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Handout
Caregiver Handouts: Games and Activities that Build Brains and Executive Function Skills
Here you’ll find handouts with suggestions for games and activities to do with children of different ages. They can be shared at well child visits or when caregivers are looking for support with behavior. These activities can promote child-caregiver bonding, executive function skills, and build children’s brains through play.
![Caregiver Handouts: Games and Activities that Build Brains and Executive Function Skills](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/iStock-toddlerchore1.jpg)
![Staying Active for Caregivers Handout](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/iStock-stayingactive.jpg)
![Value of Routines for Caregivers Handout](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/iStock-routine.jpg)
![100 Ways to Bond with your Child Handout](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/larry-crayton-hOiDpAZ8Pok-unsplash-scaled.jpg)
![Positive Parenting Handout](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/AdobeStock_328877754-scaled.jpg)
Handout
Early Brain and Child Development 101: Why Peekaboo Matters
For Medical Students and Residents In medical school, we learn the science behind health and disease. How do nephrons filter blood that runs through the network of capillaries in the glomerulus, and what disease occurs when that process goes awry? How do myocytes conduct electricity, and how do aberrations in…
![Early Brain and Child Development 101: Why Peekaboo Matters](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/gettyimages-1142551892-scaled.jpg)
Handout
Executive Function: Information for Providers
This handout helps explain what executive function skills are, why they are important and how supporting their development can promote healthy child and adolescent development.
![Executive Function: Information for Providers](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/iStock-efproviders.jpg)
Handout
How to Help Families and Staff Build Resilience During the Covid-19 Outbreak
What can we do to build up and strengthen resilience during the COVID-19 outbreak? How can we build resilience to plan ahead for future times of crisis? This resource, with practical tips and suggestions for providers looking to support caregivers and each other, presents three science-based ways that we can…
![How to Help Families and Staff Build Resilience During the Covid-19 Outbreak](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/AdobeStock_371931782-scaled.jpg)
Third Party Link
A Guide to Toxic Stress
This area of the website for the Center on the Developing Child provides a collection of resources for understanding toxic stress and resilience. A Guide to Toxic Stress…
![A Guide to Toxic Stress](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Image.jpg)
Brief
InBrief: The Foundations of Lifelong Health
This brief summarizes essential scientific findings from the Center publications, “The Foundations of Lifelong Health Are Built in Early Childhood”.
![InBrief: The Foundations of Lifelong Health](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/icon-teal-brief.jpg)
Working Paper
Maternal Depression Can Undermine the Development of Young Children
This working paper from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child and the National Forum on Early Childhood Policy and Programs examines why addressing the consequences of serious depression in parents and caregivers could support the future prosperity and well-being of both children and society as a whole.
![Maternal Depression Can Undermine the Development of Young Children](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/WP8.jpg)
Reading
Strategies for Effectively Communicating about Toxic Stress
This guide from the Frameworks Institute provides suggestions on how to frame conversations with caregivers who may have experienced toxic stress themselves. It makes 5 key framing suggestions that can help providers to highlight resilience, reduce caregiver guilt and raise the public health nature of the problem of toxic stress.
![Strategies for Effectively Communicating about Toxic Stress](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/icon-teal-reading.jpg)
![InBrief: The Science of Early Childhood Development](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/icon-teal-brief.jpg)
![InBrief: The Impact of Early Adversity on Children’s Development](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/icon-teal-brief.jpg)
![Moving Upstream: Confronting Racism to Open Up Children’s Potential](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/icon-teal-reading.jpg)
Third Party Link
The Lifelong Effects of Early Childhood Adversity and Toxic Stress
Read the article at the American Academy of Pediatrics.
![The Lifelong Effects of Early Childhood Adversity and Toxic Stress](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Image.jpg)
Third Party Link
Early Childhood Adversity, Toxic Stress, and the Role of the Pediatrician: Translating Developmental Science into Lifelong Health
Read the article at the American Academy of Pediatrics.
![Early Childhood Adversity, Toxic Stress, and the Role of the Pediatrician: Translating Developmental Science into Lifelong Health](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Image.jpg)
Third Party Link
Capitalizing on Advances in Science to Reduce the Health Consequences of Early Childhood Adversity
Read the article at JAMA Network.
![Capitalizing on Advances in Science to Reduce the Health Consequences of Early Childhood Adversity](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Image.jpg)
Third Party Link
Early Childhood Adversity, Toxic Stress, and the Impacts of Racism on the Foundations of Health
Read the article at Annual Reviews.
