Safety Practices

All Head Start staff, from classroom teachers to bus drivers, are responsible for making sure no child is left unsupervised. Find out what active supervision is and how to use it across all program activities.

Plants are important to our health and well-being, and they can help children understand and respect the natural world. 

Infants depend on their caregivers for food, warmth, and care, and for meeting such basic needs as eating, diapering, sleeping, and bonding. But all babies are unique. Some infants may settle easily and be capable of quickly soothing themselves.

Mobile infants are developing more control of their head, torso, arms, and legs, and are beginning to coordinate those movements. They sleep less and are more active during the day, eager to engage in everything around them.

The toddler years are a time when children are building skills in all areas. They remember what they learn and share it with others. They understand things more deeply, make choices, and engage with others in new ways. The changes in their physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development help them to build new skills that prepare them for school and later learning.

By the time they are preschool-aged, children are more independent in their play and their ability to meet their own needs. They focus on learning rules and routines to know what is safe and appropriate. Their constant dialogue with peers and caregivers helps them to form specific ideas about what is safe and why.

During the first five years, children constantly acquire new skills and knowledge. Caregivers who know what children can do and how they can get hurt can protect them from injury.