Speaking

The preschool years are some of the most critical for brain development, often with lifelong consequences. While preschoolers are different from one another in how they grow and develop and individual learning styles, there are many aspects of child development that are universally the same. Step into the world of preschoolers through a set of development-based universal truths that are common to every preschooler.

Through these commonalities she has developed a universal language to engage, inspire and connect with children during this critical growth phase. Angela shares the secrets of her success in empowering and engaging preschoolers such as the “Power of the Pause” and dramatic play, along with how we – as parents, educators, creators and technologists – can leverage these to give our youngest generation the strongest start.

Angela’s Clues help you to understand and connect with preschoolers with help from the characters they love.

After creating some of the “stickiest” (according to The Tipping Point), development-based, educational characters in the history of television, Angela knows preschoolers. And preschoolers, in turn, know and love the results of her creations: the fun, engaging characters that were made to grow, develop and interact with preschoolers using what Angela has discovered are the universal truths that preschoolers all share.

Based on these truths and what her background in media and child development has taught her, Angela has created Angela’s Clues – 11 secrets her characters can offer parents and educators to help them connect with preschoolers. In this talk she shares actionable clues for engagement that understands, respects and nourishes the learning needs of all preschoolers, and offers ways to see the spark; be involved; and ask questions for each clue.

Follow Blue’s, Daniel Tiger’s and Angela’s Clues to an imaginative, playful world where the preschoolers you know are excited to be – and you will be too.

With 25 years of experience researching, experimenting and testing the ways that preschoolers best experience the world, Angela Santomero has learned a little something about interacting meaningfully with kids.

From how to stimulate dramatic play to developing empathy to methods of question-asking that inspire engagement, the creator of shows such as Blue’s Clues and Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood shares her in-depth framework including Angela’s own “clues” to help parents, educators and anyone working with preschoolers to create lasting bonds and grow positively. Expect to gain practical insight into not only how preschoolers learn, but also how to choose the right media to stimulate and reinforce what you’re teaching off-screen, and vice-versa.

Angela’s Clues for understanding screen time and designing a healthy media diet for kids

Should preschoolers be using screens and watching TV? And if so, which shows are the right ones? How can busy parents be sure their kids are getting the right doses of healthy media instead of being “brainwashed” as so many parents fear? They are questions common to so many of today’s parents of preschoolers, navigating what is still a minefield of media options – yet the answers are hard to find. This is particularly evident to Angela Santomero, a child development expert and creator of education children’s media such as Blue’s Clues and Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood – who gets questions like these All. The. Time.

Kids TV and internet apps aren’t going away. So here’s what you need to know.

Like the diets our children are fed, there are healthy choices and less healthy choices, and there are ingredients that boost brain development, learning and foster skills such as critical thinking and good communication. In this talk, Angela offers science-based, practical and educational ways to solve the screen time conundrum – as well as how to align home, childcare and media to raise healthy preschoolers.

All media is on some level educational – the question is what is it teaching? In the age of screen time, parents are increasingly left not only wondering what each program, game and app is actually teaching their children – but also with a deep sense of guilt for not knowing how to navigate this playing field.

With her academic background in child development coupled with 25 years of experience producing award-winning educational television programs for preschoolers, Angela Santomero is uniquely able to advise parents on not only navigating the media minefield of preschool programming, but also on how to program their own parenting to match their children’s brain development and learning capacity. In this talk, Angela shares actionable insights into the science behind quality preschool programming and actionable tips on how parents can use this at home.

The isolation and disconnectedness that ‘screen time’ may foster is consistently raised as a concern in the media and in parenting and educational circles. There is fear, there is guilt and, especially, there is a sea of conflicting information floating around about whether any of it is ‘good’ or at least ‘acceptable’ for child development. The language in these questions becomes increasingly troubled when concerning the youngest group of online kids: preschoolers.

From what began as a career in children’s television research and writing, Angela Santomero’s life work has become developing healthier, happier preschoolers and helping to answer these questions. Through studying child development, media and through focus groups, Angela has become a passionate advocate for creating connected experiences for preschoolers that embrace their needs across all areas of their lives, whether at home, at play or online through a healthy media diet. In this talk, Angela shares how to connect screen time with play time and parenting time, including her science-based framework to help inspire, challenge and engage preschoolers for lasting, positive interaction with the world.