Parent & Educator Resources

Advancements in technology can be overwhelming for parents and educators as they navigate through the many choices of learning media aimed at young children. How much screen time is appropriate? What types of applications and websites are right for children? The National Early Childhood Program Accreditation acknowledges and understands the potential benefits of incorporating learning media as an enhancement tool for a child’s development. The use of age appropriate and research-based applications can be beneficial tools for children to become familiarized with technological skills.

These technologies are very much a part of our world and the key is to find a balance as we incorporate day-to-day technology into our lives. Apps and screen time can never serve as a substitute for meaningful one on one connections, however, when used appropriately and through active engagement the use of this technology can complement a child’s learning and development.

The links below serve as great resources to a variety of learning activities, including hands on learning.

Click on the links below to learn more about these resources!

For Parents

This free and simple app empowers parents and caregivers with songs and videos from Daniel Tiger. This is a downloadable application for phones and tablets.  

PBS LearningMedia is a free website that contextualizes PBS resources for classroom use.

This Child Development Tracker provides hands on activities and interactive games for each age group.

This collection gives you videos, games, and activity ideas to help kids get into nature!

This collection gives you videos, games, and activity ideas to help kids get into nature!

This free app is an on-the-go toolset that will inspire kids to explore nature – in the backyard, at a local park, or even looking out the window.

This collection offers activities, games, and video clips to help introduce and reinforce early math concepts for Pre-K.

This collection offers activities, games, and video clips to help introduce and reinforce early math concepts for Pre-K.

A great, free app for any place where wifi can be a problem! No wifi is required! Once the app is downloaded and you select from more than 100 games to pre-load onto your device, the tablet does not need to be connected to wifi or data, allowing kids to play with safe, educational games from PBS KIDS.

The NECPA are now community leaders for the Anchor It! Campaign to help raise awareness about the dangers of TV and furniture tip-over incidents in the home.

For the Classroom

Life’s Little Lessons is a collection of fun and flexible resources designed for early childcare providers that are based on the principles of Fred Rogers’ landmark social-emotional learning curriculum. Each topic contains Teacher Tips and a Classroom Activity.

PBS LearningMedia is a free website that contextualizes PBS resources for classroom use.

With PBS KIDS ScratchJr, kids can create their own interactive stories and games while learning basic creative coding concepts. This resource is aimed at schoolagers.

This collection includes sample lesson plans and support videos to help educators explore the why, what, and how of creative coding for kids! This is a Professional Development Workshop for educators. Contact your state licensing representative to see if this qualifies for state training.

This collection gives you videos, games, and activity ideas to help kids get into nature!

This collection gives you videos, games, and activity ideas to help kids get into nature!

This free app is an on-the-go toolset that will inspire kids to explore nature – in the backyard, at a local park, or even looking out the window.

This collection offers activities, games, and video clips to help introduce and reinforce early math concepts for Pre-K.

This collection offers activities, games, and video clips to help introduce and reinforce early math concepts for Pre-K.

The Sesame Street collection on PBS LearningMedia offers printable worksheets, videos, and more that teach a variety of concepts to preschoolers!

Explore nature-related lesson plans for school age children.

Professional Development

Ongoing professional development is vital to maintaining  Just as technology has impacted our approach to teaching children, it has also provided opportunities for distance learning for early childhood education professionals. At the NECPA, we understand that many Early Childhood professionals take advantage of both in-person and online professional development training. The links below serve

Although NECPA, does not formally endorse any specific continuing education provider, the below resources are nationally recognized educational institutes.

In this one-hour, self-paced training, you will learn key strategies for sharing science with young children ages 3 to 5-years old. The content features video-based professional development modules with classroom teachers modeling four key strategies: setting up Learning Environments, engaging in Science Talk, Documentation and Reflection, and Individualized Instruction.

In this one-hour, self-paced training, you will learn key strategies for sharing science with young children ages 3 to 5-years old. The content features video-based professional development modules with classroom teachers modeling four key strategies: setting up Learning Environments, engaging in Science Talk, Documentation and Reflection, and Individualized Instruction.

In this one-hour, self-paced training, you will learn key strategies for sharing science with young children in home-based child care settings. The content features video-based professional development modules with family child care educators modeling four key strategies: setting up Learning Environments, engaging in Science Talk, Documentation and Reflection, and Individualized Instruction. The training is available in English or Spanish.

Created by experts at The Ohio State University, the Virtual Lab School (VLS) addresses a critical need for an easy to navigate online professional development and resource system that empowers professionals to build their knowledge and skills around research-based practices in child care and youth development.