Children start developing their self-image at a young age. As children grow, adults can help them form positive views or perceptions of themselves, including about their physical characteristics and behaviors.
NAEYC promotes high-quality early learning for all children, birth through age 8, by connecting practice, policy, and research. We advance a diverse early childhood profession and support all who care for, educate, and work on behalf of young children.
Children love to sing, dance, and listen to music. Besides providing joy and creativity, these activities allow children to express their ideas and emotions. They also can help to develop social, emotional, cognitive, and language skills.
Throughout the Congressional appropriations process, NAEYC advocates for funding for key federal programs that support children and families’ access to high-quality early childhood education opportunities.
Throughout the Congressional appropriations process, NAEYC advocates for funding for key federal programs that support children and families’ access to high-quality early childhood education opportunities.
The smallest SEO and local SEO efforts can go a long way for child care programs to get noticed by families looking for their services. This blog layouts discusses small fixes for big wins.
NAEYC announced today a three-year grant from the Gates Foundation to expand access to high-quality early childhood curriculum and strengthen NAEYC’s presence in the growing landscape of publicly-funded pre-kindergarten.
Early childhood educators do some of the most important work in our communities. Yet despite the skill and expertise the work requires, early childhood educators remain among the most underpaid professionals in the country.
On May 12, 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families (ACF) announced changes to the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF).
Early childhood education programs play an important role in teacher preparation, “serving as field sites where emerging professionals can develop their knowledge, skills, and dispositions under the mentorship of experienced early childhood educators."
Carlyn Rahynes, founding principal of Learning Through Play Pre-K Center, reflects on lessons learned and the significance of NAEYC's 100th anniversary.
NAEYC promotes high-quality early learning for all children, birth through age 8, by connecting practice, policy, and research. We advance a diverse early childhood profession and support all who care for, educate, and work on behalf of young children.
This is an excerpt from the upcoming NAEYC book No Single Story: Amplifying the Voices of Asian American and Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander Early Educators, Native Hawaiian by educator Nicol Russell.
There is a moment every early childhood educator knows. A child is deep in play, completely absorbed, doing something that looks, to an untrained eye, like nothing in particular.
NAEYC promotes high-quality early learning for all children, birth through age 8, by connecting practice, policy, and research. We advance a diverse early childhood profession and support all who care for, educate, and work on behalf of young children.
