Child-sized objects and furniture encourage an environment where the child can develop skills of independence, self-care and creativity. The teachers observe and follow the child in order to allow him/her to develop new and improved strategies for interpreting and relating to our environment.

Parents can enroll their toddler in either the three-day or five-day program; both programs operate from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. If parents choose the former option, they should schedule their child for consecutive days, as this schedule proves to be most optimal for this age group.

In preparation for preschool, the toddler child will have learned the necessary social, verbal, and motor skills to communicate with this older age group. These language skills will prove especially important because at the next level, they will be more formally introduced to the symbolic elements of language, such as handwriting and basic literacy skills.

admissions process

Key Points of Development For Toddlers Advancing to Preschool

  • Language Arts

    • Listening and responding
    • Communicating nonverbally and verbally
    • Participating in communication give-and-take
    • Exploring picture books and magazines
    • Enjoying stories, rhymes, and songs

  • Math

    • Experiencing “more”
    • Experiencing one-to-one correspondence
    • Exploring the number of things
    • Filling and emptying, putting in and taking out

  • Science

    • Exploring and noting how things are the same or different
    • Exploring objects with the hands, feet, mouth, eyes, ears, and nose
    • Showing interest in various objects in the natural environment, such as the fish tank, plants, insects, etc.
    • Taking things apart and fitting them together

  • History/Geography

    • Anticipating familiar events
    • Noticing the beginning and ending of a time interval
    • Repeating an action to make something happen again; experiencing cause and effect
    • Observing people and things from various perspectives

Practical Life

  • Social

    • Forming attachment to a primary caregiver
    • Building relationships with other adults
    • Building relationships with peers
    • Developing social play

  • Social

    • Showing empathy toward the feelings and needs of others
    • Solving problems encountered in exploration and play
    • Imitating and pretending
    • Moving parts of the body (head-turning, grasping, kicking) and moving the whole body (rolling, crawling, cruising, walking, running, balancing)
    • Moving with objects

  • Concentration/Focus

    • Spending greater amounts of time attending to an activity
    • Being able to continue focusing on an object or activity despite sounds or movements from others nearby
    • Showing greater interest in objects or activities

  • Self-Care

    • Being able to drink from a cup and use utensils while eating
    • Showing increased interest and ability in pouring from a pitcher, serving food, and cleaning up after eating
    • Being able to wash hands at a sink
    • Being able to select activities and objects from a shelf and put them away when finished using them
    • Being able to use the toilet with little assistance from a teacher or other caregiver

  • Health and Nutrition

    • Understand the difference between healthy and unhealthy foods
    • Identify differences between breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner
    • Understand the importance of sleep in health

  • Arts

    • Listening and responding to music
    • Exploring and imitating sounds
    • Exploring vocal pitch sounds
    • Feeling and expressing steady beat
    • Exploring building and art materials