Young children develop a sense of identity, belonging, and understanding of the world through meaningful play experiences. Blocks and dramatic play centers provide authentic opportunities for children to explore family roles, community helpers, cultures, relationships, problem-solving, and collaboration. This training will equip early childhood educators with materials and strategies to intentionally design and facilitate inclusive, culturally responsive learning environments that strengthen children's social-emotional development, language, creativity, and understanding of families and communities through purposeful play. This is a hands-on training and participants will receive related instructional materials to take back to use in their own educational environments.
Instructors: Brandi Gothard and Austin Scales