Mato just raised pre-seed Read more
Podcast charts
Published by Playground
Early Childhood Investigations is your gateway to inspiring, research-based professional development. Since 2009, our free webinar series has brought together authors, researchers, and leaders in early care and education to share timely insights and spark meaningful conversations across the workforce. We believe high-quality professional development should be accessible, practical, and immediately useful. ECI is a movement that empowers directors, administrators, and teachers to elevate their practice and strengthen outcomes for children and families. https://ecewebinars.com/spotify
On the charts
Every published chart this podcast appears in, in the snapshot behind this page. Each one links to the chart it came off.
The Mato Topic Intelligence Platform does not report this podcast as charting in a published category in this snapshot.
From the feed
The latest episodes published to this podcast’s own RSS feed. Titles and descriptions are the publisher’s.
RESOURCES Watch the full webinar here Join our newsletter ! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every week Check out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management Software Children need movement to develop their bodies and brains; so, let’s embrace the bending, twisting, and wiggling! Join Stacy Benge, author of The Whole Child Alphabet: How Children Actually Develop Literacy, to uncover how fine motor function depends on stable gross motor skills. You will explore ways to intertwine physical experiences throughout the day to offer fun, engaging, and meaningful experiences that support the development of both. You will discover how to design a play environment that encourages movement and physical development. Leave with the confidence of knowing and explaining that the foundations of literacy and future reading and writing begin on the playground. After this session, you will be able to: · Identify the importance of physical development in the lifespan and academic growth. Discover the developmental stages of physical development, including gross and fine motor, brain development, crossing the midlines, and the internal senses. Understand the intricacies of physical development and how it supports future handwriting Create a learning environment centered around child-led play to promote physical development. Evaluate practices moving forward that support physical development, including sharing information with stakeholders and advocating for child-led play.
RESOURCES Watch the full webinar here Join our newsletter ! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every week Check out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management Software Step into the world of storytelling and discover its transformative power in early childhood education. In this heart-centered, inspiring session, you’ll explore how storytelling can do far more than entertain - it can uplift, empower, and connect. In this webinar, storytelling expert Kate Shelley will help you uncover how the simple act of sharing stories can become a powerful tool for supporting children’s communication and language development, building social-emotional skills, and offering hope - especially for children with special needs and disabilities, as well as those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Whether you're working to strengthen relationships, encourage resilience, or promote inclusion, storytelling offers a bridge between hearts and minds. Through thoughtful reflection and real-life examples, Kate will guide you to see storytelling as a vital practice in your toolkit - one that can improve life chances, promote equity, and remind us all of the magic we hold when we listen, connect, and share. Join us for insight and inspiration - and walk away ready to use stories to make a lasting impact. By the end of this session, you will be able to: Describe how storytelling supports communication, language, and social-emotional development in young children. Identify ways to use storytelling as a tool for inclusion, especially for children with SEND or those facing disadvantage. Explain how Tales Toolkit has promoted resilience and supported children’s developing confidence and independence. Reflect on how storytelling can contribute to long-term outcomes and life chances for all children. Feel inspired to create story-rich environments that bring joy, connection, and hope to your daily practice.
RESOURCES Watch the full webinar here Join our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every week Check out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management Software Early childhood educators are the foundation of quality programs—yet high turnover, wage inequity, and inconsistent compensation remain persistent challenges across the field. This webinar examines how structured salary scales can transform ECE workforce stability by creating transparent, equitable pathways for teacher compensation. Designed for program directors, administrators, and early education leaders, this session pairs the evidence on fair pay structures with practical, immediately applicable guidance for building a salary scale—whether you're starting from scratch or refining an existing structure—along with realistic strategies for funding it over time. By the end of this session, participants will be able to: Describe the research linking structured salary scales to improved teacher retention, reduced turnover costs, and greater pay equity across race, gender, and credential levels. Design a draft salary scale framework for their own program, including credential- and experience-based steps and transparent placement criteria. Identify at least three funding strategies — including grants, public investments, and blended financing — to sustain competitive compensation over time.
