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Children go through multiple development phases, and each one comes with its unique challenges and experiences. Here are four different childcare age ranges and daycare ages you should be aware of: infant age range, toddler age range, preschool age range, and kindergarten age range. For more information about the toddler childcare centre, click here.
Social and Emotional Development
When infants and toddlers feel safe, loved and secure, they are more open to exploring their world. Caregivers who can read their emotional cues, respond promptly and sympathetically, and validate their feelings are better equipped to help them develop healthy social-emotional skills.
Toddlers often play with other children, and this type of interaction is critical to their development. It teaches them to cooperate and allows them to practice handling big emotions like frustration, guilt and shame. Provide opportunities for toddlers to play with puppets, sing songs and use books that discuss feelings. It’s also a good idea to include sensory activities, such as messy play, in your daily schedule.
Physical Development
Young children need physical development to improve their motor skills and help them develop strong bones and muscles, maintain a healthy weight and have good balance. Physical development also contributes to cognitive development – when toddlers move and explore the world around them, they learn about the properties of objects.
Teachers can support children’s physical development in a group childcare setting by ensuring that infants and toddlers have opportunities for active play outside. They can do this by laying down a soft mat to section off a part of the outdoor space for infants and toddlers, which signals that this area and the toys in it are just for them. For more information about the toddler childcare centre, click here.
They can also ensure that group childcare facilities meet state requirements for group size and child-to-adult ratios. This is important because smaller groups and lower ratios allow teachers to spend time interacting with children, helping them reach their physical milestones.
Communication Skills
Children learn to communicate through back-and-forth interactions with teachers and other adults. This can be verbal, but it can also include non-verbal communication like body language. Children use this to express their emotions and needs, and it builds the foundation for forming relationships later in life.
Childcare workers should take their time to communicate with each child. They should approach extensive conversations with an empathetic attitude. They should listen actively and mirror the child’s main points.
They should also take into account the family’s preferred methods of communication. This will allow the childcare centre to keep families up-to-date on events and their children’s progress. It will also ensure that all parents receive important information regardless of language or cultural preferences.
Cognitive Development
Cognitive development refers to each child’s growing ability to learn and process information. This includes attention, memory, problem-solving and thinking skills. Children build their cognitive skills by engaging in hands-on activities that are interesting and challenging for their age group.
Understanding what is considered ‘normal’ cognitive developmental milestones for toddlers is essential because this will help you recognize any delays in brain functions. This can be very concerning, especially if your child is not progressing at the same pace as their peers of the same age. For more information about the toddler childcare centre, click here.
Research shows that quality child care is vital to a toddler’s learning and cognitive development. Unfortunately, most families do not have access to high-quality child care. This leaves many toddlers in low or mediocre-quality care that can negatively impact their learning.
Language Development
Almost immediately after birth, children use their cries and gestures to communicate with the world. Soon, they begin babbling, often copying the sounds they hear from their parents or caregivers. It’s a good idea to talk to infants in what is commonly known as “motherese”, speaking to them in a soothing, high-pitched voice that helps them distinguish words.
By the age of three, toddlers usually speak in phrases and make three-word sentences. They also understand a lot more than they can say, so they can use body language like pointing and waving to convey what they want.