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ESSENTIALS

Caring for Infants and Toddlers

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■Bright Beginnings for Babies by Pam Schiller

■Places for Babies: Infants and Toddlers in Groups by Jim Greenman

■Curriculum for Infants and Toddlers by Margie Carter

■Can Babies Read and Write? by Deb Curtis

■Brain Research, Infant Learning, and Child Care Curriculum by J. Ronald Lally

■Bonding with Your Babies by Alice S. Honig, PhD

■Caring for the Little Ones — Don’t Interrupt a Busy Baby by Karen Miller

■Caring for the Little Ones — How Infants and Toddlers Use Symbols by Karen Miller

■Supporting Infant Teachers in Their Care of Fussy Babies by Cindy Jurie and Marsha Baker

■More Purposeful and Intentional Infant and Toddler Care by Pam Schiller

■Riding the Waves of Working with Infants and Toddlers by Margie Carter

■Secrets for Early Childhood Professionals by Alice Sterling Honig, Ph.D.

■Worlds For Infants and Toddlers: New Ideas by Jim Greenman

■Encouraging a New View of Toddlers by Margie Carter

■No Ordinary Moments: Using Observations With Toddlers to Invite Further Engagement by Deb Curtis

Exchange, PO Box 3249, Redmond, WA 98073(800) 221-2864 • www.ChildCareExchange.com

Reprinted with permission from Exchange magazine. Visit us at www.ChildCareExchange.com or call (800) 221-2864.Multiple use copy agreement available for educators by request.

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TChild Care Information Exchange 3/03 — 8

chart), and they need caring people toensure that wiring opportunities aremaximized.

Windows of Opportunities

During the early years there are numer-ous critical windows of opportunity forwiring (fertile times) that should not bemissed if optimal brain development isto occur. These windows provide arough timetable that indicates when thebrain is especially geared to developvarious senses and abilities. Knowingwhen the windows of opportunity forwiring occur and what can be offered inthe way of experiences and interactionsduring those times offers caregivers andparents great insight into how they canhelp children grow into capable, caring,and good-natured beings.

It is important to understand that whenthe brain is wiring for a particular senseor ability, the child’s experiences caneither enhance or hinder that wiring.For example, during the first year of lifethe brain is set to wire for trust (the

Bright Beginningsfor Babies

by Pam Schiller

Pam Schiller, Ph.D.,is senior nationalearly childhoodconsultant for SRA/McGraw-Hill, and apast president of

the Southern Early Childhood Associa-tion. She was the administrator of achild care center for several years andhas also taught in the public schoolsas a kindergarten teacher. She is seniorauthor of The DLM Early ChildhoodProgram (a full curriculum for preschool children), as well as anumber of teacher resource books.

Quality Experiences andCaring Interactions

Brain development is contingent on acomplex interplay between genes andthe environment. While it is true thatbabies arrive with a genetic predisposi-tion, it is also true that experienceswithin the environment will serve as thearchitect of the brain. What little onesexperience in the environment will

contribute to both the structure andcapacity of the brain.

Human interactions also play a role inbrain development. Positive interactionswill enhance the wiring. Negative inter-actions or a lack of interaction will inter-fere with the wiring, and in some caseseven destroy the wiring. Little onesneed experiences that coincide with thewindows of opportunity for wiring (see

“What you teach from birth to three is what matters most to me”*

The first three years of life lay the foundation for lifelong learning. The child’s brain is busy wiring the foundation for vision, emotionalstability, language development, motor development, thinking skills,and much more. By age three, a child’s brain is two and a half timesmore active than an adult’s. It is more fertile than it will ever be again.The foundation for a lifetime of learning is in place, and parents andcaregivers have played a critical role in establishing that foundation.

*This slogan is copyrighted. It comes printed on several items from Noodle Soup, adirect-mail business in Cleveland, Ohio. Call (800) 795-9295 for their free catalog, orcheck their web site at www.noodlesoup.com.

