Summer is a great time to see animals at a local fair or farm, to visit a petting zoo, or to have animals come visit an early education and child care facility. As cute as baby goats, ducklings and other animals can be, many of these animals carry germs that can make people sick.

Here are five ways to make visits with animals a safe, fun and healthy experience for all.

Hand Washing: Children and caregivers should wash their hands with soap and water after petting animals, touching animals, or even being in the animal area. Everyone in the group should wash hands whether or not they touched the animals. Find out in advance if soap and water are available. Don't visit if you find out the facility doesnít provide hand washing facilities. You can use hand sanitizers for children with visibly clean hands who are 24 months or older, but some animal germs are resistant to alcohol. As a make-do until you can get to soap and water, carry a plastic bag of paper towels wet with soapy water and a bag of paper towels just wet with plain water to clean and rinse the children's hands. Wash with running water as soon as you can.

Many early education and child care professionals have heard reports about bed bug infestations in children's homes. Many fear the bugs will infest the program's facility. Learn about bed bugs and the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach to control of this bug.  Lyn Garling, Manager of Programs, PA IPM Program, Penn State University contributed the following expert content and links to credentialed websites where you can learn more. Handouts are available in English and Spanish.

This workshop highlights special practices needed to protect staff and children from contact with blood or other potentially infectious body fluids. Learn how to minimize risk of exposure to disease causing pathogens (germs, viruses, etc.) Learn how to meet Standard Precautions recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements. Explore the adequacy of your facility's policies and Exposure Control Plan. Discuss how to handle a biting incident.

See Managing Infectious Diseases in Child Care and Schools, 5th Edition available at https://shop.aap.org or search www.healthychildren.org for more information. In PA, please send your health and safety request with your name and phone number to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

This workshop teaches early learning practitioners how to recognize and manage occupational health risks, drawing on the content in Caring for Our Children: the National Health and Safety Performance Standards. Addresses management of stress, infectious disease risks and musculo-skeletal (ergonomic) challenges intrinsic to providing child care. Includes assessment of personal and work-site health promotion strategies.

The CDC is a comprehensive source of information on public health issues, including immunization, sanitation, and infectious disease. The CDC provides a large library of information to the public on many topics. Some of the categories include: Diseases and Conditions; Emergency Preparedness & Response; Environmental Health; Life Stages & Populations; Healthy Living, Injury, Violence & Safety; Traveler's Health; Workplace Safety & Health. The CDC website includes a powerful search engine as well as alphabetical listings. Users will find fact sheets, videos, photos, posters, and other useful materials to download.

When children have toileting accidents in child care, staff must follow procedures that are appropriate for the child and limit the spread of germs. See Caring for Our Children: National Health and Safety Performance Standards; Guidelines for Early Care and Education Programs Standard 3.2.1.5: Procedure for Changing Children's Soiled Underwear, Disposable Training Pants and Clothing at http://nrckids.org/CFOC or available at https://shop.aap.org. In PA, please send your health and safety request with your name and phone number to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Colds, coughs and runny noses are more common in the winter than in any other season. Poor circulation of air, dry heated air and crowded indoor spaces make it easier to share germs. Children in their first couple of years of child care or school have one or two more colds than children their age who receive care only at home and who have no siblings to bring infection home. After three years of child care, children in child care have fewer colds than those who have not had the opportunity to build their immunity in group care.

This workshop uses a game approach to teach appropriate response to common illnesses. The content includes myths and facts about childhood illnesses and when temporarily ill children need to be excluded from their group. Includes distribution of current reference materials and the opportunity to practice using them. The reference for the discussion is Managing Infectious Diseases in Child Care and Schools, a publication of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Handouts include some of the tables and Quick Reference Sheets from this book.

Masking/FACE COVERINGS Resources for EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION (ECE) Providers

(From Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL),  American Academy of Pediatrics HealthyChildren.org, and more)

Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL)
COVID-19 Best Practices for Early Childhood Education (ECE) https://www.pakeys.org/covid-19/
This page will help keep early childhood education (ECE) professionals informed on best practices for keeping children, staff and families safe and healthy as we continue to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.

