Embedded learning opportunities (ELOs) are evidence-based practices that can increase the number of teaching and learning opportunities made available to children in their natural routines. Implementing ELOs is the optimal approach for parents in supporting their children's learning within the family's routines. This study assessed the feasibility…

Parents want to work with their children's teachers to help them succeed in school. "What Brain Research Says about Student Learning" provides parents and teachers the most recent findings in brain research and learning theory in a very approachable way. The reader will see how the child's brain develops, learns, remembers, and creates…

This article explores parents' perspectives of children's learning, drawing on a comparative research project with a focus on survey data from 200 preschool parents in Japan and China. The findings were compared between the two countries in order to identify common and distinct perspectives in terms of what and how children learn in the families…

Many parents work hard to foster a culture of learning early in their children's development. The desire for children to learn as early as possible is common among Hong Kong-Australian families. These children continue to perform well academically. Little is known about the pedagogy that underpins such development in the family or on the…

Rogoff (2003) argues that "Human development is a cultural process….People develop as participants in cultural communities" (p. 3). Children develop within families, and different cultures reflect differences in how they structure activity for this development. For example, middle class North American families generally would not permit…

This article highlights the importance of parents as intervention agents for young children with special needs. It describes individualized training in behavioral strategies for parents, explains procedures for helping parents gain skills that foster their children's development, and suggests that parents will maintain the skills and generalize…

This book for parents and child care providers describes a program for home-based, early childhood education that does not use formal, disciplined instruction. The program uses the technique of "incidental teaching," which emphasizes learning activities that occur while children participate in typical daily activities, such as eating,…

Written by a retired kindergarten teacher with 25 years of experience, this paper presents the text for a video demonstration of at-home sensory activities to stimulate development in children from birth to age 5. The introduction notes recent research indicating that learning begins at birth, and explores the effect of early stimulation on…

This Spanish-language handbook, which was written by a retired kindergarten teacher with over 25 years of experience, is intended to help parents and caregivers prepare their child for formal schooling. It describes 260 learning activities, each based on a different developmental concept, and most requiring materials usually found in the home. An…

This article presents two models for creating new developmentally appropriate preschool movement programs: CHAOS (Children Helping Adults Open Senses) at Eastern Connecticut State University and "KinderPlay" at Florida International University. CHAOS and KinderPlay utilize skill themes and movement concepts as their focus and incorporate…

The purpose of this study was to examine how young children's homes and preschool programs influence kindergarten achievement by being "ready environments." Ready environments provide opportunities for cognitive and social growth through culturally and developmentally appropriate activities, interactions, and materials. This study used…