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Child Care Information Exchange 3/03 — 9

� Talk with babies, whether you arenear or as far away as across a room.To an infant who is less than 7 to 8months old, out of sight is out ofmind.

� By the fourth month of life, an infantcan read your emotions by notingyour facial expressions. Smile at littleones while you are talking to them.They feel comforted by your happi-ness. Calm yourself before picking upa little one. They can read frustrationson your face and through your bodymovements.

� Keep babies joyful by playing gameswith them, singing to them, talking tothem, and reading to them. Joyfulnessbuilds strong emotional wiring.

� Cheer for baby’s accomplishments.

Between 14 months and age 4, a child’sbrain is wiring for impulse control.

� Set limits and consistently upholdthem.

� Provide simple explanations, evenbefore you think baby can understandthem.

� Reward appropriate behaviors with asmile, a pat on the back, a hug, or ahigh five.

� Ignore temper tantrums as much aspossible.

Social Skills

Almost as soon as an infant is born, hestrives to understand how he fits intothe world. He looks, listens, andtouches in an attempt to discover how

basis of emotional intelligence). If thebaby’s experiences are positive (caringand nurturing), the brain will wire fortrust. If those experiences are negative(uncaring and neglectful), the brain willstill wire, but it will wire for mistrust.Rewiring is possible in most cases, withthe exception of vision, but it becomesmore difficult with every passing daybecause the wiring strengthens asexperiences are repeated.

Suggestions for EnhancingWiring Opportunities

Following are descriptions of thewindows of opportunity and somesuggestions for enhancing the wiringopportunities.

Emotional Intelligence

During the first 14 months of life, thebaby’s brain is wiring for trust. Trust isthe basis for emotional intelligence.

� Pick babies up when they cry. Youcan’t spoil a baby. Hug them. Talk tothem. Smile. Check their diapers.Make sure they aren’t hungry. Briefperiods of stress will not harm babies,but prolonged periods of distressshould be avoided at all cost.

� Learn to recognize infant cues. Theycan communicate long before theysay their first words. Tired babies rubtheir eyes. Hungry babies cry. Smilingbabies are saying let’s talk some more orkeep playing this game. When babieshave had enough, they turn away.

people work or operate. Our actionsand reactions and our words andresponses provide information to thebaby that he will use to lay a foundationfor his development of the concept ofself. For normal development, babiesneed to know right from the beginningthat they can cause good things to hap-pen, things that cause people aroundthem to respond in positive ways. When baby cries, someone picks him up andcomforts him. When he smiles, someonesmiles back. He learns that social inter-actions are give and take.

� Play interaction games such as Peek-a-Boo or How Big is Baby?

� When baby coos, talk or coo back.� Celebrate baby’s accomplishments.

Delight in his or her attempts to getyour attention.

� Create a cuddle time each day foreach baby. Babies learn to comfortthemselves when they are comfortedby you. Talk, sing, or read to them.

Motor Development

Movement is critical to learning, and thewiring that enables the refinement ofmovement ability begins at birth. Earlymovements and motor control is wiredduring the first two years of life as thebaby moves from automatic reflexes tocontrolled movements and coordinationthat allow her to accomplish such move-ments as rolling over, holding a rattle,standing, and eventually walking. Themore opportunities babies have formoving, the stronger their muscles

Window for: Wiring Window Greatest Enhancement Opportunity

Emotional Intelligence Birth–48 months 4 years – 8 years

Social Skills (Attachment) Birth–24 months 2 years – 8 years

Motor Development Birth–24 months 2 years – 8 years

Vision Birth–24 months 2 years – 6 years

Early Sounds 4–8 months 8 months – 10 years

Thinking Skills Birth–48 months 4 years – 12 years

Vocabulary Development Birth–24 months 2 years – 7 years

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by encouraging older infants andtoddlers to mimic your actions.

� Do movement activities with littleones. Exercise their arms and legs.Play movement games. Encourageolder infants to dance.

