BEGINNING TO LEARN

INFANTS AND TODDLERS: Birth (4 weeks) - 2 years

Infants and toddlers thrive on face to face interactions, leaning into a crib, cooing and telling a baby how much he/she is loved, or holding him/her close, playing a game. This kind of interplay is key to your child's brain development. One of our goals as a teacher of an infant or toddler is to surround your child with talk.

The more words a child hears by age 2 the larger his vocabulary will grow. Infants and toddlers have neurons (or nerve cells) in the brain for language that are waiting to be wired in. Neuron connections are formed by activity, so the more you talk, the more connections your child has, the more vocabulary words he can absorb.

Milestones:
Your infant/toddler should:

• Communicate first with gestures and expressions, then with simple sounds and words.

• Enjoy listening to stories, songs and rhymes and playing language games.

• Learn to talk and respond to others for the pleasure of interaction.

• Love repetition or hearing the same sounds and stories over and over.

• Start using language to explain what she/he wants, ask questions and express his/her feelings and ideas.

• Play and find selected age appropriate toys.

We work with this:

• Talk to your child constantly!
• Give simple explanations of what is happening and what will happen next.
• Use higher pitch and long, drawn out vowels (for example stretch the "I" in "HI" of the "O's" in "GOOD"). This helps your baby hear distinct sounds.
• Every day read aloud stories, sing songs or rhymes and play language games to introduce your baby to the sound of words.
• Create a reading ritual, draw your child close to our lap; this is key to making reading a lifelong habit.
• Use words she/he is not familiar with and explain what they mean.

Books

When choosing books for your infant or toddler, look for:

• Bright and familiar pictures.
• Words and features that invite participation (touch and feel and pop-up books)