Toddler Program (18 months – 3 years)

The early childhood years are the most important as children’s physical, mental and emotional growth begins. It is during this age period that children absorb astonishing amounts of knowledge from their surroundings. Our knowledgeable educators strive to provide a program that meets each child’s needs during this formative period of development.

Our toddler program is carefully designed to promote the development and enhancement of the following skills:

Cognitive abilities (i.e. inhibition, working memory, and focus of attention)
Vocabulary and language skills
Gross and fine motor development
Hand-eye coordination
Practical life skills
Independence
Grace and courtesy
Social skills and cooperation
Mathematics
Sensorial skills

“The environment must be rich in motives which lend interest to activity and invite the child to conduct his own experiences.”

-Maria Montessori

Curriculum components

Practical Life Activities

Practical life activities include many daily tasks children are already familiar with. These activities include increasingly challenging series of motor skills tasks that involve practical life goals. These tasks include setting a table, personal grooming, pouring, watering plats, and sweeping. Moreover, much to the enjoyment of children, grace and courtesy are modeled and taught.

While children enjoying taking care of their environment and taking part in real-life tasks, they gain a sense of independence, learn body control and coordination of movement, develop sense of order, and enhance their concentration abilities.

Language Arts

The critical period for development of language is between birth and three years of age. During this period, toddlers acquire language skills quite rapidly.

Thus, both formal and informal language lessons are presented to children everyday in order to foster oral language development. Formal lessons include vocabulary cards, storybooks, songs and poetry, and show and tell. Informal lessons are those which children learn grammar, vocabulary and punctuation through their interactions with educators and peers.

The toddlers’ classroom is equipped with a comfortable and cozy library area, providing an inviting environment to promote the act of reading.

Sensorial Education

An essential part of the toddler program is learning about shapes, colours, sizes, tastes, and smells. Sensorial education is closely tied with children’s language and vocabulary development. Essentially, the sensorial materials provide children with concrete examples of abstract concepts experienced in the world around them through their senses.

Manipulative activities such as puzzles, sorting, and cutting, help promote the development of fine motor skills. These skills include hand-eye coordination, using both hands together, strengthening the hand muscles and the pincer grasp (motor skills needed for writing).
While refining their senses using sensory materials, children are also enhancing their other abilities such as concentration, sense of order, and intellect.

Gross Motor Development

motor A vital part of our toddler program is the promotion of gross motor skills. Both our indoor gym and outdoor play area are equipped with climbers, hula-hoops, balls, and ride on toys; creating a vibrant and inviting play area where children can explore and enjoy while gaining control of their bodies.

Toddlers are given the opportunity to go outside and play twice daily, weather permitting. The indoor gym is used at times of bad weather conditions. The gym will also be used for extracurricular lessons, such as Kindermusik, Monkeysatix, and Kid’s Yoga.

Mathematics:

Toddlers indirectly experience math on a daily basis. For instance, educators may encourage children to count their steps to the classroom or clap to the rhythm of a song. Sensorial materials and practical life activities also indirectly introduce toddlers to the concepts of volume, length, and sequencing. For instance, a child who is working on pouring water from a pitcher into cups, is not only learning a practical life skill, developing gross motor skills, acquiring concentration abilities, gaining a sense of competency and pride, and developing a sense of order, he/she is also learning basic mathematics skills (ex. a pitches of water can fill three glasses).