Vision

The only window of opportunity thatslams shut is the window for visualwiring. If babies don’t have appropriatevisual experiences during the first twoyears of life, their visual wiring will beimpaired. Most children receive ade-quate stimulation for appropriatewiring in the normal course of eventsduring the first two years. However, if achild is born with cataracts on his or hereyes, and the cataracts are not removeduntil after the second year, some areasof vision will never be wired.

� Limit the use of television. Manydoctors and researchers advise notelevision viewing prior to the age of2. A baby’s brain needs to be wiringfor the three-dimensional world. Thetelevision presents two-dimensionalimagery.

� Place objects at the appropriate dis-tance for baby’s visual accessibility.Newborns can see from 9 to 14 inchesaway from their faces. By the end ofthe first month of life, an infant cansee 2 to 3 feet away. By the thirdmonth of life, the baby can see acrossthe room.

� Use and allow the baby to use three-dimensional objects whenever possi-ble. Remember that pictures areinteresting, but they are two-dimensional, and the baby’s brain is attempting to wire for a three-dimensional world.

� Use colors that are appealing to baby.Three month olds recognize red, blue,and green. Five month olds begin torecognize white and yellow. Babieslove bright colors, and bright colorhelp keep babies alert.

� Change objects on mobiles periodi-cally to vary visual stimulation.

Early Sounds

Infants form permanent maps in theirbrains that are based on the native lan-guage they hear. During the first yearof life, infants distinguish thephonemes (smallest units of sound) ofthe languages they hear. Neurons intheir brains are responsible for sortingout different sounds, and at no othertime will these neurons be more activeor the child more sensitive to sounds.

� Talk, talk, talk! Babies need to hearlanguage as often as possible. Televi-sion is no substitute! An infant needslanguage that is interactive withanother person. The more people lit-tle ones listen to, the better they wirethe sounds of language. Describeyour actions while you are doingthem. Talk about routines and what’scoming up next. Tell baby a storyabout something that happened toyou on the way to work. Carry onboth sides of a conversation byresponding for Austin, who isn’t talk-ing yet.

� Sing, sing, sing! Singing offers adifferent perspective of language.

� Read, read, read! Reading offers astill different experience with lan-guage.

� Invite the children from older class-rooms to come in and talk with, singto, or read to the babies.

Vocabulary

By the time they are 18 months old,babies with chatty caretakers havevocabularies that are 185 words largerthan their peers. By the time they aretwo, the difference has increased to 295words. The larger a child’s vocabulary,the more likely adults are to use morewords when talking to that child, which

become and the more accurate theybecome in guiding their movements.

� Limit the amount of time infantsspend in confined areas such as babyseats, car seats, strollers, and smallsleeping areas.

� Make sure little ones have a safe areafor active exploration. The more theymove, the better they are able to movewith balance and accuracy.

� Encourage movement by placingobjects just out of baby’s reach or

Songs and Chants forthe Whole Day

Try some of these songs and chantswith little ones during the day. Theyare a great way to keep languageflowing for little ones. When you tireof these, make up your own.

Morning Greeting

Madison, Madison,*Howdy-do.Hello. Good-day.How are you?

(*substitute baby’s name)

Feeding Time

(Tune: “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”)

Chew, Chew, Chew Your Food

Chew, chew, chew your foodA little at a time.Chew it slow, chew it fast,Chew it to this rhyme.

or

Drink, drink, drink your milkA little at a time.Drink it slow, drink it fast,Drink it to this rhyme.

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in turn creates the likelihood that thechild’s vocabulary will continue togrow.

� Label things for baby. When you handMadison a cup say “cup.” When youroll her a ball, say “ball.” As babiesgets older add adjectives — “blue cup”or “striped ball.”

� Discuss facial expressions. Point outand name body parts.

� Don’t use baby talk. Say “water,” not“wa-wa.”

� Expand on words by building sen-tences around them. For example, ifEvan says “ball,” you say, “Do youwant the ball?”

� Provide board books. Look throughthe books with little ones, and namethe items on the pages.

