Partnering With Families

Partnering with families is a core principle of The Creative Curriculum^® for Infants, Toddlers & Twos. To serve young children well, you must develop meaningful partnerships with their families. In a true partnership, families and caregivers bring equal value to the relationship, and they do so to benefit the child.

As one of the five organizational components of the curriculum, "Building Partnerships With Families" explores the benefits of working with families as partners in the care of their children. It addresses special concerns of families with children under age 3, appreciating differences among families, and welcoming families to your program. It introduces the Individual Care Plan Family Information Form. It describes informal and formal ways of communicating with families from making the most of daily exchanges to holding family conferences, to making home visits. It provides concrete suggestions for involving families in the program. It stresses a partnership approach to resolving differences and outlines a procedure for resolving conflicts.

The Creative Curriculum^® LearningGames^®

The Creative Curriculum LearningGames provides parents with proven, fun games to play with their young children from birth through 60 months of age. This 5-book series transforms the fundamentals of early childhood development into easy-to-use, flexible activities. The Creative Curriculum LearningGames is an integral part of the partnering with families component of The Creative Curriculum for Infants, Toddlers & Twos, fostering children's learning and development at home, and reinforcing classroom experiences. These materials are perfect for use in home visiting programs, in family child care homes, as send-home materials for families, and in parent education classes.

LearningGames is validated by over 30 years of rigorous, independent scientific research as the educational component of the Abecedarian research project that show positive gains that last through school age and into early adulthood.

Every game is presented on a full page, front and back, and is illustrated with engaging color photos. Within each game you will find details on how to interact with the baby or child, materials needed for the activity, and an extension activity or related idea. Each game sheet also includes an explanation of why the activity is important for the child's development and a book related to the activity that the adult might read to the child.

Each book is targeted to a specific age range, and is available individually or in sets; the full series of 5 books is also available as a set. Each paperback book is perforated so you can select and send home individual games.

The following books in the series are written for use with infants, toddlers, and twos:

Birth-12 months
The Creative Curriculum® LearningGames® Birth-12 months
The Creative Curriculum® LearningGames® Birth-12 months (set of 10)

12-24 months
The Creative Curriculum® LearningGames® 12-24 months
The Creative Curriculum® LearningGames® 12-24 months (set of 10)

24-36 months
The Creative Curriculum® LearningGames® 24-36 months
The Creative Curriculum® LearningGames® 24-36 months (set of 15)

Teaching Strategies is committed to providing quality tools to help you meet the needs of children and families. We understand how critical the first three years of a child's life are to ensuring healthy development. Research shows that programs succeed when they partner with families.

Additional Resources

Teaching Strategies also offers the following resources for parents of infants, toddlers, and twos: