Take-Home Strategies

Browse strategies families and caregivers can use at home to support children's development of Core Skills

About These Strategies

This library contains strategies that family members and other caregivers can use to foster children’s Core Skills at home. The Core Skills are the foundation for children’s learning. Each Core Skill includes several individual skills that grow from infancy to preschool. Each activity can be adapted to support every child’s development and fit within their family’s routines, values, culture, and preferences.

Communicate

Explore how to help young children develop foundational skills that support language and literacy.

Encourage and support children’s communication skills to share ideas and connect with others

Help children understand the language and communication that’s happening all around

Support children’s understanding and use of new words

Support children’s interest in print and how we use it in our world

Foster children’s writing through engaging and everyday activities

Help children explore and pay attention to the sounds within spoken words

Relate

Explore how to help young children develop healthy relationships with their teachers and peers, problem-solve with others, develop empathy, and build their sense of self and self-confidence.

Help children develop secure relationships with their caregivers

Help children learn to connect with others and develop friendships

Empower children as they learn to solve social problems

Help children consider the needs, feelings, and perspectives of others

Help children learn about who they are and what makes them unique

Support children as they try new things and take on meaningful tasks

Regulate

Explore how to help young children develop skills to recognize and manage their emotions and behaviors, develop focus and attention, and deepen their cognitive flexibility and working memory.

Support children as they begin to recognize, label, and express their emotions

Help children work through their strong emotions and learn calm-down strategies

Guide children as they learn safe and positive ways to communicate their needs and wants to others

Help children develop their ability to stay focused on a task

Support children to learn to remember and use information during a task

Help children shift their thinking to adjust to a change or approach tasks in new ways

Move

Explore how to help young children develop their gross motor and fine motor skills, as well as foster their self-care and healthy habits.

Support children’s abilities to move around and engage in physical activity

Help children control and strengthen their small muscle movements to perform basic self-help and learning tasks

Promote children’s self-help skills and encourage children to do as much as possible on their own

Introduce and encourage positive thoughts and healthy habits from a young age

Think

Explore ways you can foster young children’s thinking skills through play, exploration, and discovery.

Model and scaffold the use of symbols, props, and roles – all foundational pieces of pretend play

Help children explore, investigate, and be curious about the world around them

Encourage children to observe, analyze, experiment, and make predictions

Support children’s thinking by encouraging them to explain, discuss, and justify their ideas

Give children the right amount of challenge and support to solve problems on their own

Think - Math

Explore how you can help young children develop foundational math skills in the areas of numeracy, operations, geometry, spatial sense, patterning, and measurement.

Engage infants with early math concepts through reading and exploration

Help children recognize quantities and the symbols that represent them

Introduce concepts like adding, subtracting, and sharing fairly

Encourage children to identify, extend, and create patterns

Help children explore the properties of shapes and identify position in space

Encourage children to compare the length, height, and weight of objects