November 3, 2025 Pennsylvania Key to Offer School-Age Care Professional Development This Fall The Pennsylvania Key will offer several courses in November and December that will focus on school-age care professional development. Learn More The courses – as part of the Pennsylvania Key’s Infant Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) – cover five topics all having to do with child and youth development, behavior, and emotions. One course focuses on how youths’ behavior may reflect their big emotions as well as how to manage those emotions. Another involves tools to use for challenging behaviors by children in kindergarten through sixth grade. The topic of one course is what to expect at each stage of development from kindergarten through sixth grade and how to identify developmentally appropriate milestones, while another discusses the developmental needs of fourth to sixth grade students and how to empower them to have a great after-school experience. There is also a class that focuses on social-emotional standards and how to incorporate them into daily activities. All courses include PQAS credits. The class schedule includes: School Age Care Spotlight on Social Emotional Standards: November 6 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and November 13 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. What to Do with Older SAC Kids: November 24 from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. SAC Child Development: December 1 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Introduction to Youth Behavior Reflection Support Tool: December 3 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. SAC Youth with Big Emotions: December 4, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
October 22, 2025 IECMHC Provides Resources for Helping to Calm Children Down There are many skills that take great effort for children to muster from an early age, and one of them is the ability to calm themselves down. Learn More In a recent newsletter, the Pennsylvania Key’s Infant Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) provided resources on methods to help calm children down and how to teach children to calm themselves down. Children are not born with self-control, the IECMHC wrote in the newsletter, so it’s important that caregivers help children to grow their ability to control their emotions, respond in appropriate ways to frustration, get along with others, and become independent. The IECMHC’s resources discuss how caregivers can help young children learn skills to help them control or regulate themselves and how a calm-down corner – a special area of the classroom with calming materials and tools – can be useful for when children’s emotions feel too big for them. Resources in the newsletter on calming corners and other calming methods include: Calm Down Corners (The Pennsylvania Key) How to Set Up and Use a Calming Corner for Kids The Peace Corner: An Essential Classroom Resource Break Card: When to Use Self-Regulation Breathing Strategies “We Can Be Problem Solvers” children’s book Relaxation in a Bottle activity
March 24, 2025 IECMHC Cites Music and Movement as Important to Child Development Although spring is just around the corner, winter weather can continue into March – and even April – so it is important for parents and guardians to find ways for children to remain active while indoors. Learn More The Infant Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) program’s March newsletter focuses on music and movement in the classroom and includes several resources The IECMHC cites several benefits of music and movement for children in the early childhood education classroom. Through music and movement, children can: Be creative by expressing themselves through dance, lyrics, and storytelling Undergo emotional development by learning to recognize and process emotions and developing empathy Enhance motor skills by improving coordination, balance, and strength through dancing, clapping, and jumping Enhance cognitive skills by developing memory, categorization, and problem-solving abilities Enhance social skills through the development of emotional intelligence, which is linked to success in many areas of life The IECMHC also suggests trying to strike a healthy balance when it comes to screen time – or the use of smartphones, tables, computers, or other devices – for children. To foster well-rounded development, it suggests substituting the following for screen time: art, reading, interactive games, outdoor play, music and movement. Further Resources The IECMHC provides a wide variety of resources revolving around the importance of music and movement for children. These include an article on the importance of music and movement in early childhood education and how to use music, rhythm, and movement to enhance children’s self-regulation. Among the IECMHC’s resources are information on music and movement relating to: Babies Toddlers Preschoolers K-6
