All About Child Care and Early Education is a must-have resource for child care practitioners-including teachers, care givers, family child care providers, administrators, and directors. It provides practical suggestions for setting up classrooms, for developing curricula for infants, toddlers and preschoolers, for meeting children's social-emotional needs, and for working effectively with parents and staff. Child Development Associate candidates and other students preparing for roles as early childhood educators can use All About Child Care and Early Education as a primary text. The book provides a brief history of child care and early education and sketches future challenges for the field. It also describes developmentally appropriate indoor and outdoor learning environments and covers the CDA competency areas SAFE, HEALTH, and LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. Broad developmental overviews of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers are included. Each of the CDA competency areas PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT, COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT, COMMUNICATION, and CREATIVE is covered in a chapter. Section IV focuses on emotional and social development. It covers the CDA competency areas SELF, SOCIAL, and GUIDANCE. The book explains the behind-the-scenes relationships and practices of adults that generate good outcomes for children. It also includes the CDA functional areas PROGRAM MANAGEMENT, FAMILIES, and PROFESSIONALISM.