Inspirational and Empowering Child Care Business Owners To Build Successful Child Care Businesses

Four Things You Must Know About Infant & Toddlers by Dr. Bisa Lewis

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Dr. Bisa is Founder and Managing Partner of Ideal Early Learning, LLC and WINGS Curriculum, LLC. She is a published author of education and parenting articles, college textbooks, children’s books, early childhood curriculum, early learning handbooks and more.

#1 Assessing their Needs

The most appropriate way to fulfill the needs of infants and toddlers is to first assess their needs – physically, socially, emotionally, linguistically and intellectually. 

#2 Daily Opportunities to Explore

Like preschoolers, infants and toddlers need daily opportunities to explore the environment, learn new skills, and interact with adults and peers.

#3 Infant/Toddlers need to be in an Environment that Stimulates their Brain

Babies are born with 100+ billion brain cells called neurons. The first five years of life are the prime years for children to learn HOW to learn. Infants and toddlers should be engaged in safe indoor and outdoor activities that stimulate the brain.

#4 The first five years are critical!

During the first five years of life, children are sponges! If provided suitable learning opportunities, children can do more than just fly, they can soar. WINGS Curriculum recommends six learning centers for infants and nine for toddlers.

Check out WINGS at www.WINGScurriculum.com and Visit Dr. Bisa’s website http://www.drbisa.com/.

Category:

Curriculum, Featured Expert, Health/Safety, Infant/Toddler Care, Quality Care

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Caring for Infant and Toddlers in Mixed Age Groups

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Caring for infant and toddlers in a mixed age group is very common in home daycares. In fact, it can be very challenging if the environment is not designed to care for mixed age groups.

Moreover, the provider must have very good supervision skills and be able to monitor the older children around the younger children. Also, the toys for preschoolers may not be appropriate for infant/toddlers and may pose a choking hazard. So, the provider must carefully plan for the environment.

However, childcare centers are required to have a separate space that is designed to meet the needs of  infant/toddlers. In most infant/toddler units you will only find children between the ages of 0-24 months of age. The space may be divided off with sleeping space, crawling space, an area for walking toddlers and a place for feeding/diapering.

Having a place designated for infant/toddler care can be a luxury for the child and the caregiver. However, just like a home daycare caring for a mixed age group, it takes plenty of planning to meet the developmental needs of the infant/toddlers in a childcare center.

Do you care for a mixed age group of infant/toddlers?  Are your preschoolers and infants on two different schedules? The writer of the article, Caring for infant/toddlers in groups describes six components of early group care and they are as follows: 

  •  group size
  • quality of the physical environment
  •  primary caregiving assignments
  • continuity of care
  •  cultural and familial continuity
  •  meeting the needs of the individual within the group context

As you can see, there is a number of factors that contributes to caring for infant/toddlers  in mixed age groups. Read more

With your Success in Mind,

Shiketa

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Category:

Child Care Center, Home Daycare, Infant/Toddler Care, Program Planning, Uncategorized

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