Title: Plan strategies to enhance children’s physical, emotional, social, and cognitive development.
Course: Child Development and Parenting (19255-18)

Planning should include

- listing reasons why play is important to children
- using face-to-face communication
- listing the different types and stages of play (e.g., parallel play)
- identifying and describing developmentally appropriate toys for toddlers, preschoolers, and school-age children in terms of their benefits to child development
- explaining the importance of reading to children
- recognizing and supporting emergent literacy skills
- identifying and describing books appropriate to different ages and interests in terms of their benefits to child development
- identifying and describing developmentally appropriate curriculum choices (e.g., Creative Curriculum, High Scope, STREAMin^3)
- teaching socially acceptable behaviors
- regulating involvement with technology (e.g., Internet, TV, AI, social media)
- engaging children in activities that stimulate all areas of the brain (i.e., frontal, temporal, parietal, occipital, cerebellum)
- engaging children in enriching educational and social experiences
- planning ways to include all children.

Teacher Resources:

- School Readiness and Early Childhood Classroom Learning, VDOE
- Take Home Strategies - ECE Resource Hub, Center for the Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning (CASTL), University of Virginia

Process/Skill Questions:

Thinking

- What are the purposes of play for children?
- What criteria should be used to evaluate toys?
- What factors determine the appropriateness of books for toddlers, for preschoolers, and for school-age children?
- Why is early childhood considered the most important period for brain development?

Communication

- What is the importance of communication during play?
- When should caregivers or parents join their children at play?
- What can children learn about communication during play?

Leadership

- What does a parent need to believe about play in order to nurture a child's development?
- Why is it important for children to experience variety in the pattern and forms of play?
- How should parents decide what activities are appropriate for their children?

Management

- What is the function of television or other media in terms of children's play? How does television both stimulate and inhibit a child's imagination? How can parents regulate the quality of television and media watched by children?
- What are the benefits and disadvantages of screen time for children of different ages? Why should parents limit children's screen time?