Infants and Toddlers at Play: Choosing the Right Stuff for Learning and Development

Mary Benson McMullen, PhD, is a professor of early childhood education at Indiana University (IU), where she has been on faculty since 1993. After graduating from Michigan State University with her bachelor's degree, marriage, and the birth of her first son, Mary began studying child development at Florida State University where she earned MS and PhD degrees. During and shortly after her graduate education, she also worked as a caregiver and teacher of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, and then as an early childhood program director, before accepting her position at IU. At IU, she teaches courses to preservice and in-service early childhood teaching professionals, as well as to doctoral students who plan to become teacher education scholars. Mary's primary research interests involve factors that influence quality early care and education for infants and toddlers; healthy overall growth, development, learning, and well-being of young children (birth through age 5); teaching beliefs and practices across cultures and contexts; and looking at factors that influence and ensure the well-being of professionals who care for young children. She has published dozens of articles for both research and teaching journals, as well as numerous book chapters. She is coeditor of the 2019 book, The Wiley Handbook of Early Childhood Care and Education. Mary lives in Bloomington, Indiana, where she and her husband of 37 years raised their three sons.Katie Brody, MSED, is an infant and toddler teacher at Indiana University's Campus Children's Center, where they began their journey with young children in 2006. Katie began working as a full-time teacher with infants and toddlers in 2010 and fell deeply in love with the complexity of teaching young children. For thirteen years, they have worked collaboratively with a coteacher in a facility that utilizes a continuity of care model, providing them the space and support needed to build intimate and meaningful connections with children and their families over the course of a three-year cycle. This time allowed Katie to create a more deeply reflective teaching practice and mindful rapport with families through daily moments of trust building. Katie's primary research and teaching interests focus around ethics, equity, critical theory, mindfulness, and advocacy for fellow teachers who experience life outside of the margins. They prioritize care practices and policies that allow all members of the classroom community to feel safe to be themselves and challenge the barriers in place that might prevent success for all. Katie hopes to work more closely in the future with early childhood teachers in the LGBTQ+ community and to further advocate for trans visibility and representation in the field. Katie currently lives in Bloomington, Indiana, with their beloved cat Bean.