Infant Toddler

Infant Toddler Paper

Kaitlyn Groff

EEU 215

Kutztown University
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Infant Toddler Observations

Infant and toddler rooms at any center, or daycare require incredibly specific

requirements to make the room a great place for the children to learn and grow in. I went to a

center called Lehigh Children Academy on Hamilton Blvd in Allentown Pennsylvania. I

contacted the center and asked if I could come in on September 13th and September 18th to

observe both the infant and toddler room. They have both worked with and hired Kutztown

University students in the past and were willing to work with me. I had to turn in my clearances

and then I was all right to come and observe their center. LCA is a Four Star center; they follow

many state regulations within their center. The center requires a key to get into it, and also a

checking of the ID if you ring the bell to get in. The infant and toddler rooms are near the back of

the building on the farther side of the center. It is split into two sections, and older half and

younger half.

During my time observing the center I needed to assess six different sections of the

center: relationships with the child, environment, exploration and play, routines, relationships

with families, and the policies. Relationships with both infant and toddler children should always

be gentle, kind and focused on the well being of the child in the teacher’s care. During my visit

to Lehigh Children Center, I observed the teacher-child relationship in both the infant and the

toddler room. The next section I focus on is the environment of the room. This specifically

means that the children’s artwork is displayed in the room, and that the walls are not too full of

posters and work or empty. It also goes into the soft surfaces and hard surfaces in a room.

Exploration and Play is the ability to allow the children to play not only comfortably but also
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freely and in a way that is developmentally appropriate for them. Routines are the day-to-day

schedules held up for the child. They can vary from the specific needs of an infant or a toddler

but should be followed closely. The relationship with families involves close communication and

respect between the staff members and the families. Lastly policies focus on the centers requires

working with children and ratios of a room that are appropriate and manageable.

Relationships With Children

Focusing on the infant room first, the relationships overall seemed to be really well

maintained. The child care providers on both the older and younger halves of the infant room

were receptive to the infants body language and cues and spoke softly and kindly to the infants.

An older infant, who is still learning to walk, slipped off the surface they were holding and fell.

The baby began to cry and the primary care provider was quick to comfort him. While a 3 month

old was crying for their food, the teacher began to heat up the infant’s bottle. Another infant

began to cry, cueing they wanted attention. At the time there was only one teacher on her side, so

the teacher held the infant she was preparing to feed and placed the 5 month old infant on a

Boppy in front of her and began to talk softly to the infant to get them to stop crying. The infant

teacher holding the child and having gentle and kind and essentially giving the infant one on one

attention to the best of their ability is developmentally appropriate practice. When the teacher

watched for the infants cues is also developmentally appropriate because infants can not use their

words to tell a teacher or caregiver what is wrong with them.

The toddler room displayed similar close bonds with the younger toddler in the room. A

child who was being dropped off around the time I had gotten to the room to observe was greeted
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warmly with a hug before they waddled off to play with the shelf that was opened. The staff

spoke kindly to the children, keeping them involved in what was going on and the children were

doing. When teachers and staff members greet the child and parents kindly this is

developmentally appropriate practice. It makes the children feel welcome when they’re leaving

their parents for the day. There was unfortunately a bite that happened that day between two

children, even during the bite, while the child who had bit was spoken to firmly, there was no

yelling involved. The incident was reported appropriately and photographed. There was

structured reading time in the room, as well as unstructured before nap, although I did not see

that when I was observing.

Environment

The environments of the two rooms were different, because infants and toddler have

different needs for their room. The infant room was fully carpeted, with two soft mats by the play

area and two plastic mats by the sinks where food is provided.These areas are developmentally

appropriate, it has a multitude of surfaces and textures for the infants to explore and discover.

The areas are well separated and kept clean, they are sprayed every nights, or any time spit ups

or blowouts happen. The walls are kept relatively plain, and there are a few pieces of art on the

wall. The roof however does have a few rainbows draped along it as well as some hand made hot

air balloons and hearts hanging down. When rooms have a “good balance of things that are

interesting from a babies perspective” is developmentally appropriate, so having a variety of

things hanging from the ceiling can be entraining to look at for an infant who is primarily on

their back.
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The toddler room, the room is split between hardwood floors and 2 large installed

carpets. There is also a personal carpet kept in the room in front of one of the centers. There were

not sand or sensory tables kept out for the kids and the centers are organized in shelves that are

eye level, but they are kept facing the wall until the teachers plan to open shelves. Having the

centers pushed against the wall is not developmentally appropriate. This unfortunately causes the

toddlers to not have the freedom to explore the toys that they want to play with solely because

the teachers dont want to clean up a massive mess.

