Toddler Program
Our Toddler Program provides a nurturing environment that supports the developmental needs of independence, movement, and opportunities to engage all senses.
Toddlers develop independence by having the choice of sensory materials to interact with, having responsibility for themselves whenever possible and by allowing opportunities for:
- Self-help skills
- Daily chores
- Hygiene and toileting
- Feeding themselves
- Dressing and grooming themselves
Our toddler program provides opportunities to practice autonomy. When toddlers practice self-help skills daily, such as feeding and dressing themselves, they practice their large and small motor skills, and gain confidence in their ability to try new things which all encourage independence.
We help toddlers learn by helping them seek out experiences that engage their senses. Toddlers use their senses to construct meaning of the world around them. By peeling an orange, they use touch, taste and smell to understand what an orange is. By playing in the rain, toddlers get to feel the mud and water squish in their toes, hear the rain fall on the pavement, discover how the rain makes everything smell differently, and seeing what happens when they jump in a puddle. Toddlers learn through interaction with different sensory materials and are able to experiment with cause and effect.
We help toddlers’ physical development with opportunities for large motor play. This also supports the development of children’s social awareness, emotional thinking and language skills. When a toddler jumps into one of our teacher’s laps or runs to hug a friend in our program, the toddler learns how to control and regulate body movements. Toddlers enjoy carrying objects that are bigger than they are, climbing over logs, through tunnels, and under objects. These activities, which often occur in our outdoor natural playground, help toddlers become more stable and more fluid in their movements.
We routinely give toddlers opportunities to use their small motor skills. They use their pincer grasp when using tongs to pick up an object at the sensory table. When pouring their own milk into their cup at lunch time, they refine their hand eye coordination.