� Say chants and rhymes to little ones.They will love the playful andrhythmic sound of the words.

� Talk, talk, talk! Sing, sing, sing! Read,read, read!

Thinking Skills

One of the most important cognitiverevelations during the first year of life isthe understanding of cause and effect.As little ones begin to understand thatmany actions (effects) are direct resultsof others (causes), they develop a foun-dation for problem solving and a moresophisticated ability to think. If weallow them to practice the steps of solv-ing problems, they will develop neuralnetworks that will provide a foundationfor a life-long ability to find solutions toproblems.

� Provide toys that reinforce cause-and-effect relationships, such as rattles,jack-in-the boxes, busy boxes, musicboxes, and squeak toys.

� Encourage little ones to solve child-size problems. If Gabrielle’s ball rollsunder a piece of furniture, wait to seeif she can discover a way to retrieve


it. If a toy is just out of reach, see ifbaby can find a way to reach it.

� Let older infants and toddlers see yousolve problems. Verbalize yourthinking. “Whoops! The tab came offyour diaper. What can I do? I could getanother diaper, but that would be waste-ful. I know. I can use masking tape tohold your diaper in place.”

The sophistication of modern technol-ogy has given us a key — a key to thefuture. We are daily shaping the lives ofthe little ones in our care. There is nojob on earth more important than that ofcaregivers and parents. We hold in ourhands tomorrow’s doctors, lawyers,teachers, politicians, police officers, anda multitude of other future citizens,including mothers and fathers. We cangive every baby a bright beginning.Let’s do it! Every bright beginning hasthe potential to ultimately lead toanother bright beginning.

References

Begley, S. “How to Build a Baby’sBrain.” Newsweek, 28-32, Special Edition1997.

Carnegie Corporation of New York(1994). Starting Points — Meeting theNeeds of Our Youngest Children, NewYork, NY.

“Your Child Birth to Three.” Newsweek,Special Edition 2000.

Ramey, C. T., & Sharon, L. (1999). RightFrom Birth. New York: Goddard Press.

Schiller, P. (Spring 1999). Start Smart:Building Brain Power in The Early Years.Beltsville, MD: Gryphon House.

Web Pages:www.iamyourchild.org • www.nccic.orgwww.zerotothree.org • www.naeyc.org

More Songs and Chantsfor the Whole Day

Snack Time

Snack, snack, snack for me?My, oh, my,What can it be?

Wash-up Time

(Tune: “Mulberry Bush”)

This is the Way We Wash Our Face

This is the way we wash our face,Scrub our cheeks, scrub our ears.This is the way we wash our face,Until we’re squeaky-clean.

Diaper Changing Time

I’m changing your diaper, Sweetie Pie.In just a minute you’ll be dry.

Good-bye/ Bed Time(Tune: “Muffin Man”)

Now It’s Time to Say Good-bye

Now it’s time to say good-bye,Say good-bye, say good-bye.Now it’s time to say goodbyeI’ll see you in the morning.

(You can substitute good night forgood-bye if using as a bedtime song.)

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Exchange 7/93 — 46

Places for Babies:Infants and Toddlers in Groups

by Jim Greenman

Imagine a room with light streaming in the windows,shadows dancing on the floors and walls, and a richlytextured world of different shapes and sizes offurniture to climb on, over, around, and in — withplaces to just sit, places to snuggle. It is a room whereyou can sometimes make wild messes as you dis-cover the mysteries of sensuous substances that oftenend up on you. It is a room with different places to be,just like your house — places that look, feel, sound,and smell different. There are lilacs here and basketsof ivy hanging by the window. There is a door to theoutside, that wonderful place with grass and sun andshade. Out there the messes can be even wilder andyou are free to kick up your heels — sorry, you can’tdo that — let’s say instead bounce and waddle withabandon, roll and swing, twist and shout.