RESOURCES Watch the full webinar here J oin our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every week Check out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management Software Leadership in early childhood education is deeply emotional work. Every tone you use, every decision you make, and every reaction you have quietly shapes your school’s culture. In this powerful session, you will explore how your nervous system state, decision-making pace, and stress responses directly influence staff morale, clarity, and performance. Leadership breakdown rarely begins with incompetence—it begins with capacity strain. When expectations exceed emotional and structural capacity, pressure replaces presence, reactivity replaces reflection, and culture begins to erode. In this webinar, you will learn how to recognize the early signs of overload in yourself and your team—and shift from survival-based leadership to sustainable, capacity-aligned leadership. You will examine what it means to lead from regulation rather than urgency, reduce invisible decision load, and coach staff through moments of dysregulation without absorbing their stress. By integrating Emotionally Responsive Practice (ERP), leadership psychology, and capacity-based thinking, you will leave with practical tools to design systems that absorb pressure instead of transferring it. If you are ready to move from managing stress to designing for stability—and from reacting under pressure to leading with clarity and intention—this session will provide both the insight and the strategies to help you do it. Learning Objectives By the end of this session, you will be able to: Understand how your nervous system state influences staff performance, morale, and school culture. Identify signs of personal and organizational capacity strain before breakdown occurs. Apply practical regulation tools during high-stakes leadership moments. Use ERP principles to guide coaching conversations with dysregulated staff. Identify structural shifts that support an emotionally responsive, capacity-aligned school culture.
RESOURCES Watch the full webinar here Join our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every week Check out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management Software You’ve been there. You prepare for a coaching conversation, choose your words carefully, and still, something doesn’t land. The teacher shuts down, gets defensive, or nods along without any real change. It’s frustrating, and it can make even the most dedicated leader question their impact. In this engaging and practical session, you’ll learn how to turn those moments into meaningful opportunities for growth. You’ll explore why resistance happens — and, more importantly, what to do about it in real time. Through relatable scenarios and real-world language, you’ll build confidence in navigating difficult conversations with clarity and care, and learn how to shift teachers from resistant to reflective. Together, we’ll move beyond compliance-driven feedback and into coaching that builds trust, reflection, and ownership. You’ll walk away with specific phrases you can use, simple frameworks to guide your approach, and strategies to help teachers feel seen, supported, and motivated to improve their practice. Whether you’re coaching a new teacher who lacks confidence or a seasoned educator who resists change, this session will meet you where you are. You’ll leave with tools you can use immediately — because effective coaching isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about knowing how to ask the right questions, in the right way, at the right time. If you’re ready to shift your coaching from frustrating to effective — and finally see it stick — this session is for you. Learning Objectives Explain the underlying reasons teachers may resist feedback and how resistance shows up in coaching interactions. Apply effective, strengths-based coaching language and questioning techniques to reduce defensiveness and increase engagement. Analyze real-world coaching scenarios to determine the most effective responses for promoting reflection and growth. Design a practical coaching plan that addresses a current challenge and supports sustained improvement in teacher practice.
RESOURCES Watch the full webinar here Join our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every week Check out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management Software Get ready to play as you learn to speak infant and toddler! Explore how intentional language during play helps infants and toddlers build meaning, connection, confidence, and a lasting love of learning. Grounded in play-based neuroscience, this workshop examines the powerful relationship between adult expressive language and the ways young children process, understand, and respond to the world around them. Participants will look closely at how language supports child-led play, self-exploration, and early problem-solving. The session will introduce different types of prosocial play and explore how specific phrases can nurture curiosity, creativity, and communication in developmentally appropriate ways. Through a linguistic lens, participants will also examine common habits in adult language, consider how young children interpret what they hear, and identify more effective ways to communicate during everyday interactions. Based on The Talking Triangle Framework from Talk to Them Early and Often , this session brings theory to life through modeled examples, video clips, and ready-to-use sentence starters that participants can immediately apply in the classroom or at home. Educators will leave with a practical approach to using language during play in ways that support cognition, strengthen early identity, and foster deeper connection in the first three years. Learning objectives: Explain the difference between receptive and expressive language in preverbal infants and toddlers. Name three types of child-led play and describe their early learning benefits. Identify five sentence starters that support connection, encourage curiosity, and cultivate creative thinking in infants and toddlers. Apply intentional language strategies by generating developmentally appropriate phrases for everyday play and interactions.
