Understanding how children and youth learn is essential to your efforts to implement a high-quality learning system for your program. As the manager, you are accountable for ensuring program policies are followed so all children and youth in your program achieve positive outcomes.

Children and youth usually follow predictable patterns in how they grow and learn, and your role is to ensure staff members recognize and use their knowledge of child development. This lesson will review typical cognitive development from birth to age 12. You will learn about developmental milestones and how to ensure staff members understand cognitive development.

Nurturing and responsive relationships are critical for development from birth through adolescence. This lesson will focus on ways you can help staff members interact with children to support play, exploration, and learning.

High-quality environments and learning materials are essential to promoting positive growth and development in children and youth. This lesson will focus on ways you can help staff members design high-quality environments for children in their care.

Planning and implementing high-quality experiences and activities is essential for promoting positive growth for children and youth. This lesson will focus on ways you can help staff members design and offer meaningful experiences and activities.