It is NOT a room dominated by cribs, nor are yousandwiched between the glare of florescent lights andgleaming tile. It is NOT a tiny cell-like space wherethe day is divided into time on the crowded rug, thebounce chair, and the crib — nor is it a room filledwith tables and chairs and a random assortment oftoys, where activities are put out to keep the groupbusy.

In the room are large and small people interacting;the interactions are warm and relaxed and frequent.There are real conversations between adults andchildren. Adults listen to children and respond totheir vocalizations.

Look closely and see — it is a room filled withindividuals. There is Stephen, striding into the roomlike Louis the Sun King, expecting to be loved, hisgood nature surrounding him like a bumper. There

is Alexander, always a worried man who likes to beheld. And Alicia, who likes to sample everything,and JoAnna, who needs a morning nap.

Children are trying to “do it myself” — infantsholding spoons and cups, toddlers pouring milk andwrestling with zippers.

Parents clearly belong in the room; one feels theirpresence through photographs and the informationdirected toward their eyes. The warmth with whichthey are welcomed and their familiarity with the lifeoccurring within leaves little doubt that it is theirplace as well.

There is a sense of SECURITY: both the security thatcomes from knowing that this is a safe place forchildren, beyond the normal bumps and bruises thatgo with active learning, and the child’s security thatshe is truly known, understood, and accepted forwho she is.

There is a sense of ENGAGEMENT: when adultsinteract with children they give them their fullhuman presence. When children are exploring theworld and their emerging powers, they are intent.

There is a sense of ACTIVE LEARNING: childrenare genuinely INTO things, and ALL OVER things, asbefits creatures that learn with all of their senses andthrough whole body action.

Unfortunately, it is not easy to find programs withthese characteristics. Probably fewer than one in tencenters are truly good places for babies. Quality doesnot come easily or inexpensively.

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Quality care for babies is not brandishing an infantcurriculum or infant stimulation. It is not spic andspan tile and formica, or attractive lofts, or a bump-free environment, or even low ratios and smiley,warm people. Quality is each and every childexperiencing warm, personal care and developmen-tally appropriate opportunities for sensory, motor,and language learning. Quality is parents feeling incontrol.

How Does Quality Happen?

Without infant ratios of no worse than one adult tofour children, toddler ratios of one adult to fivechildren, it will not happen, or at least happen for allof the children all of the time. And quality dependson people who genuinely appreciate babies for whothey are, for what they can do right now, not justwhat they will be able to do or are in the process ofbecoming. But good ratios and good people don’tguarantee quality.

Quality happens because the environment — timeand space — is designed and planned to supportcare and learning. The setting is furnished,equipped, and organized to maximize thecaregiver’s time. Quality is a result of considerablethought and planning: maximizing resources,adjusting to individual needs and changingcircumstances.

The Importance of Built-In Learning

An essential quality of good infant and toddlerprograms is moving away from a traditional earlychildhood focus on activities and building learninginto the environment. When learning is built in, itfrees caregivers to BE WITH children and focus onthe child: to take the time to slowly diaper a child, orto help a child through the agony of separation, or toappreciate the joy of newfound discoveries. Theseare the PRIME TIMES, the important times. It isupside down priorities to rush through these times toget back to teaching or managing children.

While teacher-directed activities may take place,there are always other opportunities for thosetoddling to a different drummer. Activities takeplace individually and with small groups within anenvironment rich with opportunities for vigorousmotor and sensory exploration.

The Importance of an Organized ConvenientEnvironment for Staff

Convenience and organization buy time for staff tospend precious minutes with a child. Poor storageand inadequate equipment result in lower quality.

What Kind of Place for Babies?

A Safe and Healthy Place

Good places for babies follow the National Healthand Safety Performance Standards: Guidelines forOut-of-Home Child Care Programs in Caring for OurChildren, developed by the American Public HealthAssociation and the American Academy of Pediatricsstandards for group care.