RESOURCES Watch the full webinar here Join our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every week Check out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management Software Early childhood educators are often expected to give endlessly—to children, families, and programs—while their own well-being is rarely prioritized. For program leaders, this raises an important question: How are the adults in your program really doing? In this webinar, Dr. Cathi Miller—professor, consultant, and host of the podcast Developmentally Inappropriate with Dr. Cathi —is joined by Dr. Keena Mosley, an ECE professor and leadership coach, to explore how administrators can champion strong educator communities that transform program culture, reduce burnout, and support long-term teacher retention. Participants will examine how intentional leadership practices can foster belonging, collaboration, and resilience. Through reflection and practical examples, administrators will learn strategies for cultivating supportive educator communities within their programs, creating environments where teachers feel valued, connected, and able to thrive alongside the children they serve. By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to: Examine the relationship between educator well-being, professional connection, and teacher retention in early childhood programs. Apply leadership practices and program-culture strategies that reduce educator isolation and support staff well-being. Implement practical leadership strategies that strengthen educator communities, prevent teacher burnout, and promote long-term sustainability.
RESOURCES Watch the full webinar here Join our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every week Check out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management Software Current neuroscience reveals a remarkable truth: the way young brains process sound builds the foundation for language and literacy, and music-making actively strengthens that foundation. Join Ann C. Kay, M.A., Co-founder of Rock ’n’ Read Project, for a fun, engaging session where you’ll sing (on mute!), explore the science of early brain development, and learn how to use music-making to help babies and toddlers build essential pre-reading skills. No prior music training is required. Long before a child says “Mama” or “Dada,” they begin “warbling”—experimenting with pitch and rhythm. Through singing, caregivers and educators can nurture connection while strengthening auditory processing, auditory memory, phonological awareness, and beat synchronization, or the ability to keep a steady beat. Research consistently links beat-keeping with later reading achievement, making everyday musical experiences a powerful tool for early learning. In this high-energy webinar, Ann will show you how to turn brain research into simple, practical “Monday morning” strategies that support infant and toddler development. Together, you’ll practice foundational music-making skills such as keeping a steady beat and matching pitch, while discovering how daily musical experiences build “musical fitness” over time. Like physical fitness, musical fitness develops through regular practice and supports the cognitive growth necessary for language and literacy acquisition. By singing the day away, you can create a joyful, nurturing environment while helping lay the groundwork for lifelong learning. Learning Outcomes Participants will be able to: Examine the research linking auditory processing, auditory memory, phonological awareness, and beat synchronization to future reading success. Apply age-appropriate music-making techniques such as beat-keeping and pitch matching with infants and toddlers. Implement daily musical practices to support long-term cognitive development in infants and toddlers.
