Learning about child development and developmental psychology has been an interest of mine for many years, and was part of my training to become an early childhood educator. While I loved learning theories and idea from the greats like Erikson, Vygotsky, Freud, Piaget, etc., the one thing that often frustrated me was how was I to take that intensive information and figure out how to translate it to the work I did on a daily basis. Of course, I have eventually figured it out but I so wish I would have had a book like Early Learning Theories Made Visible back when I first began my career.

The book covers theories from Jean Piaget, Erik Erikson, Lev Vygotsky, Abraham Maslow, John Dewey, Howard Gardner and Louise Derman-Sparks. First the authors give a basic run down of each theorist and their work. Then, in a very well organized and written manner, the authors lay out the theories in relation to these areas:

1. Social-Emotional Development
2. Beyond ABCs and 1,2,3s
3. Beyond Gross-Motor and Fine-Motor Skills

Within these sections, the authors give amazing, stunning photography, and examples of how to incorporate these theories within our early childhood education programs through sections call Take Action: The Envirionment and Take Action: Your Role as a Teacher. These sections have provided me with valuable information that I have been able to very easily adapt and add to my family child care program. I am very glad to have it in my personal library and must say it is a book I hope all early childhood education programs should have as well.

I highly recommend this book and give it a huge thumbs up!