Understanding childhood development is important even for people who may not have a background in the field whether it's for personal growth, work with children or parenting. This article is a recommendation of several free online resources that provide valuable information on childhood development.

 

Alison Free Online Courses

https://alison.com/tag/child-development

Alison has over 20 free classes on the emotional, biological, and psychological changes that occur during child development including: 

• Identifying Child Abuse and Neglect
• Diploma in Special Needs
• Childcare and Young People Development
• Morals and Personality
• Neuroscience
• Psychology and Self-Regulation
• Executive Functions
• Play and Socialization

 

 

edX

https://www.edx.org/learn/child-development

There are 5 free courses listed on edX currently: Intro to Psychology, Autism and Neurodiversity, Food Nutrition Security in Urban Landscapes, Healthcare for Children and Early Childhood Development.

 

 

CDC

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/freematerials.html

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has free materials for positive parenting tips and health and mental disorders of children.

 

 

Office of Early Childhood Development

https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ecd/child-health-development/watch-me-thrive/resources

The federal partners of this organization created a "Birth to 5: Watch Me Thrive" list with resources about child development as well as developmental and behavioral screening. There are general tips, tools and links to community resources.

 

 

Humboldt University

https://libguides.humboldt.edu/openedu/cd

This California university has lots of open learning resources for childhood development such as textbooks on child psychology, learning and discipline. There are courses, videos and links to academic journals.

 

 

YouTube Playlist

Here's a compilation of educational YouTube videos on child development.