Best Practices Archives - Early Learning Nation

A New Approach to Managing Tantrums and Helping Children Learn Self-Control

Ellen Galinsky·Jun 18, 2019·5 min read

How often have you looked with pity on parents suffering through a child’s tantrum? Yes, like rubberneckers at a highway crash, it seems like everyone turns around to watch. Don't despair: tantrums are an inevitable part of life with young children. Read more from Ellen Galinsky to explore Executive Function Skills, Autonomy Support and 5 tips for managing tantrums.

This Book Is Cool! Program Fights the Summer Slide and the COVID-19 Slump

K.C. Compton·Sep 3, 2020·8 min read

Most of us have heard of the “summer slide” in which children lose some of the lessons they’ve learned during...

Playful Learning in Pittsburgh: The Park as Classroom

Mark Swartz·Mar 24, 2021·3 min read

“Have a belief in yourself that is bigger than anyone’s disbelief,” said August Wilson, playwright of the great “Pittsburgh Cycle.”...

Playful Learning Landscapes

Meeting Children Where They Are with What They Need

K.C. Compton·Dec 10, 2019·6 min read

Plaza. Piazza. Town square. The names may differ region to region, but they describe similar spaces: a place where residents...

The U.N.’s International Day of Play vs. “An Inhuman World”

Mark Swartz·Jun 11, 2024·5 min read

The United Nations has declared June 11 to be the first annual International Day of Play, calling it “a unifying...

Home Grown Launches “Leading from Home” Initiative to Support Provider Leaders Nationwide

Natalie Renew·Mar 11, 2021·3 min read

This week, Home Grown launched a new initiative—Leading From Home—focused on identifying and supporting provider leaders across the country. The...

A New Documentary Makes the Case for Early Investment

Mark Swartz·Sep 10, 2020·3 min read

The Founding Fathers built competition among the states into our system of government. With 50-plus laboratories for democracy, we’re bound...

Early Childhood Alliance Onondaga: A Master Class in Cross-Sector Coalition Building

K.C. Compton·Nov 5, 2019·8 min read

When the Onondaga Citizens League saw that only 9% of the students in the Syracuse City School District were reading...

Ellen Galinsky: Move Aside Helicopter and Snowplow Parents, Here Comes Autonomy Support

The Editors·May 6, 2019·4 min read

From “helicoptering” to “snowplowing,” parents are often tempted to simply remove obstacles from children’s way, preventing them from learning how to deal with challenges themselves. Instead, as Ellen Galinsky, Bezos Family Foundation Chief Science Officer and Founder/Executive Director of Mind in the Making, explains, the better approach is to build “Autonomy Support” – helping children gain the independence skills they’ll need to become successful adults. Filmed for Early Learning Nation’s Mobile Studio at the Society for Research in Child Development’s biennial meeting in Baltimore, MD, on March 22, 2019. #SRCD19

Kenneth A. Dodge: Understanding & Preventing Violent Behaviors in Children

The Editors·Apr 17, 2019·6 min read

How and why do children become aggressive – or even violent? How can we understand the true causes – and recognize the signs – before they take hold? Kenneth A. Dodge, Pritzker Professor of Public Policy at Duke University explains the important research that can help children and families. Filmed for Early Learning Nation’s Mobile Studio at the Society for Research in Child Development’s biennial meeting in Baltimore, MD, on March 22, 2019. #SRCD19