Face Coverings:
The Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) recognizes helping young children to be comfortable wearing face masks and to keep face masks on may be challenging. It is important to help children feel more secure wearing a face mask when around other children and adults.

The CDC COVID resource pages are recommended as the primary source of up-to-date and accurate information. As recommendations regarding the mitigation of COVID-19 continue to evolve, child care providers are urged to stay up-to-date on the most recent CDC Guidance for Operating Child Care.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/child-care-guidance.html

Best Practices and Resources for Child Care Providers https://www.pakeys.org/covid-19/
Most children are used to wearing and seeing people in masks. Predictable and consistent routines around mask wearing can help young children feel comfortable and know what to expect. Treat mask wearing as an emerging skill. Support children in learning to wear a mask consistently to be healthy and safe by showing children how to wear their mask so it fits securely over their mouth and nose. Give positive feedback to children for their efforts and keep it playful!

• Find more ideas in Helping Children Understand Emotions When Wearing Masks
• Social stories may also be helpful. Children love to read stories that include their pictures and photos of people they know. You can even make your own social story with photos of adults and children in your program. You can also use this Wearing Masks story from the National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations. Available in Spanish.
• CDC’s Your Guide to Masks: The CDC has much more detail to their guidance regarding wearing of masks. They discuss the following about masks: How to select, How to wear, How to clean and dry, How to store.
• Resources for Masks for Children: To help support families, and the Early Intervention and early childhood education community, a list of resources to help support and teach young children about wearing a face mask.
• Face Coverings Required flyer: ​Programs who would like to can print and display this flyer at your ECE program (OCDEL)  ¡ Face Coverings Required Flyer (English)  ¡ Face Coverings Required Flyer (Spanish)
• Action Learning Network: Tips for Helping Kids Wear Masks
• Face Masks in Head Start and Child Care Programs– tip sheet for answers to frequently asked questions about wearing masks in Head Start and child care settings
• Strong Center for Developmental Disabilities: A Toolkit for Helping Your Child Wear a Mask During COVID-19

Resources for Use with Children

• Sesame Street in Communities: All About Masks
• Sesame Street in Communities (videos): A New Kind of Picnic and Hooper’s Store Reopens
• Action Learning Network: How to Wear a Mask Like a Health Hero
• Greetings While Social Distancing: This colorful greeting board uses expressive photos of children to demonstrate ways to greet each other while maintaining social distancing. In English and Spanish.

American Academy of Pediatrics HealthyChildren.org
• Mask Mythbusters: 5 Common Misconceptions about Kids & Cloth Face Coverings
Source: American Academy of Pediatrics HealthyChildren.org
https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/COVID-19/Pages/Mask-Mythbusters.aspx

• Face Masks for children during COVID-19
Source: American Academy of Pediatrics HealthyChildren.org
https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/COVID-19/Pages/Cloth-Face-Coverings-for-Children-During-COVID-19.aspx

Other
• Coronavirus (COVID-19): How Wearing a Mask Helps Protect Against Infection (video)
Source: Nemours KidsHealth.org https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/coronavirus-mask-video.html

• Wearing a Mask Social Story
Source: Autism Services, Education, Resources and Training Collaborative (ASSERT)
http://paautism.org/resource/wearing-mask-social-story/

• Masks Toolkit
Source: University of Rochester Medical Center
https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/strong-center-developmental-disabilities/resources/masks-toolkit.aspx

Additional Parent Resources
• Tips for quarantined parents in the times of COVID-19
Source: American Psychological Association http://www.apa.org/topics/covid-19/quarantine-parents-tips

 Updated 9/2021

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 44% of young children less than 5 years of age have already had tooth de-cay.  Tooth decay causes eating, speaking, learn-ing and behavior problems for young children.  Yearly, children in the United States miss over 51 million hours of school due to dental pain.

Infants and toddlers in diapers often get rashes-everything from tiny red bumps to more irritated tender areas.

