Career Resources for Children, Parents and Teachers

Welcome to Workforce WindsorEssex and Windsor Public Library’s career page for parents, teachers and children. We’ve brought together resources to help you introduce your children or students to the wide and and wonderful world of work. While we may not traditionally think of formally teaching our children about career options at such a young age, exposing little ones to as many careers as possible through everyday reading and play will help them to develop an awareness of available job options when it’s time to think about choosing a career path down the road.

This page will introduce you to career resources available for preschoolers and school-aged children in Windsor Public Library’s collection. You’ll find booklists for a number of careers and we’ll continually be adding to this list. These lists include both fiction and non-fiction options. We’ll also link you to electronic resources that will assist you with finding career information for preschoolers in various formats.

Find other books about careers for your children or students by clicking here to access our Library Catalogue. You’ll need your library card and PIN to place items on hold for delivery to the WPL branch of your choice.

Career Booklists

Click below to access book lists for children about a wide variety of career options. Check back often as we will be adding to these lists regularly.

Architect
Artist
Astronaut
At Sea
Author
Cartoonist
Chef
Circus Arts
City Worker
Computer Scientist
Construction II
Construction I
Dancer
Doctor
Engineer
Environmental Careers
Farmer
Firefighter
General Careers
Inventor
Librarian
Movie Making
Musician
Oil & Gas
Pilot
Police Officer
Professional Athlete
Scientist
Skills for Career Success
Teacher

Helpful Electronic Resources

Windsor Public Library has a number of electronic resources you can access which will provide you with additional books and other career related information for your children or students. You can access these online 24/7 and require only a valid Library Card and PIN to log in.

*Helpful hint – With all of these resources, using the search terms ‘jobs’, ‘careers’ or ‘occupations’ and ‘children’ will lead you to career related options.

Helpful Web Resources

For Kids, Parents and Teachers

If you would like assistance in gathering information about careers for your children or students, please feel free to contact your location Windsor Public Library branch. Staff would be happy to assist you in obtaining books or other resources that meet your needs.

Get Your Child Thinking About Careers

Stephanie Dupley, Workforce WindsorEssex’s Career Pathways Educator shares the following advice on ways that you can help to build career development skills with your child:

Become familiar with your child’s strengths, talents and interests.

Consider:

• What subjects at school does she excel at?
• In what situations or environment is she the most natural and relaxed?
• What does he enjoy doing in this spare time?
• What does she lose track of time doing?
• What toys/games are his favourites?
• What does her teacher say about her interests?

Once you have identified some of your child’s big interests, start building on them! At the kindergarten age, children have a wide range of interests that can change quickly and cover many topics, so take the opportunity to explore these interests. You can help your young child to develop and explore these interests by:

• Reading books and watching videos related to the area of interest.
• Playing games that relate to the interest.
• Talk about the interest, and try to incorporate it into everyday activities.
• Take your child into the community. If he interested in animals, take him to the pet store, the veterinarian, etc. If she is interested in building things, take her to watch a construction site.
• Get your child involved in extracurricular activities or clubs that relate to the interest.

Other ways to start building the skills needed for your child’s future:

1) Provide leadership opportunities – let him teach you how to do something he is good at or knowledgeable with (like playing a certain game or teaching you about his favourite movie characters).

2) Autonomy and responsibility – give her a sense of independence, responsibility and accomplishment by giving her tasks to complete on her own (have her make her own bed, make her own sandwich, make it her job to get to mail from the mailbox every afternoon, etc.)

3) Decision making – provide him with choices that allow him to make a decision (would you like to go to the park or play in the sprinkler? Should we do our chores now and play later, or play now and do our chores later?)

4) Opportunities for teamwork – get your child involved in a team sport, play a cooperative video game with her, etc. to build her capacity to work well with others.

5) Opportunities for skill building – allow your child to develop certain skills by providing him with activities to master (skipping rope, building a Lego house, swimming, painting, etc.).

6) Career talk – talk with your child about your career, her grandparents’ careers, her teacher’s career, etc. When you are out in the community, discuss the various careers that you see (do you see the farmer? That’s her career! Do you see the grocery store clerk? That’s his career!). Make your child aware that everything is a career.

About Us

Windsor Public Library believes in the freedom to read, learn and discover. You can do so through our 10 library branches and online at www.windsorpubliclibrary.com.

As the local workforce development board, Workforce WindsorEssex promotes and supports employment in the Windsor-Essex region through partnerships, research, and communication. For more information, please visit our website where you will find all of our research projects, informative infographics, and fun videos on the local labour market. www.workforcewindsoressex.com