TODDLER
Our Toddler room has babies who are on the move, usually from around 10-18 months. Babies this age are developing a real personality and will reward you with laughter, funny faces and affectionate hugs. First words and first steps are exciting events. A greater sense of independence begins to develop as children begin to crawl, walk, run and climb with greater skill. You may also notice that toddlers this age love to imitate everything - pretending to talk on the phone is a favorite activity. Growth during this time is still rapid, but height and weight gains are not as dramatic. As growth decreases, appetite decreases and children may eat less.
The Toddlers develop walking and exploration skills and through our indoor play equipment, sof play areas, pull and push toys, and large manipulative materials enable the toddler to explore his/her world in a safe, fun and exciting environment. The child to caregiver ratio in this classroom is 4:1.
At Troy Babes in Toyland, your child will have caregivers, including a primary caregiver, who understands the transition between infancy and toddlerhood. With great affection and consistency, they help your child practice making choices, set reasonable expectations, make suggestions rather than commands and suggest alternative activities when trouble is brewing.
Creating a warm and enjoyable environment is key to making your child want to learn. Your child's caregivers will regularly encourage independence while letting your child know there is someone they can depend on within reach. They'll select activities that will enhance the child's language, intellectual and emotional development and his/her large and small motor skills. You will also notice the caregivers on the floor interacting with the toddlers to extend their play, encouraging the use of new words and building social skills.
For toddlers, the hardest work they do is play, and all of their skills are learned through toys, games and hand-on activities. For this reason, Troy Babes in Toyland believes in a hands-on approach to learning, through experimentation and exploration.
The toddler room also focuses on "baby sign language". Baby sign language is a great way to communicate with your pre-verbal toddler. Baby sign language helps infants/toddlers that are ready to communicate, but can't quite bridge the gap to full speech.
Baby sign language has numerous benefits. Most importantly, signing is a lot of fun and helps to form a bond with your child. Infants/toddler that sign are often less fussy because they can tell you what she wants instead of crying. Research also shows that infants/toddlers that utalize sign language get a great start in life - with increased vocabularies and more advanced cognitive skills, even years after they have stopped signing.
When your child is developmentally ready, this classroom will slowly begin to transition you child for what's next to come (the Toddler 2 room). During this time your toddler will begin learning new skills such a s drinking from a sippy cup, use utensils and sleep on a mat. We practice these skills until they are ready to transition, which is usually somewhere around the 18 month mark. With any room transition, your child will begin to visit the Toddler 1 classroom for a couple of hours during the day for a few weeks. Once the child is comfortable in their new surroundings and the child is emotionally, socially and cognitively ready, the transition will be finalized.
You are sure to enjoy having daily communication with the caregivers who are working with your child as well as a written daily sheet outlining meals, naps and diaper changes as well as other key information.