7 Must-Haves for Early Childhood Teachers

If you are an early childhood teacher, then you have the amazing job of teaching a child in one of the most formative stages of growth. This is truly a high calling, and it is also an enjoyable position because the best way for a young child to learn is through play, so you get to play with the kids and track their development.

As a teacher, you have a variety of tools that you have at your disposal. Today you will read about seven must-have tools for early childhood teachers.

Gross Motor Skills

You want to help the children under your care to develop their gross motor skills. This includes the use of the big muscles in the body such as the legs and the arms. A great tool for this is the sensory ball pack. This pack has fun balls that have all different types of textures.

Fine Motor Skills

These are skills that have to do with hand-eye coordination. Fine motor skills include things like coloring, cutting, writing, and tearing. The Lacing Peacock is a wonderful toy for this. This toy allows children to use their little fingers to put colorful strings through small holes.

Language

Language development is vital for little minds. They have to learn phonics, the alphabet, and written and oral language. A great toy for your student’s development would be The Alphabet Sound Puzzle. This is a cool little puzzle that helps little ones learn the shapes and sounds of the alphabet.

Cognitive

Cognitive skills are needed for a child to be able to think, reason, and learn math. A great tool to help a child in this regard is Tobbles. This is a stackable ball set that shows a child how to balance, stack, build and take down a structure.

Social/Emotional

The children who are under your care are going to need to learn how to act socially. This includes their manners, word usage, and treatment of others. The Make Your Own Monster Puppet is a great toy to help with children’s social and emotional development. They can build it alone, or they can build with friends.

Self-help Adaptive

Children need to learn how to dress themselves, feed themselves, brush their own teeth, bathe, tie their shoes and take care of their own personal needs. Children can start this early by playing games and using constructive toys. One great toy is constructive eating utensils. These toys make eating fun, and they show children how they can use their eating utensils to feed themselves.

Moral and Spiritual

As an early childhood teacher, you want your children to be able to get an idea of the big picture. They have to understand that they are in a world that is full of different people who have different lifestyles and beliefs. This is the domain of parents, but you also have a place in this lesson. The book “Hands Are Not For Hurting” can be a wonderful tool. This book shows children how to be kind to others regardless of their differences.

The Task is Real

Early childhood is an important time in every child’s life. As an early childhood teacher, you want to make sure that you are giving your children educational playtime. Use comprehensive early childhood education programs, get your children’s parents involved, find great toys, and do activities that are enjoyable and educational.

In doing this, you will help your children to thrive in the real world as they grow.