RESOURCES Watch the full webinar here Join our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every week Check out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management Software What if you could stop chasing endless new art ideas—and still offer rich, meaningful creative experiences all year long? In this practical and inspiring session, Faigie Kobre , early childhood educator, former preschool director, and creator of the Beyond Copycat Crafts framework, invites educators to rethink how they approach process art in the classroom. Many educators feel pressure to constantly introduce new and exciting art activities to keep children engaged. Yet in reality, four core process art activities can be expanded, adapted, and revisited in countless ways—enough to sustain an entire year of creative exploration. In this webinar, Faigie will walk participants step-by-step through these four essential activities and demonstrate how they can be used over and over again with fresh purpose and intention. This session is rooted in her Creative Trio PAC Framework , where P = Process Art , offering educators a repeatable system that replaces “cookie-cutter” crafts with meaningful, child-led creative experiences. You’ll learn how to balance structure and freedom, support creativity without chaos, and confidently guide open-ended art that is developmentally appropriate, engaging, and manageable—no matter your classroom setting. You’ll leave with a clear framework, adaptable ideas, and renewed confidence in your ability to foster authentic creativity without the overwhelm. By the end of this session, participants will be able to: Identify the four core process art activities that can sustain creative work across an entire year Distinguish between copycat crafts and true process art Apply the Creative Trio PAC framework to plan intentional, open-ended art experiences Design developmentally appropriate art invitations that balance structure and creative freedom Reduce planning overwhelm while increasing meaningful creative engagement
RESOURCES Watch the full webinar here Join our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every week Check out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management Software Are you finding that more and more children present you with more and more questions? Do you ever feel like some days you just can’t find the answers—or that when you do, nothing seems to work or keep working? In this insightful session, Michele Hemenway Pullen , Project Specialist at the University of Louisville Early Childhood Research Center, will guide you through a simple, step-by-step approach to help you regain your confidence and know “what to say when,” as well as which next steps are best to take. Originally designed for early childhood college students who were experiencing new levels of frustration, Michele’s “When to Say When” checklist has, over the past fifteen years, become a trusted framework for educators seeking composure, clarity, and confidence—especially when working with children whose behaviors are complex or whose neurodivergent traits may be misunderstood. Each step highlights areas where you can seek additional training or collaboration and provides practical strategies grounded in evidence-based practices. You’ll leave with clear, actionable “next steps” to guide your professional growth and interactions with children and families. You’ll gain: Greater confidence in identifying which areas of a child’s development to consider when confronted with confusing or challenging behaviors. Stronger communication skills for engaging families in ongoing, collaborative conversations about what you’re experiencing. A renewed sense of well-being and reassurance that you have a plan—and that you’re doing all you can. As we move through this process, you’ll be invited to use the checklist document to take notes, reflect, and apply your learning in real time.
RESOURCES Watch the full webinar here Join our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every week Check out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management Software What if the key to better planning isn’t doing more—but seeing more? Join the Founder of Clare Devlin - Education Consultancy, in this engaging and down-to-earth session where you’ll discover a practical, no-nonsense approach to observation, assessment, and planning in early childhood education. This isn’t about checklists or paperwork overload—it’s about truly seeing your children, understanding what their play and behavior are telling you, and using that insight to plan meaningful experiences. In this session, Clare Devlin, will walk you through a simple yet powerful three-step reflective cycle— What, So What, Now What —designed to help you observe with purpose, assess with clarity, and plan with intention. You’ll learn how to tune into children’s natural play, record meaningful observations, and collaborate with your team to make confident, informed decisions that support each child’s development. You’ll leave this session feeling inspired and equipped with tools you can use right away—whether you’re a seasoned practitioner or just starting out. In this session, you will: Learn how to record rich, objective observations that capture the essence of children’s play, thinking, and learning. Strengthen your skills in making sense of observations through reflective team discussions. Explore how to plan purposeful next steps that build on children’s strengths, interests, and emerging priorities. Use involvement levels as a practical tool to understand and support deep engagement. Discover how to simplify your observation, and assessment process using a clear, one-page format.
RESOURCES Watch the full webinar here Join our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every week Check out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management Software Insurance costs are rising, and for many child care providers, the reasons behind those increases can feel unclear, inconsistent, and out of their control. In this timely session, we’ll explore how licensing inspection data is often used by insurers to assess risk—and why approaches based primarily on counting violations can miss the bigger picture of program quality, safety, and consistency. Participants will examine how these practices can unintentionally penalize providers, contribute to rising liability insurance costs, and create additional challenges for programs already working hard to maintain high standards of care. The session will also introduce a more collaborative and transparent approach to evaluating compliance, one that considers the severity of regulations, applies more consistent scoring practices, and tracks patterns over time to support fairer and more reliable risk assessment. Designed as a participatory conversation, this session invites providers, administrators, and agency staff to think together about what needs to change. Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of the problem, a practical framework for rethinking risk and compliance, and concrete ways to contribute to a growing grassroots effort to improve child care liability insurance outcomes. By the end of this session, participants will be able to: Analyze how licensing inspection data is commonly used by insurance carriers and identify the limitations of violation-count-based risk assessments. Compare traditional inspection reporting with a weighted, more universal scoring approach to understand how severity and context influence risk interpretation. Apply at least one strategy for using compliance data more effectively in conversations with insurers, regulators, or organizational partners.