Exploration and Play

Exploration and play are described as the allowance and attention of the importance of

both infant and toddler discovery. When observing the infant room, I noticed that they placed an

infant down on their tummy for tummy time and just placed a few random toys in front of the

child to keep them busy. They did not take the time to see if these were toys that the infant was

interested in, but they did leave a variety of toys. A teacher also was holding one of the older

infant males and was reading him a book that was soft and had many sensory items in it. When

caregivers hold the infants and read to them, that interaction is considered developmentally

appropriate practice.

The toddler room has a large cabinets full of art supplies. It is kept out of the children’s

reach because some of the items would definitely be eaten if they had it out. There are large

crayons, bubbles and other various art supplies in it. During my visit I saw that they had pulled

out contact paper and used the sticky side to have the toddlers place cut up pieces of tissue paper

to create a pumpkin. The toddlers were called up one by one to the table and placed papers on it.
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The other kids were kept busy with music and other toys, though there are always kids who want

to be involved in what the teacher is doing. There is no child sized sink in the room and the toys

are only accessible when the teacher decides to open a center and turn it around to face the kids.

Children should have child sized objects and the sink should have a stool for the children to use

whenever they need it. The staff not having a stool out for children to wash their hands on their

own is not developmentally appropriate practice.

Routines

The routines in both rooms are followed in a relatively strict manner. The infant room

schedule is mostly focused on the infant’s specific needs. I notice they have a white board on

both sides of the room. On these whiteboards are the lists of the infants names, their diapering

times, and the times that they need to be fed. They also have the infants that require cream every

time, and the ones who only require it when needed. The routines are child specific and range. I

was there during breakfast, which is from 8:00 to 8:30. During this time the infants that are older

and eat the centers food were placed in high chairs and fed by the primary care giver. She

allowed them to eat on their own with her supervision. This is developmentally appropriate and

allows the infants to gain independence. Smaller infants are held to be fed, and their bottles are

labeled and kept safe. When the caregivers hold the infants and feed them in their arms this is

developmentally appropriate as well. Diapering happen every two hours, or if the child is redder

than usual every hour to hour and a half.

Toddlers follow the same schedule every day. I was there from 10:00 to 11:00 on the 18th

of September. I was there during free play and at the very beginning of lunch. I saw the

preparation for lunch, which includes wiping hands off and getting seated. After lunch is story
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time and nap according to the schedule. Diaper happens every two hours, or as needed when the

toddler goes number two. Having the toddlers need to “repeat tasks until they master the steps” is

developmentally appropriate. It allows the toddlers to master their routine and keep the routine

constant for them.

Relationships with families

The relationships with families are kept on high regards in both rooms from what I have

seen. The center uses iPads and an application called Tadpoles. This allows the rooms to

communicate with families throughout the day, updating for incidents, what the infant ate, the

lesson plans for the day, and fun photos or just updates. It allows for easier communication

between the families and staff. During drop off in the infant room I saw a parent and teacher

speak about how the infant might be fussier because they are teething. Any requests by parents

are respect in the room as long as they are not harmful to the infant. In the toddler room, I saw a

bite happen. When the bite happened the staff were quick to react and took a picture to send to

the parents. They told me they write up an incident on both the app and on a piece of paper for

the center keep. When the teachers keep records of diapers, injuries, and make the parents feel

good about where their children are safe is developmentally appropriate.

Policies

The polices for both room in the center are the same other than the ratio. The ratio for the

infant room is one teacher to four children. Only staff members who are familiar to the infants
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work with them unless they are trained to be back there. In the toddler room the ratio is one

teacher to five toddlers. Other than that the center hires people who have clean back ground

checks, and have teachers who want to be there. I noticed this when I was observing because it

seemed like the teachers working with the children really enjoyed their jobs. The center is

cleaned regularly and I was told trash is taken out every night, and that the surfaces and toys are

cleaned once during nap and at the end of the day every day. Cleaning the surfaces and having

the information out for how sanitation is kept in the center is developmentally appropriate.

The center seemed to be pretty well rounded in most of the sections that I focused on in

my observations. I feel that their relationships with the child and with the families are incredibly

strong and it seems as though communication is a key component for the staff and center. The

routines are followed closely and anything that needs to be changed in a routine is looked at

closely before the decision is made. I will say out of all of my observations that the exploration

and play aspect of the rooms are bit more limited than I would have liked to see. Not having a

sink that is child sized and easily accessible for the children makes it very difficult for them to

learn basic sanitary needs. Adding in a way for the toddlers to be able to wash their hands would

benefit them immensely. I also think focus on the infants interests with toys will help to stimulate

them better with toys that they are interested in. Looking to grow in weak areas does not make a

center bad, and if the center can improve in a few things, it will help the children who are there

thrive in an even better environment than the one they were already in. In conclusion the center

was really well kept and the staff and children were incredibly pleasant to meet and interact with.

I look forward to seeing the center, and other centers again.

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References

Developmentally Appropriate Examples to Consider Article.