Information for Early Childhood Educators
You spend your day working with, playing with, and watching children, and you are already familiar with many milestones – such as pointing at objects, smiling, and playing with others – that mark a child’s development. All children are unique, but sooner or later, you will see a child who is not developing as they should.
You are a valuable resource to parents! They look to you for information on their child, and they trust you. The “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” campaign has created a series of resources to help you educate parents on the full range of child development.
Tools and Resources
Free Materials
You can view, download, print, and order the various materials for the "Learn the Signs. Act Early." campaign designed for child care providers.
The Childcare Provider Resource Kit includes a CD-ROM with fact sheets on child development that you can print out, along with three growth charts, three small posters, and 50 flyers for parents.
“Go Out and Play!” Kit for early childhood educators (NEW!)
The campaign is happy to offer a new tool to help you monitor childhood development during an activity you do everyday with your students – play! The kit also contains information about monitoring developmental milestones, suggestions for a safe and successful activity day, tips about talking to parents if you suspect a child has a developmental delay, and a special pullout section with activities to share with parents for at-home play.
Milestones
See milestones that children should reach from 3 months to 5 years of age, plus interactive tools for parents and staff to help keep track of the milestones.
Did you know that physical activity in infants and children affects social, emotional, and cognitive development?
Find out more on the Child Care Aware website.
Hand Out Milestone Checklists
You can print out milestone checklists for parents or your staff to complete. This information is useful to all parents as a child begins a new school year or celebrates a birthday.
Share Interactive Milestones Chart
This interactive chart is a great way to show parents how children develop. Consider mentioning this great interactive tool in your parent newsletter or book marking it on a parent resource computer at your center.
Include “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” Print Ad in Your Newsletter
We have a print ad that would be great to include in your newsletter to tell parents about the campaign.
English JPG (Zip file)
English PDF
Spanish JPG (Zip file)
Spanish PDF
Link Your Website to Ours
We have developed a "website linking kit" that provides an icon, Web address, and description to help you put a link on your site.
Links to Other Websites
Center for Evidence-Based Practice: Young Children with Challenging Behavior
The Technical Assistance Center on Social Emotional Intervention for Young Children, also known as TACSEI, takes the research that shows which practices improve the social-emotional outcomes for young children with, or at risk for, delays or disabilities and creates free products and resources to help decision makers, caregivers, and service providers apply these best practices in the work they do every day.
The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL)
CSEFEL is focused on promoting the social emotional development and school readiness of young children birth to age 5. They have user-friendly training materials, videos, and print resources which are available directly from this website to help early care, health and education providers implement this model.
National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
NAEYC provides accreditation for schools that meet certain standards, as well as resources, tools, and information for families and childcare providers.
National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY)
Locate organizations and agencies within each state that address disability-related issues.
The National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (NECTAC) works to strengthen the systems that provide early childhood services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The center’s mission is to ensure that children with disabilities (birth through 5) and their families receive and benefit from high-quality, culturally appropriate, and family-centered supports and services.
Zero to Three
Provides professionals working with very young children and their families an extensive collection of resources aimed at supporting the work of professionals in a variety of early childhood settings.
Disclaimer: We provide links to other web pages if you want to learn even more about a topic. Some of these pages are on the CDC website and others are on outside websites. Links to organizations outside of CDC are included for information only. CDC has no control over the information at these sites. The views and opinions of these organizations are not necessarily those of CDC, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), or the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS).
Spread the Word
Help us teach childcare providers, parents, and others about important milestones.
Link to the “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” Campaign
We have created a “linking kit” that allow you to easily link to this website from your own website.
Include “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” Print Ad in Your Newsletter
We have a print ad that would be great to include in your newsletter to tell parents about the campaign.
Contact Us:
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities
- Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities
- 1600 Clifton Road
- MS E-86
- Atlanta, GA 30333
- 800-CDC-INFO
(800-232-4636)
TTY: (888) 232-6348
24 Hours/Every Day - cdcinfo@cdc.gov