RESOURCES Watch the full webinar here Join our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every week Check out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management Software Shine a light on the magic, importance, and unique needs of infants, toddlers, and twos. Too often, early childhood training focuses on preschool-aged children, leaving educators of children ages 0–2 without the tools and preparation they need to feel fully confident in their practice. That gap can make it harder to choose activities, respond to developmental needs, and build classroom experiences that are truly appropriate for the youngest learners. This workshop will help educators deepen their understanding of developmentally appropriate practice for infants, toddlers, and twos. Participants will explore key developmental milestones, discuss how to recognize possible delays, and learn how observation and documentation can support early intervention referrals. The session will also focus on how to thoughtfully adapt activities as children grow, so educators can scaffold learning in ways that are responsive, effective, and realistic for everyday practice. By the end of this session, participants will be able to: Explain the important role educators of infants, toddlers, and twos play in shaping children’s early development. Identify major developmental milestones for children ages 0–2 and use documentation to help inform possible early intervention referrals. Use developmentally appropriate practices to adapt activities and support learning as children’s skills emerge and grow.
RESOURCES Watch the full webinar here Join our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every week Check out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management Software Creating a classroom where every child’s voice is heard, valued, and nurtured starts with how we talk, listen, and connect. In this session, Jennifer Adams Oppenheimer, M.A., CCC-SLP , Pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist and President of SpeakJoy Center for Development , introduces the powerful concept of “language nutrition” —the nourishing blend of words, tone, and intentional interaction that fuels a child’s communication and cognitive development during the critical early years. You’ll learn how to intentionally embed meaningful language experiences into daily routines, turning ordinary moments into extraordinary opportunities for connection and growth. Through the lens of “language nutrition,” Jennifer will guide you in reimagining the learning environment as a living, breathing space where communication is not only taught but modeled, celebrated, and personalized. Together, we’ll explore six essential elements that define a language-rich environment , with practical, inclusive strategies to support emerging communicators, multilingual learners, and children with diverse communication needs . Whether during circle time, free play, transitions, or snack time, you’ll discover how simple shifts can lead to lasting developmental impact. This session is designed for early childhood educators, caregivers, and administrators who want to strengthen children’s linguistic and social foundations while deepening relationships through authentic, everyday interactions. In this session, participants will: Identify at least three evidence-based outcomes of language-rich environments for young children. Describe the six key elements that support communication development in a language-rich classroom. Illustrate at least three practical, inclusive strategies to enhance everyday interactions and foster rich language development.
RESOURCES Watch the full webinar here Join our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every week Check out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management Software Imagine discovering that the key to unlocking the interwoven secrets of play, literacy, and even resilience can be found in the whimsical stories of young children—the ones they seem to conjure out of thin air as they transform snack crackers into hungry tigers and twigs into telephones. Guided by professor emerita of Early Education and Child Development Dr. Stephanie Goloway , this workshop invites you to explore how the magic in those flights of fancy builds the foundations for language, literacy, imagination, and more. Sometimes referred to as representational thinking , a child’s growing ability to construct and play with symbols is one of the core developmental tasks of early childhood. Yet too often, we overlook the power of children’s make-believe as we focus on more concrete milestones on our developmental checklists. Dr. Goloway will help you examine the theory and neuroscience behind the development of representational thinking and reflect on how it emerges in young children’s play. You’ll connect the dots between storytelling, symbolic thinking, make-believe play, and emergent literacy. Throughout the session, you’ll explore a variety of ways to wave the “magic wand” of storytelling in your setting—sharing folk and fairy tales, narrating creative movement experiences, and using quick anecdotes to scaffold transitions and routines. You’ll discover how, with each story you tell, you can nurture children’s capacity to transform their experiences into the wondrous web that underpins their play, reading, writing, problem-solving, and interactions with others. The best part: the wild sense, curiosity, joy, and stories of young children will be truly honored and celebrated as you help them spin narratives and weave meaning into their world. Participants will: Define representational thinking in the context of early childhood development. Explain the role of representational thinking and the use of symbols in emergent literacy and make-believe play. Identify ways oral storytelling supports the development of representational thinking, literacy, and make-believe play. Investigate how to incorporate different kinds of storytelling into any early childhood setting and schedule. Examine the added benefits of telling folk and fairy tales to support representational thinking, emergent literacy, play, and resilience.