But there are also two important understandings:(1) Learning involves the risk of acquiring the normalbumps and bruises of childhood, the natural result oflearning to explore the world with a developingbody. (2) Sanitary and clean are not the same thingand are usually confused. A good program has avigilant concern for avoiding the spread of germs anddisease, but not a preoccupation with cleanliness thatgets in the way of sensory exploration and otheractive learning.

A Good Place to “Be”

A good place to be a baby and be with a baby for longdays and weeks includes:

• sufficient room for adults (including a few parents)and children

• windows and doors to the outside• home-like lighting that allows a variety of lighting

conditions• multiple places to be — that feel different when you

are there• places to pause that allow you to step back from the

action• soft places and more soft places — pillows,

couches, futons• enough tile surface for eating and the rest carpet• a separate crib room or area that accommodates

individual schedules• plants and multi-textured decor• an outdoors of shade and sun, grass and deck, hills

and flats, things to climb on, and loose parts tocollect

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• ample information space, close to the point of use• clear organization and signage• cleaning supplies, right there

A Good Place for Parents to Be

Parents are welcome, greeted, and helped to under-stand how the room works. There is storage fortheir things.

A Final Note: Babies in the Real World

Babies deserve more than they usually get fromgroup care. Too many programs are too hard,inflexible, over and understimulating, and toleratetoo much child distress. But it is not really thepeople involved who are to blame. Many programsfor babies are the equivalent of shanty towns,makeshift creations put together out of the wonder-ful stuff we can find and keep, the found andpurchased spaces and materials barely adequate forthe task, and all the energy and love and commit-ment that can be mustered. It is easy to accept whatis and avoid criticism of programs doing the bestthey can. But at what cost to children? It is our jobto assert what quality is and to push for the re-sources for all programs to achieve it.

Jim Greenman is vice president of Resources for ChildCare Management and author of Caring Spaces, Learn-ing Places: Children’s Environments That Work(Exchange Press [800] 221-2864).

Excerpts From an Infant ToddlerFocus Group

“This place is great,” gurgled 9 month oldRebecca. “I get to sleep when I want, eatwhen I want, and every time I’m crankyBobby Jo picks me up and holds me tight,sings to me, and I know that I am the mostimportant person in the world to her.”

“Yeah,” agreed 14 month old Denise. “I canspend my day climbing around and gettinginto this and that and nobody jumps on me.I do love to lie on the couch and nurse mybottle. But, Rebecca, you are wrong, BobbyJo loves me best.”

Two year old James shoved a cookie in hismouth and mumbled, “I like knockingthings down. I like to push things. In fact,I’d like to push down Joe. I also like todump things out and to bite things (wheredid Joe go, anyhow?). I don’t like alwaysbeing told “no,” I thought they gave me anew name for awhile — Nojames.”

A Good Place to Learn

Nearly all the important learning in the first twoyears of life is sensory, motor, language, and self-knowledge: “I am important, competent, powerful,and connected to others.” A good place to learn isfilled with challenge and exploration:

• large motor learning: climbing, pushing, grab-bing, and motor opportunities of all kinds

• sensory learning: a world at their fingertips totouch, taste, smell, see, and hear

• language: conversations, listening to children,reading

• expression and accomplishment: opportunities toexpress yourself in motion and mess (art), solveproblems, and do it yourself

• loose parts to inspect, collect, dump, and sort

A Good Place to Work

A good place to work needs:

• water and toilets, where they are needed• ample storage, close to the point of use

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Quick Evaluation of an Infant or ToddlerLearning/Caring Environment

If infants or toddlers could choose their own setting, they might ask:

How many places are there where I can:

climb up? ______ climb in? ______ climb over? ______ climb on? ______go through? ______ go under? ______ go in and out? ______pull myself up? ______ reach? ______ kick? ______ jump? ______

How many semi-enclosed places are there?

How many different places to be are there for me, places that feel different because of light, texture,sound, smell, enclosure, and sight lines?

When you put me in an infant swing or bounce chair, am I only there for a short time and I get outwhen I want to get out?

How often do I get out of the room?

How often do I go for stroller or cart rides?

