Infant and Toddler

Programs

JOCELYN D. FASTIDIO
EDD
 “PLAY IS THE
CHILDREN’S WORK”
– Maria Montessori
 Play and Exploration as Curriculum

PLAY IN TODDLERS
Play is an activity where children
show their remarkable ability for
exploration, imagination and decision
making. The type of play children engage
in and its purposes change over the course
of childhood from infancy to adolescence.
 How does play support your child’s development and learning?

1. Physical Development
2. Social & Emotional Development
3. Cognitive Development
4. Literacy & Numeracy development
 What does a play based approach to learning look like?

Educators encourage children’s learning through

play by:
providing resources that reflect children’s ages,
interests, knowledge, strengths, abilities and culture
to stimulate and support play. Resources which
allow open ended use of items like blocks or
cardboards boxes foster creativity and the ability to
manipulate concepts mentally as children. For
example, turn a box into a car.
 What does a play based approach to learning look like?

Educators encourage children’s learning

through play by:
Planning play experiences based on the
assessment of children’s individual
differences, interests, developmental needs
and ability. For example, as a child learns to
hold a pencil to draw and write, educators
will give children different sized objects to
grasp, and to build strength in the child’s
fingers.
 What does a play based approach to learning look like?

Educators encourage children’s learning

through play by:
observing children as they play so that they can
understand how they play with other children,
what skills and understanding they demonstrate
in play and what activities can strengthen their
skills in play.
 What does a play based approach to learning look like?

Educators encourage children’s learning

through play by:
joining in children’s play to extend the
child’s learning and to model skills such as
reasoning, appropriate language, and
positive behaviors.

providing large blocks of unhurried and

uninterrupted time for play for children’s
ideas and games to develop
 How can you contribute to your child’s learning through play?

✓ sharing information about your child’s interests

and abilities with their educators so that they can
plan play experiences for your child based on
their interests and abilities
✓ playing with your child
✓ discussing your child’s program with the
educators at your child’s service, and the
activities your child enjoys playing and taking
part in
✓ advocating for safe and interesting play spaces
in your local community.
 Play and Exploration as Curriculum

Role of Adults
1. Planning for play
• Paying attention to environment and
structure.
• Building and extending
• Providing choices.
2. Supporting Play
• Talking about play
• Validating their efforts 3. Reviewing Play
• Preventing problems • Checking in
• Observing space
• Building children up • Thinking critically
3. Reviewing Play • Making plans
 Environmetal Factors Affecting Play

Clair Heffron (2016):

1. Size of play space
2. Social environment
3. Sensory features of the environment
4. Familiarity of space and materials
5. Complexity and variety of play materials
 WHY IS PLAY IMPORTANT IN TODDLERS?

Play improves the cognitive, physical, social, and

emotional well-being of children and young
people.

Through play, children learn about the world and

themselves.

They also learn skills they need for study, work and
relationships such as:

confidence
self-esteem
resilience
interaction
social skills
independence
curiosity
coping with challenging situations
 WHY IS PLAY IMPORTANT IN TODDLERS?

Developing physical health through play

Physical play such as running, skipping and riding a
bicycle helps children develop:

good physical fitness

agility
stamina
co-ordination
balance
 WHY IS PLAY IMPORTANT IN TODDLERS?

Developing social skills through play

Playing can help children develop their social skills
with others. By listening, paying attention and
sharing play experiences, this helps a child:

explore their feelings

develop self-discipline
learn how to express themselves
work out emotional aspects of life
 WHY IS PLAY IMPORTANT IN TODDLERS?

Play and challenge

Children often want to create challenge and
uncertainty in their play. Through risky, challenging
play, children test themselves and find out their
own limits. They learn how to deal with risk through
play and can use these same skills later in life.

Parents & Teachers should encourage their children

from birth to extend themselves. Teach them basic
skills including:

riding a bicycle
swimming
road safety
 WHAT IS A PLAY-BASED PROGRAM?

A play-based approach involves both child-

initiated and teacher-supported learning. The
teacher encourages children’s learning and inquiry
through interactions that aim to stretch their
thinking to higher levels.
 What can be gained through play-based programs?

