Diploma in Early Childhood Development

We explore the rollercoaster of how babies regulate themselves throughout the day and learn more about what this means in terms of their behaviour and overall happiness. We learn how to identify warning signs of overstimulation and use the routine planning skills we learned in Module 1 to help keep baby well-regulated throughout the day.

The world of toys can be daunting for a new caregiver. In this lesson we take a look at the importance of toys, how they can be used in play and discover what types of toys will help further the development of a baby and toddler.

This lesson starts our journey into the sensory world of development. We learn how the sense of sight and hearing can affect and contribute not only to development but to the regulation of a child. We take a look at responsible screentime and discuss practical ways in which sounds and colours can be used to improve participation.

Continuing our journey through the sensory world, we take a look at the sense of touch and taste in this lesson. We look at why babies should be playing with their food and the reasons behind it. This lesson also takes a look at finger feeding and helps you plan the ultimate finger feeding dish.

Lesson 5 takes a look at gross motor development. We learn more about what it is, how it develops and why it is important for the later years in a child's life. We make gross motor play easy with our key principles for enhanced development.

Following our gross motor lesson, we take a look at the smaller muscles and fine motor development. We understand how it develops, and look at fundamentals for successful fine motor development. We discuss various fine motor activities their key principles for development.

This lesson explores the ultimate toy - YOU! We look at the importance of human interaction on development and the various ways in which we can stimulate development by just making contact.

The last lesson in module 2 takes a look at the remaining senses of our sensory world. We discuss how stimulating these senses can contribute to development, behaviour and regulation and use our new-found knowledge to plan a multi-sensory play activity.

We start off module 3 discussing why so much emphasis is placed on milestones and when they should be reached. We break down milestone development into its many parts and discuss how the knowledge we gained in Module 2 can be used to help us support milestone development.

Lesson 2 looks at how grasp develops from birth to toddlerhood, and how it in turn stimulates other areas of development. We discuss activities for grasp development and principles to use in play.

Rolling into lesson 3 to discuss the how, why and when of rolling. We take a look at why this skill is so important and how we can help a baby achieve this milestone.

Lesson 4 looks at sitting and how this skill develops. We discuss when babies should start sitting and the various ways in which this can be achieved.

In this lesson we start moving! We take a look a how babies reach the crawling milestone, how you can help them, the benefits of crawling and how to make your environment crawling-safe.

Lesson 6 looks at standing - how a baby gets in and out of the standing position, when they should start getting into these positions, safety tips as well as Top Tips to help support standing development.

In this lesson we look at those first steps. We discuss how and when walking develops, look at safety tips for your environment and discuss Top Tips to help support the development of walking in a baby.

There are many area's of development, not just fine and gross motor. In the final lesson of module 3, we discuss the various other area's of development. We understand where language and thinking comes from and why your baby can start copying the actions that they see around them. Children never develop only one aspect at a time, rather, multi-area development occurs continuously. Let's explore how all these area's contribute to your child's overall growth an development. 

We start off Module 4 with baby signing. Adding to the knowledge you obtained in module 3, we look at how baby signing can be used to aid in communication when language is still developing and how this can reduce frustration for you and baby. By the end of this lesson we teach you three basic signs to use with baby.

In this lesson we look at the various types of equipment available to make child care easier. We discuss the various types of equipment, their positive and negative characteristics and help you identify equipment that you can use as well as how to use them responsibly.

In lesson 3 we combine our knowledge of the touch and oral-sensory senses with nutrition to make the ultimate meal plans and food experiences for babies and toddlers. We discuss the importance of well-balanced meals and ways to motivate a child to try new or disliked foods.

Lesson 4 takes a look at potty training. We discuss how continence develops, ready signs for potty training and how to make potty training fun.

In this lesson we learn how bad habits and behaviours are formed, understand how they can influence a household and even future milestones, and teach you the skills you need to address these challenges successfully.

Lesson 6 takes a look at drive & motivation and it's role in development. We discuss how we can use the 'perfect challenge' to motivate children, the various reward systems and we learn how to make and use our own motivational chart.

Meltdowns are an important part of child development. In this lesson discuss what meltdowns are, how they differ from frustration and techniques that we can use to help manage meltdowns.

In the last lesson of our course we take together all the lessons of this course and apply our newfound knowledge to not only plan a daily schedule, but set up a schedule that will stimulate the senses, provide opportunity for regulation to reduce meltdowns, support the development of milestones and set them up for daily success.