How often do I get to get out of the stroller/cart and walk/crawl around?

How often do I get to play with messy things — water, sand, dough, paint?

What is there to transport?

push/pull?

collect/dump?

throw?

Do I get to feed myself as soon as I can hold a spoon, bottle, or cup?

Do I have to wait to be changed or use the toilet?

When I talk my talk, will someone listen and respond?

When you talk to me, will you look at me and use words I am learning to understand?

Will someone read to me?

11


Margie Carter

Curriculum for Infants and Toddlers

Ideas For Training Staff

is on the adjunct faculty of Pacific Oaks College Northwest and travels widelyto speak, conduct workshops, visit, and consult with early childhood programs.She is co-authoring a new book on environments with Deb Curtis.

Whenever I work with infant and toddlercaregivers, I hear stories of how foolishthey feel planning a curriculum forbabies. Curriculum is a school word andobviously, our very youngest childrendon’t need to be in school settings, butrather, home-like environments. Howmight this home-like context reshape ouridea of curriculum? Certainly there areinteresting activities we can offer babies,contributing to their brain developmentand learning, but I believe that buildingrelationships is our primary curriculumwith infants and toddlers. In that backand forth dance of reading cues withtheir caregivers, babies begin to get asense of who they are, who they cantrust, and what is valued and possible intheir world. This is curriculum far moresignificant than the name of some songwe write down in a box on a schedule.

Whether changing a diaper, offeringfood, or playing peek-a-boo, each ordi-nary exchange with a baby is helpinganswer fundamental questions for thisstage of life:

� Is the world a safe place?� Will my needs be met?� Am I a successful communicator?� How can I get my message across?� Will you accept my uncensored

feelings?

I think of these issues as our curriculumthemes with infants and toddlers. Andthough they develop rapidly in theirearly years, my preference is to think ofall children up to the age of three yearsold as babies. I say this not to demean ordiscount their capabilities, but rather to

protect this precious time of life from toomany adult agendas. Other big themesfor these babies include autonomy,separation, and control.

� Can I meet my own needs?� Do I have any power?� If we part, will you still be there?

Tending to these themes, rather thanmore superficial topical ones, can lead toa healthy identity development as babiesforge and maintain strong connectionswith their family and caregivers, andlater, others.

Considering what this all means ineveryday practice, here are some of thetraining strategies I often use in my workwith infant and toddler caregivers.

Stories Shape Our Lives

While most of us don’t have clear memo-ries of the time we were babies, we oftenhave stories or photos, which offer vividimpressions of what we were like asyoung ones. These impressions stemfrom the cultural, socio-economic, andemotional context of our families, as wellas the historical times and influences intowhich we were born. If we don’t haveany stories, physical or emotional memo-rabilia from our early childhood, thenthat absence or void has helped shapeour identity development as well.

For very young children in child care set-tings, we who spend our days with themmust spot, tell, and preserve for them thestories that unfold as part of their devel-opment and evolution with us. This

should be central to our understandingof curriculum for these young ones.

Strategy:Remembering stories about you

as a baby

Spend time as a staff with each telling astory that has been told about them as ababy. Perhaps it is a story of their birth,how they got their name, or some partic-ular quality, behavior, or pursuit that hasbecome legendary. The vitality that usu-ally accompanies this story telling isworth noting. It leads us to consider therole of stories in shaping our identity.

Strategy:Read good picture books aloud

To explore the developmental themes forbabies I find picture books often moreuseful than textbooks. For example, Onthe Day I Was Born by Deborah Chocolate(Scholastic, 1995) has illustrations andlanguage that immediately remind us ofthe themes of softness, a sense of belong-ing, and being the center of attention anddelight of everyone’s eye. How can weplan for these themes in our programs?

Another good example is WelcomingBabies by Margy Burns Knight (TilburyHouse, 1994) which shows how differentcultural traditions convey a sense ofidentity and affinity to young children.Discussing the elements in this book canenlighten our caregiving practices.

