Environment Rating Scales

My Family Builders magnetic wooden figure sets are designed to support the "Promoting Acceptance of Diversity" item across the four Environment Rating Scales used to evaluate early childhood classrooms in the United States. Four skin tones across the figures exceed the three-race minimum required by the scales, and the materials support four of the five diversity types the scales evaluate at a score of 5 and above: race, culture, age, and nontraditional gender roles.

The four scales, at a glance

ECERS-3: Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, Third Edition

Ages 3 to 5. Used in preschool classrooms, Head Start programs, and NAEYC-accredited private centers. Item 26: Promoting Acceptance of Diversity. My Family Builders figures contribute to scoring indicators at 5.2, which requires ten positive examples of diversity across books, displayed pictures, and play materials, and at 5.3, which requires four of the five diversity types.

ITERS-3: Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale, Third Edition

Birth to 36 months. Used in infant and toddler classrooms and Early Head Start programs. Item 23: Promoting Acceptance of Diversity. My Family Builders figures exceed the 3.3 requirement for dolls representing at least three races, and support the 5.2 requirement for four of the five diversity types.

FCCERS-3: Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale, Third Edition

Mixed ages, family child care home settings. Used by NAFCC-accredited family child care providers. Item 23: Promoting Acceptance of Diversity. My Family Builders figures meet the 5.2 requirement for dolls representing three races and support the 5.3 requirement for four of the five diversity types.

SACERS-Updated: School-Age Care Environment Rating Scale, Updated Edition

Ages 5 to 12. Used in before- and after-school programs. Item 26: Promoting Acceptance of Diversity. My Family Builders figures support the scale's diversity requirements on the same rubric structure as ECERS-3 Item 26. Most relevant for MFB007, which is sized and themed for this age range.

The five diversity types the scales evaluate

At a score of 5 and above, the Environment Rating Scales require classroom materials to support at least four of the following five diversity types:

• Race. My Family Builders supports this across all sets with four skin tones that exceed the three-race minimum.
• Culture. Supported through the figures' implicit cultural variation and, for MFB001, reinforced explicitly through Activity Cards in English, French and Spanish.
• Age. Supported by MFB001 and MFB002, which include 16 adult figures and 16 children. MFB007 supports this type only when paired with a family set.
• Ability. Not supported. My Family Builders figures do not represent disability. Classrooms looking to meet this type should add separate materials designed for ability representation.
• Nontraditional gender roles. Supported across all sets. The modular mix-and-match design allows children to build same-sex parent families, single-parent families, extended-family configurations, and combinations that do not follow traditional gender assumptions.

MFB001 and MFB002 support four of these five types. MFB007 supports three. Four of five meets the scales' requirement at a score of 5 and above. Classrooms using My Family Builders figures to contribute to their diversity score can cite the scale and item number directly.

A note on MFB007 Friends

The 16-piece Friends set was designed as a friendship play set, not a family set, and contains children only. MFB007 alone supports three of the five diversity types: race, culture, and nontraditional gender roles. When a classroom also uses MFB001 or MFB002 for adult figures, the full four-of-five coverage is restored.

Many classrooms choose MFB007 specifically for its focus on peer relationships among diverse children, and pair it with other materials for adult representation. Both approaches are valid. The scales do not require every item in a classroom to cover all diversity types on its own.

For accreditation and program administrators

If your program is preparing for an Environment Rating Scales review, pursuing NAEYC or NAFCC accreditation, or building a diversity-aligned materials list for a new classroom, My Family Builders figures are designed to support the scales' diversity item directly. The brand was founded because diverse family figures for early childhood classrooms did not exist at the scale, quality, and honesty these programs needed. Every set is assembled to meet United States and European toy safety standards (ASTM, CPSIA, EN71) and carries the Parents' Choice Gold Award.

For institutional quotes, purchase orders, or accreditation documentation, please contact us directly.

Contact for institutional orders

What the Environment Rating Scales are

The Environment Rating Scales are the most widely used instruments for evaluating the quality of early childhood classroom environments in the United States. They are authored by Thelma Harms, Richard Clifford, and Debby Cryer, published by Teachers College Press, and administered across state Quality Rating and Improvement Systems, Head Start program reviews, and NAEYC accreditation.

Each scale measures a different age range, from infants and toddlers through school-age care, and each one includes an item dedicated to diversity. Accredited programs are scored on whether their materials, displayed pictures, and books reflect the diversity of the children in the room and the broader community.

The diversity item is the single place in the scales where a toy like My Family Builders directly contributes to a program's rating. A classroom that adds My Family Builders figures to its play materials meets the specific scoring indicators the scales use to evaluate materials-based diversity.

How My Family Builders aligns

All four current Environment Rating Scales use substantively identical scoring rubrics for the diversity item. Each one asks whether a classroom includes enough diverse materials, in enough places, across enough categories, to score at the middle and upper ends of the rubric.

At a score of 3 and above, the scales require materials with a meaningful number of racial and cultural examples. My Family Builders' four skin tones across 48 figures in MFB001, 32 figures in MFB002, and 16 figures in MFB007 exceed the three-race floor all four scales establish.

At a score of 5 and above, the scales require materials that support four of the five diversity types: race, culture, age, ability, and nontraditional gender roles. MFB001 and MFB002 support four of these five types. MFB007 supports three, and is strongest when paired with a family set that adds adult figures. My Family Builders figures do not represent disability, and the brand does not claim coverage of that type.