For an Introduction to Early Childhood course. Covers ages 0-5. Written in a warm, engaging style, this text embraces the emergent approach to fostering cognitive skills in children from birth through age five. It provides a complete developmental approach to early childhood education, giving teachers the specific skills they need to teach the whole child-emotionally, socially, physically, creatively, and cognitively. The author believes that physical and emotional health are fundamental to the well-being of children and provides practical methods and materials that address the entire individual, not just curriculum topics. A strength of the book is while it focuses on the five developmental "selves" of children, it places them in the context of contemporary family life and the multicultural world of today.