Resource Library

After years of working in childhood education and having many growing families ask me for parent resources, including literature and developmentally appropriate product recommendations for children, I’ve compiled this ever-expanding list in the hopes of helping.

By using the links below to purchase items, you also help support
Blue Leaf School™.

Books For Parents

A great read for learning to communicate with children respectfully and effectively.

Janet Lansbury’s most popular articles about how respectful parenting practices can be applied to benefit both parents and children

A practical and enlightening guide to the RIE® approach.

Great resource for parents of new babies and infants, as well as applying the Educaring® principles in group care settings.

An excellent resource for parents of multiple children to create an open and communicative family, and to help squash quarreling between siblings.

This book explains the core elements of each theorist’s work and the ways these elements impact and support interactions with babies, including the topics of bonding, feeding practices, separation anxiety, and stranger anxiety.

Great read for learning how to turn challenging moments into moments of connection.

This book provides insight into the world of raising boys.

Books For Children

I love how this book teaches consent to the youngest reader!

This is one of those beautiful books that emotionally moves me every time I read it.

We’re all waiting for something and this book illustrates patience and friendship.

Love and all it’s diversity through beautiful examples of art.

A beautful showing of the San Francisco Bay area and the children get so excited about the boats.

It’s never too early to promote messages of love, inclusion, diversity, and a positive self-image.

Everything we see is determined by the light. This book is a beautiful and age-appropriate exploration of color, light and self.

Sometimes, we just need someone to listen. The Rabbit Listened teaches empathy and how to be a good ally to help others heal.

A fun, sweet, and playful book full of words and pictures your baby can repeat and recognize.

Books For Siblings

One of my favorite things about this book, is that it expresses it’s okay to have a lot of feelings about the new baby. This is just one of the million reasons why I love this book!

A realistic perspective about what will change when new baby arrives.

A beautiful celebration of the first child. This is one of those books that causes me to cry everytime I read it.

This book helped prepare our first for becoming an older sibling. 

Toys

They say that when a child is dysregulated that one should, “just add water.” Adding these to any water play will be fun for years to come. Our children also will use these with color mixing tabs to hold bath time experiments.

Add this to the measuring cups and your child will be delighted in the bath or the water sensory table!

Bees wax is soft and nontoxic. These are the crayons that we use here at Blue Leaf.

We loves these toy animals at Blue Leaf and our home. Our children still play with them as they can accompany so many other open ended toys!

We really like our Schleich animals. You can’t go wrong with these!

Children always come back to this toy! Great for practicing fine motor skills.

These wood beads are great for your baby’s first grasping.

These are some of the most versatile open ended toys not to mention how beautifuly made they are!

Tons of ways these clips can be utilized with a little imaginative play.

Sometimes, our favorite toys are actually found in the home and kitchen section. The children love playing with this silicone top.

Who doesn’t love a Brio train set? Providing kids with hours of creative play, designing railroads tracks and immersing themselves in play.

These lightweight foam shapes have been a personal favorite of our kids. From gross motor skills as young babies, to builidng forts and trucks, the foam shapes have lasted the test of time and provide an outlet of play for children of all ages.

This toy is beautiful, a wonderful teether and can be cleaned in the dishwasher!

Potty Learning

This book is wonderful in helping prepare a child in the world of toilet learning.

At Blue Leaf and at home we have had great succcess with this chair especially since it has a higher front area.

These are a great rain pant option for children who are potty learning, saving you the hassle of removing an entire rain suit.

This allows for extra support as your child is in tranisition from the potty to using the toilet.

Infant Products

This is a well loved product in our house. The adjustable chair means it can grow with your child. Babies can sit at the table with the family, and toddlers can climb into the seat on their own. 

This is my go to baby gift. We used it with our own babies as well.

Easily swap the seat for a bassinet, or turn it into a double stroller for when you need to push two.
This stroller sorta does it all. The bassinet feature allows the baby to enjoy a stroll without being propped into a sitting position and no more waking your little one just because you’re back home. Unhook the basinet and carry them inside, sound asleep.

I love how long the ties are so that the cap can be pulled off or slipped down over the eyes.

A great split between developing oral motor skills needed for speech and keeping the floor clean.

Love the large round handles for gripping! They are great for gross motor skills and for baby learning to eat with utensils.

This diaper pail is recommended to all my friends as well as used in Blue Leaf. The pail opens and shuts easily, and allows us to use compostable bags for the bamboo diapers.

Love this for my babies since you can control from an app and turn it into an “Ok to wake” light. We also use it as a sound machine for rest time at Blue Leaf.

Help promote autonomy and independence with this soft and safe cup.

Our children often ask us to make the “rainbows dance.” These are hung in the windows at Blue Leaf and cast beautiful color rays throughout the classroom in the afternoon light.

One of the best teethers I’ve found. The shape helps get to the hard to reach back teeth.

Made from all natural materials, this sensory ball helps with gross motor skills, visual stimulation and social development.

Products for School

We’ve used other rain suits here at Blue Leaf and they never quite seem to hold up. I recommend buying a size up as both the wrists and ankles have velcro so one can get  at least two rain seasons out of them.

These make for a smooth rest time with lots of adorable designs, a blanket sown on, a pillow and a pocket for a lovey.

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I love these as a teacher and a parent. The daycare name tags pack comes with labels that can be put on clothes, a water bottle, lunch box, or anything you’re hoping your child will keep track of.

Practical Life

Kids love to help and these real children’s garden tools allow them to do so! These can be seen in use year round at Blue Leaf.

This set is wonderful as it gives children a safe way to help with food prep while simultaneously teaching them cutting skills, progressing from the wooden chopper to the metal.

Our children love helping on the many projects around the house! This wheel barrow has come in quite handy, from collecting leaves they rake to moving dirt and raw materials around the yard.

This water bottle is both durable and easy to clean without a million parts!

You can make this just the right height for little hands to help clean up. We use it often around Blue Leaf especially when hemp seeds or rice is served.