RESOURCES Watch the full webinar here Join our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every week Check out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management Software You care deeply about nurturing early literacy—but you’re tired of being caught between play and pressure. Maybe you’ve heard about the Science of Reading but aren’t sure how it applies to young children—or how to implement it in a play-based setting. Maybe someone has told you to stop the play and start the worksheets. Or maybe you’re simply searching for a clear, developmentally responsive way to support all your learners as they build the foundation for reading. In this engaging and practical session, Laura Shea, M.S.Ed. , early childhood educator, adjunct-professor, and founder of Little Stories That Stick, will show how the Science of Reading can complement—not compete with—child-led play. With over a decade of experience in literacy development and play-based learning, Laura will unpack what the research truly says, how children build foundational reading skills before decoding begins, and why oral language, storytelling, and play are powerful tools for building brains ready to read. You’ll walk away with ideas you can implement right away—whether you work with toddlers, preschoolers, or pre-K students. Expect a balance of relatable classroom examples, real-world analogies, and actionable takeaways. You'll leave feeling more confident in your approach and more equipped to speak to families, administrators, and peers about how and why play supports reading. Learning Objectives: Understand how play-based experiences support key components of the Science of Reading, including oral language, phonological awareness, and vocabulary development. Identify the difference between developmentally appropriate literacy learning and early reading instruction. Explore ways to support emergent reading and writing through storytelling, storyacting, and incidental teaching. Gain language to explain and advocate for play-based literacy practices with families and administrators.
RESOURCES Watch the full webinar here Join our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every week Check out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management Software Talking with young children about a topic as nuanced and complex as death can feel overwhelming—even for the most experienced educators. Just as no two adults process grief in the same way, children also experience and understand loss differently. In this thoughtful and supportive session, led by Melody Passemante Powell, M.Ed. , Supervisor at Fairfax County’s Institute for Early Learning and a veteran early childhood leader with over two decades of experience, participants will reflect on their own values, consider key factors that should be taken into account before engaging children in conversations about death, and explore practical techniques and supportive language that will help educators approach these discussions with both sensitivity and confidence. Learning Objectives By the end of this session, participants will be able to: Reflect on personal beliefs and values related to death and grief and identify how these perspectives may influence conversations with children and families. Identify key considerations—such as family culture, language, emotional readiness, and situational context—before discussing death with young children. Apply practical strategies and developmentally appropriate language when responding to children’s questions and emotions about death. Demonstrate confidence in initiating and guiding conversations about death in ways that foster emotional safety and trust. Collaborate with families and caregivers through sensitive communication that respects diverse cultural and spiritual understandings of death.