In such programs, play can be in the form of free

play (activity that is spontaneous and directed by
the child), and guided play (also child-directed,
but the teacher is involved in the activity as a co-
player) with intentional teaching. Both have
benefits for children’s learning. To capitaliZe on
these benefits, an optimum play-based program
will provide opportunities for both free play and
guided play.
 What can be gained through play-based programs?

Involvement in play stimulates a child’s drive for

exploration and discovery. This motivates the child
to gain mastery over their environment, promoting
focus and concentration. It also enables the child
to engage in the flexible and higher-level thinking
processes deemed essential for the 21st century
learner. These include inquiry processes of problem
solving, analYZing, evaluating, applying knowledge
and creativity.
 Attachment and Perception

MEANING OF ATTACHMENT IN DIFFERENT AGE

LEVELS
Attachment to a protective caregiver helps infants
to regulate their negative emotions in times of stress
and distress and to explore the environment, even
if it contains somewhat frightening stimuli.

Attachment, a major developmental milestone in

the child’s life, remains an important issue
throughout the lifespan.

In adulthood, attachment representations shape

the way adults feel about the strains and stresses of
intimate relationships, in particular parent-child
relationships, and the way in which the self is
perceived.
 Attachment and Perception

4 Phases of the Development of Attachment

In the first phase — indiscriminately orienting and

signaling to people — the baby seems “tuned” to
certain wave-lengths of signals from the
environment. These signals are mostly of human
origin (e.g. the sound of voices).

During the second phase, probably first by smell

and then by sight, the baby develops preference
for one or more caregivers — the phase of orienting
and signaling to one or several specific persons.
 Attachment and Perception

4 Phases of the Development of Attachment

Not until the infant is able to show active

attachment behavior, such as actively seeking
proximity to and following the attachment figure,
does the infant enters the third phase, the phase of
attachment proper — staying near a specific
person by means of signaling and movement.

Children enter the fourth phase of the goal-

corrected partnership when they can imagine the
parent or caregiver’s plans and perceptions and fit
their own plans and activities according to these.
 Explaining individual differences in attachment

RESEARCH FINDINGS

1. The basic model of explaining individual

differences in attachment relationships
assumes that sensitive or insensitive parenting
determines infant attachment (in-)security
2. Lack of responsiveness or inconsistent
sensitivity has indeed been found to be
associated with insecurity in children,
and consistent sensitive responsiveness
with secure bonds.
 Brain Development Basics

RESEARCH FINDINGS

1. Brain development is a constantly

changing interaction between genes
and the environment, with postnatal
experiences altering the structure of
the brain.
2. More refined control of brain
development is accomplished by
changing the activity of specific
connections between neurons.
 Brain Development Basics

RESEARCH FINDINGS (Hasting, 2012)

3. No brain area functions in isolation and

that brain changes induced by early life
experiences are ubiquitous throughout the
brain.
4. The brain functions differently at each
stage of development to ensure
appropriate behaviors for survival at each
of those developmental stages.
5. The important role of sensory stimulation
for brain development is thought to be an
important mechanism in an infant’s
development.
 Brain Development Basics

RESEARCH FINDINGS

6. Myron Hofer calls the mother’s sensory

stimulation of the infant a “hidden
regulator” of the infant’s physiology and
behavior.
7. There is no special receptor for love, a
feeling of safety, or any other emotion to
enter the child’s brain. The only way
information about attachment quality can
be transduced to enter the brain is
through our five senses.
 Supporting Secure Attachment

1. Be responsive and warm

•Respond to children's needs
•Soothe children in distress
•Learn to read and respond to children's cues
•Spend time together (quantity matters)
•Engage in positive physical contact (hugging,
singing, holding, etc.)
•Play with children, specifically in activities that
support reciprocity
 Supporting Secure Attachment

2. Provide concrete support

 Supporting Secure Attachment

2. Provide concrete support

ANY …
(Open Forum)
 REFERENCES

https://www.communityplaythings.com/resources/articles/2005/infants-have-their-own-curriculum.

https://theconversation.com/play-based-learning-can-set-your-child-up-for-success-at-school-and-
beyond-91393.

https://www.whitbyschool.org/passionforlearning/how-do-children-learn-through-play.
Po!