ChildCare Education Institute Offers No-Cost Online Course on Focusing on Expressive Play and Artistic Development

Duluth, GA, July 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ChildCare Education Institute® (CCEI), an online child care training provider dedicated exclusively to the early care and education workforce, offers CHD105: Focusing on Expressive Play and Artistic Development as a no-cost trial course to new CCEI users July 1-31, 2019.

It is important for teachers to understand the stages of play in order to put the right materials or supports in place in the classroom. For instance, if a teacher expects two−year−olds to engage in cooperative play, she or he will face frustration because that is not a developmentally appropriate skill to expect from very young children. Instead, the teacher can promote the transition from parallel to associative play by encouraging and modeling language and social skills during children’s play.  It is also important for teachers to understand that by the age of four, children should begin to play cooperatively, at least for parts of the day. A lack of cooperative play by a four−year−old may be an indication that further supports are needed for that child. 

In early childhood education, all areas of development are closely linked. In addition to fine motor skills and cognition being linked to expressive play, here are a few other examples

  • When children engage in forms of expressive play, they are also building communication skills and language acquisition.
  • When children talk about their drawings and creations, they are practicing putting thoughts into words and demonstrating their own thought processes.
  • When teachers comment positively about what they notice in a child’s drawing, the child feels good about his or her skills and safe in the expressive environment, which builds confidence and leads for future explorations with art materials.

Teachers should have a goal of incorporating multiple areas of development into single activities.  This type of integration builds skills and supports learning better than isolating skills and activities. This section of the course will discuss ways in which teachers can add more opportunities for expressive play and drawing into daily activities.

This course focuses on the importance various forms of play have on the development of the whole child, with emphasis on expressive play, which can be incorporated throughout most activities in the early childhood environment. Because drawing is an important element of expressive play, this course explores the typical development of drawing skills in children and how those skills relate to other areas of development. With a better understanding of the expressive play needs of young children, early childhood professionals can support children’s healthy, optimal development across all developmental domains.

“Not only can teachers get to know children on a personal level and make them feel safe in the environment, but teachers can also discern information about children’s physical and cognitive development," says Maria C. Taylor, President and CEO of CCEI.  “The goal is to put in place the materials and supports necessary to move the children along the developmental spectrum, at the pace that is most suitable for each individual child.”

CHD105: Focusing on Expressive Play and Artistic Development is a two-hour, intermediate-level course and grants 0.2 IACET CEU upon successful completion. Current CCEI users with active, unlimited annual subscriptions can register for professional development courses at no additional cost when logged in to their CCEI account. Users without subscriptions can purchase child care training courses as block hours through CCEI online enrollment.

For more information, visit www.cceionline.edu or call 1.800.499.9907, prompt 3, Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. EST

ChildCare Education Institute, LLC

ChildCare Education Institute®, a division of Excelligence Learning Corporation, provides high-quality, distance education certificates and child care training programs in an array of child care settings, including preschool centers, family child care, prekindergarten classrooms, nanny care, online daycare training and more. Over 150 English and Spanish child care training courses are available online to meet licensing, recognition program, and Head Start Requirements. CCEI also has online certification programs that provide the coursework requirement for national credentials including the CDA, Director and Early Childhood Credentials.  CCEI, a Council for Professional Recognition CDA Gold Standard™ training provider, is accredited by the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC), is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) and is accredited as an Authorized Provider by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET).

Attachments

CONTACT: Ashley Sasher
ChildCare Education Institute
678-942-1531
asasher@cceionline.edu