Why do babies get rashes? One or more conditions can cause a diaper rash. The enzymes that help digest food can be irritating when they come out with feces (poop) into the diaper. Wet diapers can cause irritation where they are in contact with the skin. This is more likely to occur where the diaper rubs the creases of the upper thighs. Yeast growing in the warm, wet diaper areas can be another cause of diaper rash.

Some tips to help prevent diaper rashes are:

Change diapers often. Changing a diaper before it gets very wet and as soon after a child has a bowel movement helps. Prolonged contact of the skin with moisture from pee and/or feces irritates the skin.

Avoid irritating soaps and wipes. Use unscented and alcohol-free diaper wipes or just water rather than other skin cleaning products. Scented soaps and wipes that have alcohol in them can irritate a baby's bottom. The ingredients in many soaps remove the skin's natural oils. Without these normal oils on the skin, skin irritation is more likely.

If the diaper area is red and irritated, clean the skin by patting it with a diaper wipe, with cotton balls soaked in warm water or with freshly laundered, well-rinsed, soft, washcloths wet with water. Avoid rubbing the skin. Always use a fresh wipe, or different wet wash cloth each time you swipe. Once soiled, store reusable cloths in a washable, plastic-lined, tightly covered receptacle until they can be laundered.

Consider use of a barrier product . Ask the family to discuss with the child's health care professional the use of a barrier product if an infant has ongoing difficulty with diaper rash. Barrier diaper creams or ointments can help protect the skin from irritation caused by rubbing on the moist and/or soiled surface of a diaper. They are over-the-counter products that contain petroleum or zinc oxide. If the child has had a problem with diaper rash that requires use of a barrier medication, the program should have instructions from the child's health care provider and permission from the child's parent to use it. The product's container should have the child's name and instructions for use too. Put 2 or 3 tablespoons of the barrier cream on a facial tissue and bring it that way to the diaper changing surface. (Do not bring any of the containers of supplies to the diapering surface. Everything on the diapering surface will need to be disinfected after the diaper change.)

Apply the barrier in a thick layer, spreading it gently and smoothly across the diaper area. Be sure to cover the creases of the upper thighs under the edge of the diaper. When cleaning the child, remove only the soiled barrier product. Rubbing to remove the unsoiled lower layer of barrier product will irritate the skin.

The recommended medication administration and diaper changing procedures are in Caring for Our Children, (CFOC3) Standards 3.6.3.1 and 3.6.3.2 for medication administration and Standard 3.2.1.4 for the diaper changing procedure. Access these standards at www.nrckids.org.

Follow the instructions from the child's health care provider and the CFOC3 recommended procedures when using any diaper cream. Some diaper creams contain active ingredients that are not for prolonged use. Documentation of the product applications can be as simple as having a check mark in a diaper cream column on a diaper change log sheet. Note the date and time of the diaper changes there. This lets families know about the frequency of diaper changes and use of recommended medication.

If a diaper rash is bleeding, seems very sore to the child, or lasts more than a few days, be sure to seek guidance from the child's health care provider and check the procedures being used by anyone who is changing the child's diaper.

Contributed by Sarah Macdonald, MD, FAAP, CHOP Care Network High Point

Common diapering errors can often lead to cross contamination in the early learning environment. Addressing these 12 common errors properly will help reduce the spread of germs while diapering. Updated 4-2019

Click on the title for the link to download a fully Illustrated, step-by-step, tri-fold Diapering Poster English version or Diapering Poster Spanish version. The poster shows the procedure for safe and sanitary diapering. The same steps apply to changing soiled underwear with the child lying down, a position that makes it easier to avoid contamination of the environment and proper cleaning of the child's skin. CCA Global created the poster with guidance from the staff of ECELS. Reproduce and distribute the poster freely to child care professionals. Be sure to retain the citation and copyright. The poster may not be sold without permission from CCA Global. The source of the steps in the poster is the 2019 online standards in Caring for Our Children, 4th Edition, a publication of the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Public Health Association, and the National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education. Updated 2/1/2022.