LITTLE DUCKLING DAYCARE: TODDLERS

We understand that choosing the best early childhood education family for your toddler can be stressful. We would like to make this transition for your 13-35 month old toddler as easy as possible. Our loving caregivers provide a culture and atmosphere of patience, compassion and excitement. Your toddler will thrive while learning skills such as exploring their gross motor skills, social-emotional skills and learning to make new friends, just to name a few

COGNITIVE AND LANGUAGE SKILLS

• Demonstrate continual growth in understanding increasingly complex and varied vocabulary

• Respond to simple statements, requests, and/or gestures

• Use gestures to clarify communication 

• Use single words or simple phrases

• Demonstrate intent of communicating with others

• Distinguish words from pictures

• Engage in word and sound play with adults

• Distinguish between words that contain similar-sounding phonemes 

• Bring a book to a caregiver to read

• Look at books independently 

• Pretend to read familiar books

• Attend to pictures and text for several minutes

• Show preference for familiar stores

• Respond to simple questions about a story with adult support

• Explore drawing, painting, and writing as a way of communicating

• Imitate drawing marks or scribbling

MATH SKILLS

• Imitate verbal counting sequence

• Line up or organize objects

• Identify numerals as different from letters or other symbols

• Identify which is more

• Develop the concepts of more and less

• Give “all’ objects when asked

• Separate a whole quantify of something into parts  

• Take away objects or combine groups when asked

• Attend to a new object in a group of objects

• Follow along and imitate patterns of sounds and movement

• Clap or move to a beat

• Identify attributes of objects with adult support

• Combine shapes to make new shapes

• Hide behind or between objects for play

• Match identical shapes

• Follow a daily schedule      

• Use basic measurement words or gestures to express measurable attributes such as big/little, hot/cold  

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL SKILLS

• Identify image of self

• Say own name

• Show knowledge of own abilities

• Communicate feelings and emotions

• Express emotion toward a familiar person

• Imitate comforting behaviors of caregivers

• Use sounds, gestures, and actions to express feelings

• Follow simple routines with adult support

• Self-soothe with minimal adult support

• Demonstrate the beginnings of impulse control with adult support

• Imitate how others solve conflicts

• Experiment with trial and error approaches to solve simple problems and conflicts

• Use social referencing when encountering new experiences

• Observe friendship skills in the environments

APPROACHES TO PLAY & LEARNING

• Show interest in what others are doing

• Select desired objects from several options

• Show curiosity/interest in new objects, experiences, and people

• Ask questions about familiar objects, people, and experiences

• Explore and manipulate familiar objects in the environment

• Use objects for real or imagined purposes

• Engage and persist with an activity, toy, or object

SCIENTIFIC THINKING

• Notice and react to cause and effect within the physical environment

• Use tools to explore the physical environment

• Begin to identify physical attributes of objects

• Imitate the actions of others as they explore objects

• Copy patterns and rhythms with objects

• Notice and gesture to different objects in the sky

• Explore the natural environment

• Observe and investigate environment, nature, and climate/weather

• Identify living organisms by name

• Name basic body parts

• Test limits of the environment

• Begin to construct and deconstruct using readily available materials

• Demonstrate curiosity

• Solve problems using trial and error

CREATIVE ARTS

• Respond to music by moving own body

• Imitate sounds using voice or objects

• Sing along to familiar songs

• Make rhythmic patterns with objects

• Use simple art materials

• Express preferences for certain art materials

• Explore a variety of media 

• Express likes or dislikes of certain colors or patterns 

• Look at pictures, photographs, and illustrations

• Use objects as symbols for other things

• Demonstrate simple character/animal sounds with motions

SOCIAL STUDIES

• Participate in celebrations and other cultural events if observed

• Demonstrate a sense of belonging to a group by engaging in parallel play

• Notice differences in others

• Use simple words to show recognition of family members and familiar adults 

• Adapt to changes in routine and/or schedule

• Anticipate events

• Respond to stories about time and age

• Understand and follow basic guidance

• Respond to simple location terms

• Use a variety of materials to represent familiar objects

• Recognize parts of surroundings

• Look toward location where familiar objects are stored with the expectation of finding them

• Show interest in various aspects of the environment

• Communicate desire for objects and/or persons that are in the classroom or home

• Imitate familiar roles and routines

• Observe others carrying out routines and responsibilities and begin to imitate

• Make choices known

PHYSICAL HEALTH & GROWTH

• Participate with adult support in health and hygiene-related behaviors

• Imitate personal health practices

• Demonstrate awareness of danger

• Respond to adult direction to change behavior in order to avoid danger or prevent injuries 

• Express when hungry or full

• Try new foods

• Feed self with some assistance

• Try a new action with a familiar object

• Identify basic body parts

• Use trial and error to discover how the body and objects move through space

• Use simple movement skills to participate in active physical play

• Gain control of hands and fingers

• Begin to develop coordination and balance, requiring less support