Resources
Explore research-based resources designed to help you support your child’s growth and development. Discover easy‑to‑use tools to track your child’s progress and see how they’re growing across key learning areas.
Explore & Support Development
Encouraging Your Child to Cooperate
Sometimes children do not want to help clean up or transition from playing to completing a daily routine, such as brushing their teeth. This PALS Spotlight shares different strategies parents can use when children are reluctant to cooperate.
Help Your Child Learn to Behave
It is natural for young children to feel overwhelmed, frustrated, and angry and to display these feelings by having a tantrum. In this PALS Spotlight, parents learn several preventive strategies to effectively and positively manage children’s challenging behaviors.
Reading with Your Child
Reading books with children builds their language and early literacy skills. This PALS Spotlight highlights different strategies parents can use before, during, and after reading a book with their child that is engaging and supports learning.
Responding to Your Child When It’s Difficult to Do So
This PALS Spotlight will provide strategies on how to be responsive to young children when it may be difficult to do so, such as when parents are tired, stressed, or busy.
Responding to Your Child’s Negative Signals
In this PALS Spotlight, parents will learn how to identify and interpret children’s negative signals and respond to them in a warm, sensitive, and contingent way that help children feel acknowledged and understood.
Responding to Your Child’s Positive Signals
In this PALS Spotlight, parents will learn how to identify and interpret children’s positive signals and respond to them in a warm, sensitive, and contingent way that encourages children’s communication.
Sharing Books with Your Child
Sharing books with young children can sometimes be challenging. This PALS Spotlight provides examples of different ways young children like to explore books and how parents can share control during book time so children build a positive association with books.
Talking to Your Child
Young children want to connect and communicate with their parents. In this PALS Spotlight, different language strategies will be described that help young children learn how to better understand and use words.
Strategies for Reading with Infants and Toddlers
Reading together is one of the best ways to help your child learn and grow! When you use simple strategies during storytime, you help your child stay engaged and excited about books.
Choosing Books for Infants and Toddlers
Here are some tips for choosing good books for infants and toddlers. The right books spark curiosity, encourage interaction, and help your child fall in love with stories from the start!
How to Help Your Child Cooperate
This tip sheet gives parents practical strategies to encourage cooperation, independence, and positive behavior in young children. The focus is on using gentle guidance, choices, and playful approaches rather than constant correction.
Concepts to Help Your Child Learn to Behave
This tip sheet explains key ideas parents can use to support young children as they learn to follow rules, build independence, and manage their emotions. The focus is on guiding them with patience, warmth, and consistency.
Help Your Child to Understand and Label Emotions
This tip sheet explains how parents can support young children in learning to recognize and name emotions. It encourages families to talk openly about feelings so children can better understand themselves and others.
Reading Children’s Signals
It is important for parents to respond to children’s signals in a warm, positive way. Some signals are clear; others are not. Looking at facial expressions, body position, and what has just happened can help you figure out how your child is feeling or what they are thinking.
Book Club!: Support Infant & Toddler Social and Emotional Development
Looking for book recommendations for your baby or toddler? Explore these recommended books to support infant and toddler social and emotional development.
Resources for Children with Learning and Developmental Differences
The Children’s Learning Institute provides this free collection of high-quality online resources related to common developmental concerns, such as autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
Explore Early Learning
Families can use this information to better understand their child’s development across key learning areas and how each area supports future learning. Each learning area includes related activities for you and your child to do at home.
Empowering Self-Care for Families with Young Children
Parenting can be incredibly rewarding, but it comes with its fair share of challenges and stressors. This webinar (1 hour, 10 minutes) provides some strategies and practices for promoting self-care.
Make It a Game!
Here are some easy and fun ways to make an activity, such as cleanup or a transition, into a game! Making a game out of an activity can often help promote cooperation and turn a “no” into a “yes!”
Respectful Toilet Learning
Get practical tips in this 40‑minute webinar on recognizing potty‑training readiness, making a game plan that works for your family, and helping your child build independence with confidence.
Selecting a Child Care Program
While on a virtual or in-person tour, use these checklists from Child Care Aware® of America to help you find safe and high-quality child care.
Talk, Read, and Sing Together Every Day!
The Administration for Children & Families offers tips to help you talk, read, and sing with your child every day to support strong early language development. They also provide information about the benefits of being bilingual.
Your early learning guide: 0 to 8 months
Parents are their child’s first and most important teacher. This guide helps you understand how babies grow and learn, and simple ways to respond with warmth and support.
Your early learning guide: 8 to 18 months
Parents are their child’s first and most important teacher. This guide helps you understand how infants and toddlers grow and learn, and simple ways to respond with warmth and support.
Your early learning guide: 18 to 36 months
Parents are their child’s first and most important teacher. This guide helps you understand how toddlers grow and learn, and simple ways to respond with warmth and support.
Track & Understand Progress
“Red Flags” for Language Delay
This resource helps parents recognize early signs that a child may have delays or differences in language development and outlines what to do if concerns arise.
Understanding Developmental Screening & Early Intervention
This video series explains the benefits of early screening for developmental delays and Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) services for children up to three years of age.
Navigating Concerns about Your Child’s Development
This one-page roadmap supports families in taking next steps when they have concerns about their child’s development.
Developmental Milestones Checklists for Infants, Toddlers, and 3-Year-Olds
Developmental milestones can help caregivers become aware of what skills are expected at what ages. Use these checklists to track your child’s development in areas such as language, social-emotional, cognitive, early literacy, physical health, and motor.
