• "Happy Valentine's Day" is Copyrighted by Flickr user: chimothy27 (Mark Evans) under the Creative Commons Attribution license.
  
  

Degree Type

• It's important that a student first identifies what type of degree he wants to seek in child care and development. Many daycares and early childhood education centers require an associate's degree in early child development or education for general caretakers, while supervisory positions in these organizations require a bachelor's degree. Students should understand that it will take more money and time to obtain their bachelor's degree in early childhood development, but it may pay for itself later.
  
  

General Education

• The first part of a degree plan in child care and development should focus on general education and pre-requisite courses. These often are classes such as English, speech, math and science. Many colleges require a specific number of humanities and social science electives. These give students majoring in child care and development the opportunity to choose classes that pertain to their major such as children's literature as a humanities or psychology of childhood for a social science credit.
  
  

Core Courses

• Once you've completed all or most of your general education classes, you can begin learning about physical, mental, emotional and social development in children from birth through adolescence. Eventually, your core courses will focus on working in child care centers, as class topics may cover licensing requirements, ethics and appropriate play and activities based on the child's age.
  
  

Observations

• After starting the core courses and learning about child development, classes generally require students to complete observations at local childcare facilities. During these observations, students sit in the room observing the children as they play, complete activities and interact with one another. Students are looking for indicators that a child's development is on target for her age and that appropriate activities and play are also occurring.
  
  

Practicum

• The final part of a degree plan for child care and development should contain a practicum or internship opportunity. This gives the student the opportunity to interact with students and develop appropriate activities all while being supervised by an instructor or practicum supervisor.