RESOURCES Watch the full webinar here J oin our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every week Check out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management Software Youth-serving organizations know they need strong child protection policies—but building (or rebuilding) one can feel overwhelming, especially when you’re balancing staffing, operations, and daily program demands. In this practical, action-oriented session, you’ll learn a clear, manageable process for creating a child protection policy that is not only compliant on paper, but usable in real life—aligned with your organization’s size, setting, and risk areas. Together, we’ll walk through how to bring the right people to the table, identify the current standard of care, audit what you already have, and adapt policies so they are clear, trainable, and consistently implemented. You’ll also explore how to move beyond “one-and-done” documents by making child protection a living part of your culture—supported through training, communication, and ongoing accountability. By the end of this session, you will be able to: Gather your team and clarify roles and responsibilities for policy development and implementation. Research the standard of care and identify best practices relevant to your organization. Audit and adapt your current policies to close gaps and ensure clarity, consistency, and usability. Make child protection a living part of your culture through training, reinforcement, and continuous improvement.
RESOURCES Watch the full webinar here Join our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every week Check out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management Software What does it really mean to support children’s learning without doing the work for them? In this session, presented by early childhood consultant Amy Chiu, M.Ed., from The Work of Play, you’ll explore the art and practice of scaffolding - one of the most essential tools in early childhood education. Scaffolding helps bridge the space between what a child can do independently and what they can accomplish with guidance. But it’s more than a strategy - it’s a mindset rooted in trust, observation, and responsiveness. You’ll be invited to reflect on how you offer help: When is it supportive? When might it unintentionally take over the learning process? Through vivid examples from real classrooms and common parenting experiences, you’ll see how scaffolding can empower children to become confident and persistent problem-solvers. We’ll explore how observation, timing, and gentle prompts allow you to provide “just enough” support - nurturing both competence and independence. You’ll also consider common pitfalls of over-helping and how to shift into a facilitation role that honors children's voice and agency. Whether you’re a teacher, parent, instructional coach, or administrator, this session will give you concrete tools and language to elevate your practice. Most importantly, it will reframe scaffolding not as something you do to children, but as a way of being with them as they grow. Join this session to learn to: Define scaffolding and explain its importance in early learning and development. Identify the difference between teaching and taking over. Apply scaffolding strategies that support independence, confidence, and problem-solving. Reflect on their own adult role in moments of struggle or learning discomfort. Use observation and timing to decide when to step in - and when to step back.
RESOURCES Watch the full webinar here Join our newsletter! Earn your Professional Development hours with FREE sessions delivered right to your inbox every week Check out the producer of ECI, Playground, the Child Care Management Software This professional development session explores how you can use storytelling and storyacting to support early literacy in young children. Rooted in research, including the science of reading, this hands-on training provides practical strategies to enhance vocabulary, narrative skills, and concepts about print through play-based, child-led storytelling experiences. Storytelling is one of the oldest and most powerful tools for fostering connection, imagination, and learning in young children. This session explores how you can harness storytelling and storyacting to support foundational literacy skills in developmentally responsive, playful ways. Drawing from research-based insights, including the Science of Reading, and years of hands-on experience, this session offers practical strategies you can immediately implement in your classrooms. You will discover how to use child-led storytelling to build concepts about print, vocabulary, and narrative skills while fostering creativity and collaboration. Through engaging demonstrations and examples, you will see how storyacting—bringing children’s stories to life—can deepen understanding and spark joy in learning. This session is designed to empower you with realistic, actionable techniques to integrate storytelling into daily rhythms and transitions. By the end, you will leave with a toolkit, a plan for overcoming common challenges, and renewed confidence in your ability to nurture a love of literacy through play and creativity. Session Objectives: 1. Identify the key benefits of storytelling and storyacting for supporting early literacy development. 2. Learn storytelling and storyacting technique that can be easily adapted to different classroom settings and age groups. 3. Develop a personalized action plan to integrate storytelling into daily rhythms, addressing potential challenges and tailoring strategies to meet diverse learner needs. 4. Gain confidence in facilitating child-led storytelling activities that foster creativity, collaboration, and a love of literacy.
Ranking source
Apple Podcasts rankings via the Mato Topic Intelligence Platform.
Observed September 19, 2026. Cached outside the daily freshness window; the positions keep the date they were taken on.
Apple and Apple Podcasts are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
Pairs with
Bring this source into Mato to read its transferable patterns, then turn them into an original show for your own audience.