It's the least we can do for these brand-new human beings. After all, they've had a rude awakening to life outside the womb.

Sample Lesson - Reading

Reading 1.1.02: Infant Development

In our last lesson, we did some reading about the importance of physical contact with all babies—human and monkey alike. Let's backtrack slightly and focus today on newborns and all their myriad needs.

The newest newborns are facing one giant DIY project. Gone are the days of floating comfortably in their own penthouse. No more room service. No more warm, dark sleep tank. Once nine months-ish are up, babies are evicted and expected to fend for themselves.

How rude.

The first item on a newborn's checklist is eating. Whether their first meal is served up via bottle or breast, babies now have to latch, suck, and swallow to eat. That's a lot more complicated than the automatic-delivery system they had in utero. Some babies take to nursing very naturally, while others need more help to make it work.

Once babies have learned to handle the basics of survival, they take more of an interest in interacting. On the to-do list—smiling, cooing, and learning to grasp fingers and toys. Babies start babbling within their first year, and they may even say a word or two. With any luck, their first forays into speech will give you helpful tips about what they want, like "Milk!" or "Dada!" or "Freedom!" Don't count on it, though. You'll still have many months (dare we say, years) before babies will be able to ask for what they want instead of simply crying.

Oh joy.

In the first three months, babies aren't moving around too much on their own, either. As the first year wears on, infants will hit a number of major motor milestones—lifting their heads, rolling over, supported sitting, sitting independently, creeping, crawling, standing, cruising, and walking. If you're looking for motor development superstars, look no farther than your nearest infant. They're learning to move just about as fast as their caregivers can keep up with them.

While you're waiting for them to figure out the whole mobility thing, give them plenty of chances to try moving on their own. Since babies should always be put down to sleep on their backs, they need extra encouragement to spend time on their tummies while they're awake. Tummy time helps them learn how to lift their heads and use their muscles. Learn more about tummy time from this American Academy of Pediatrics brochure on Back to Sleep, Tummy to Play.

Sure, it sounds like we're pushing them, but, um, if we don't do it, who will? After their eviction notice, babies need a little encouragement to stand on their own two feet.

Literally.

Sample Lesson - Activity

Activity 1.02: Infant Development: Cuddling to Crawling

If we had a nickel for every time a parent or caregiver said "When is my child going to walk?" we'd have—a lot of nickels. The truth is, while practitioners have a general idea of when babies learn to crawl, cruise, and roll, each baby develops these skills at their own pace—like they took that whole "Do It Yourself" concept and ran with it.

Those little—stinkers.

While we can't nail down the exact day infants will hit their milestones, we can at least provide a frame of reference, but be forewarned—this is where things get tricky. Some child development resources choose an average age and say things like, "Babies begin walking at about 12 months of age." Other resources give a wider timeframe and make broad statements, like "Babies begin walking between nine and 15 months." Both statements are technically correct, but they appeal to very different types of caregivers.

Your mission is to create the timeline that makes the most sense to you. Are you a precision-minded professional, with an eye for specific age ranges and month-by-month development? Awesome. You can make a timeline with all the specifics you can muster.

Are you more of a laissez-faire teacher, looking for broad, general guidelines that give you an idea of the skills that might develop? That's awesome, too. You can make a timeline with wide age ranges and plenty of wiggle room for individual development.

After all, if we can accommodate individual differences for infants, we can certainly accommodate them for infant teachers.

Part One

Look through the developmental timetables on the three websites listed below. Make sure to pay attention to the notes for each website:

• Web MD Note: View milestones in two-month increments as well as the chart reviewing milestones month-by-month.
• American Academy of Pediatrics Note: View milestones for zero to three months, four to seven months, and eight to 12 months.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Note: View milestones for two months, four months, six months, nine months, and 12 months.

As you can see, each website breaks down the 12-month span differently and focuses on slightly different motor milestones.

Part Two

Create your own timeline for developmental milestones in the first year. We'll keep it simple by focusing on only the motor milestones. Choose six to eight motor milestones, and list an appropriate timeframe for infants to develop each skill. For example, if you choose "crawling," you might define the timeframe as "eight to 12 months," "seven to nine months," or "nine months." As you can see from the articles, there are many ways to break it down. Choose the timeframe that makes sense to you.

And by all means, get creative. Pull out your colored pencils, and shade in each of those motor-skill timeframes in a different color. If you want to use yellow for creeping and green for cruising, go ahead. If you want to do your milestones in rainbow order, that works, too.

Are you more tech-savvy than artsy-craftsy? You're totally free to do your work in a slide presentation or graphics program. However you choose to make your timeline, just be sure to make each motor skill timeframe distinct, and make a key identifying which color you used for each skill.

For example, if Shmoop was making this timeline, the first three skills on ours might look like this:

When you're done, upload your spiffy color-coded time line here.