![Early Childhood Adversity, Toxic Stress, and the Impacts of Racism on the Foundations of Health](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Image.jpg)
![Excessive Stress Disrupts the Architecture of the Developing Brain](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/WP3.jpg)
![Persistent Fear and Anxiety Can Affect Young Children’s Learning and Development](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/WP9.jpg)
![InBrief: The Science of Neglect](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/icon-teal-brief.jpg)
Working Paper
The Science of Neglect: The Persistent Absence of Responsive Care Disrupts the Developing Brain
![The Science of Neglect: The Persistent Absence of Responsive Care Disrupts the Developing Brain](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/WP12.jpg)
![InBrief: Applying the Science of Child Development in Child Welfare SystemsÂ](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/icon-teal-brief.jpg)
![Applying the Science of Child Development in Child Welfare Systems](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/icon-teal-reading.jpg)
![InBrief: Early Childhood Mental Health](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/icon-teal-brief.jpg)
![Young Children Develop in an Environment of Relationships](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/WP1.jpg)
![Children’s Emotional Development is Built into the Architecture of their Brain](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/WP2.jpg)
![Early Exposure to Toxic Substances Damages Brain ArchitectureÂ](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/WP4.jpg)
![The Timing and Quality of Early Experiences Combine to Shape Brain Architecture](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/WP5.jpg)
![Early Experiences Can Alter Gene Expression and Affect Long-Term Development](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/WP10.jpg)
Working Paper
Connecting the Brain to the Rest of the Body: Early Childhood Development and Lifelong Health Are Deeply Intertwined
![Connecting the Brain to the Rest of the Body: Early Childhood Development and Lifelong Health Are Deeply Intertwined](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/WP15.jpg)
![InBrief: Understanding the Science of Motivation](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/icon-teal-brief.jpg)
Working Paper
Understanding Motivation: Building the Brain Architecture That Supports Learning, Health, and Community Participation Â
![Understanding Motivation: Building the Brain Architecture That Supports Learning, Health, and Community Participation Â](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/WP14.jpg)
![InBrief: Executive Function: Skills for Life and LearningÂ](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/icon-teal-brief.jpg)
Working Paper
Building the Brain’s “Air Traffic Control” System: How Early Experiences Shape the Development of Executive FunctionÂ
![Building the Brain’s “Air Traffic Control” System: How Early Experiences Shape the Development of Executive FunctionÂ](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/WP11.jpg)
![InBrief: The Science of Resilience](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/icon-teal-brief.jpg)
Working Paper
Supportive Relationships and Active Skill-Building Strengthen the Foundations of Resilience
This working paper from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child explains how supportive relationships with adults help children develop resilience, or the set of skills needed to respond to adversity and thrive.
![Supportive Relationships and Active Skill-Building Strengthen the Foundations of Resilience](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/WP13.jpg)
Third Party Link
Stress and Resilience: How Toxic Stress Affects Us, and What We Can Do About It
Stress and Resilience: How Toxic Stress Affects Us, and What We Can Do About It…
![Stress and Resilience: How Toxic Stress Affects Us, and What We Can Do About It](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Image-1.jpg)
![Toxic Stress Derails Healthy Development](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Image-1.jpg)
![How Children and Adults Can Build Core Capabilities for Life](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Screen-Shot-2022-03-16-at-5.43.49-PM.jpg)
![InBrief: Connecting the Brain to the Rest of the Body](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/icon-teal-brief.jpg)
![FrameWorks: Effectively Communicating about Toxic Stress](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Image.jpg)
![FrameWorks: Reframing Childhood Adversity](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Image.jpg)
![FrameWorks: Framing the Overload Metaphor](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/icon-teal-infographics.jpg)
![What We Can Do About Toxic Stress](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/icon-purple-infographics.jpg)
![What Is Inflammation? And Why Does It Matter for Child Development?](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/icon-purple-infographics.jpg)
![How Racism Can Affect Child Development](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/icon-purple-infographics.jpg)
![ACEs and Toxic Stress: Frequently Asked Questions](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/icon-purple-infographics.jpg)
Reading
Special Considerations for Children in Foster Care
Children in foster care commonly face adversity far exceeding that of typical childhood. All children experience tolerable, temporary stressors as a normal part of learning and growing, such as a first day in a new school or performing on stage in front of an audience. These experiences are healthy and…
![Special Considerations for Children in Foster Care](https://pediatrics.developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/icon-teal-reading.jpg)