ESDM Online
Welcome to ESDM Online, a resource for parents and providers eager to discover ways to help children connect, communicate, and learn. Here, you will find examples, tips, activities, the latest research findings, videos, and much more to support your goals as a parent or provider. Join the community and become part of this mission to create positive learning experiences for children.
- Giving children opportunities to practice their skills through play and everyday activities.
- Creating a welcoming, accessible and nonjudgemental space to hear about and share ideas.
- Helping children feel calm, safe and supported.
Connect, Communicate, and Learn
Find out how to use tips from the ESDM for early social-communication skills important to life-long learning, behavior, and health with your child or with families whom you support in an early childhood learning environment.
This Quick Tip demonstrates a playful sensory activity with a 3.5-year-old that targets early intervention goals—like commenting and describing—while capturing spontaneous learning moments; as well as how to streamline a data sheet to organize and track goals across varied session activities.
Read monthly research about intervention outcomes for children with or at risk of autism; coaching supports for their families; and/or family-centered, culturally inclusive coaching tools to help early childhood professionals support families. Each monthly article is publicly available for free access.
This month's Latest News followed 43 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) from toddlerhood into adolescence. Researchers wanted to understand what early developmental factors might influence the ability to form friendships later in life.
What they found
- Friendship is possible for many adolescents with ASD, but not all develop this skill equally.
- Children who showed greater improvements in social communication and adaptive skills over time were more likely to have friends as teens.
- Surprisingly, early IQ, autism symptom severity, and adaptive behavior did not predict later friendship outcomes.
- Comorbid conditions like ADHD and anxiety, and whether children were in mainstream or special education, did not significantly affect friendship development.
- Having friends seemed to go hand-in-hand with being able to do more on their own—both socially and in daily life.
Friendship development in children with ASD is not fixed—it evolves with growth in social and adaptive skills. Early intervention that nurtures these areas can make a meaningful difference in helping children build connections as they grow.
Click the article (to the right) to read more about the findings and explore how playful and daily moments can reflect the spirit of early social connection — less about taking turns, more about doing things together.
Spatulas no longer just belong in the kitchen! This Play of the Month shares some of my favorite spatula play ideas—and guess what? No actual cooking required. These open-ended activities are engaging for toddlers of all ages, from little ones just beginning to grasp and bang, to older children pretending they’re chefs, astronauts, or dinosaur zookeepers.
See below for activity ideas and learning goals linked to the ESDM Curriculum Checklist items to help you discover the play level that best suits your child or the children and families you support in early learning environments.
Pay attention to what children like (or seem curious about) and follow their lead as long as you are a part of the action, too. Remember, the most important thing is for children to have fun doing this with you! Fun means engagement and that excites children's brains and bodies for meaningful learning to happen.
Simple play actions that encourage children to explore, use their senses, and move their bodies:
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Spatula Bang & Tap: Offer a silicone or plastic spatula and invite your child to tap different surfaces—tables, bowls, blocks. Listen together to the different sounds.
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Texture Hunt: Pair spatulas with a bin of sensory materials (rice, cooked spaghetti, gelatin). Let children scoop, stir, and poke to explore how it feels.
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Water Whisking: Place a spatula in a tub of water and encourage stirring, flipping floating items, or splashing. Add a drop of food coloring for visual fun.
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Cold vs. Warm Scoop: Offer spatulas with warm oatmeal and chilled yogurt to scoop and compare. Great for temperature awareness (and snack time play!).
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Spatula Swipe Painting: Dip the flat edge of a spatula into paint and swipe it across paper, fabric, or cardboard. Or use food like a bit of spreadable peanut butter, yogurt, or apple sauce on a plate and invite children to swipe and explore the sticky texture with their spatula.
Combination play that encourages multi-step actions for children to construct and accomplish goals:
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Mini Chef Station: Provide a bowl, a spatula, and a collection of toy food (or safe real items like cooked pasta pieces). Encourage scooping, stirring, and “serving.”
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Pretend Pancake Flip: Cut felt circles or use playdoh as pretend pancakes. Invite your child to “flip” them with a spatula and stack them on a plate.
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Sorting & Scraping: Spread different textured play doughs or spreads across a tray. Use spatulas to sort, scrape off, and “clean” each section.
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Scooping Relay: Create stations with different materials to scoop (beans, pom-poms, rice). Encourage your child to transfer items from one bowl to another using spatulas.
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Spatula Puzzle Builder: Provide spatulas and foam blocks. Encourage pushing, stacking, and balancing with the spatula—testing both coordination and creativity.
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Paint Mixing Station: Provide a palette or muffin tin with different paint colors, a spatula, and a blank canvas. Invite your child to scoop and blend colors before painting—perfect for early color exploration.
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Stamp & Print Collage: Using spatulas with varied textures (ridged, silicone, plastic), dip them in paint and press onto paper for patterned prints. Combine with other shapes or materials to build a collage.
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Nature Texture Transfer: Collect leaves, bark, and other natural items. Place paper on top, spread paint with a spatula, and gently scrape or press to reveal hidden textures underneath.
Imaginary play that encourages children to make-believe and role-play:
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Restaurant Role-Play: Your child becomes the chef! Offer spatulas, aprons, and empty plates for pretend cooking, serving, and taking “orders.”
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Construction Crew: Spatulas become tools for scooping and clearing imaginary rubble (use shredded paper or sandbox material). Bonus: add hard hats.
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Musical Maestro: Let your child pretend the spatula is a drumstick, a guitar pick, or a conductor’s baton. March and sing along to their performance.
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Spatula Spaceship Controls: Attach spatulas to cardboard boxes or chairs to act as spaceship levers. Let your child lead the countdown and blast off!
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Animal Rescue Toolkit: Spatulas help “lift” and “free” stuffed animals from imaginary sticky spots, quicksand, or tangled jungles. Encourage gentle problem solving.