Goodnight Moon (Harper, 1947) hassimple, clear pictures and text, namingfamiliar objects over and over again,


reminding us what children need in theway of consistency and routines to feelsafe and trusting.

The Runaway Bunny by Margaret WiseBrown (Harper, 1942) and Mama, Do YouLove Me? by Barbara Joosse (ChronicleBooks, 1991) emphasize the intensethemes of trust and autonomy for tod-dlers: If I run away, will you come afterme? If I have a big tantrum or amnaughty, will you still love me? Ourcurriculum with infants and toddlers isto reassure them of this.

Strategy:Regularly tell stories of

what the babies are doing

A primary component of our curriculumfor babies is to make their lives visiblewith stories told to them, their families,and others in our program. These can beoral or written and supplemented withphotographs. In the language of school,these stories might be called reports,portfolios, documentation, or develop-mental assessments. In the language ofhome, they are baby books. The impor-tant thing is the rich language of detailthat we use, the way we show characterdevelopment, and the child’s perspec-tive, rather than adherence to our adultgoals or agenda. And, if they are to bestories told back to the babies as well asto adults, the language in some of ourstories will need to be visual, simple,lyrical, and rhythmic.

Environments andInteractions Shape

Our Stories

Everyday stories are in the making in ourchild care programs, and our environ-ments and interactions are the primaryinfluences on the authors. Here are somestrategies to help staff keep this in mind.

Strategy:Know your preferences

and aversions

Gather a collection of pictures of infantsand toddlers in various activities (somelikely to be provocative) from maga-zines, newspapers, and books. Helpstaff get insight into their own prefer-ences and aversions by answering thefollowing questions for each picture.Honesty is what is important in thisactivity. There are no right, wrong, orunacceptable answers. The challenge isto become self-aware and then thought-ful on behalf of a healthy identitydevelopment for a child like this.

� How does this picture make me feel?What is my uncensored response?

� What do I think this child needs?� How do I know this?� What would my response and

specific behavior be with this child?

Strategy:Assess your environment

If we are to create environments whichshape wonderful stories for children’slives, we need to be thinking beyond agood rating scale. Have staff draw abrief floor plan of their environment,indoors first, then outdoors. Ask themconsiderations like these to be filled inwith code letters on their floor plan:

� Put an I in all the places where thebabies’ identity, family life, andculture are reflected and nourished.

� Put an H where parents feel at home.relaxed, and respected in the room.

� Put a P where children can feelpowerful, independent, important,and competent.

� Put an R where relationships can benourished with special time, sharing,and enjoyment between caregiversand babies.

Strategy:Explore the story potential

of different materials

Gather collections of home-like materi-als for staff to explore. Examples mightinclude fabric pieces of different tex-tures and colors, brushes of all kinds,jewelry boxes, eye glass cases, coinpurses, a variety of balls, mirrors of allsizes and shapes, gift ribbons of all tex-tures and colors, and tubes of varioussizes.

Ask staff to choose one of these collec-tions to explore non-verbally, approach-ing it as if it is something they havenever seen before and want to learnabout. After a few minutes of sensoryexploration, ask them to take pen andpaper and make notes along the follow-ing lines:

� List at least five words (adjectives,adverbs) which describe the sensoryaspects of the objects.

� List at least five things this objectmight do or be.

� List some phrases which describehow you might use this object tobuild a relationship with a baby.

� List at least five things that can belearned when a child uses this object.

Once these lists are made, ask each staffmember (or team) to think of a particu-lar baby they know well and imaginethat child using these objects. Then,using the notes taken, string some ofthese words and phrases together to tella story of how this particular childmight use these objects.

By trying to take a child’s point of view,this activity can lead to new ideas aboutthe value of ordinary materials andinteractions as curriculum for babies.For those hesitant about storytelling or

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writing, it also offers a simple strategyto generate words about details to beshaped into stories.

When we train our minds to think aboutcurriculum for babies as a relationship,not a school affair, a new set of possibili-ties opens up. Caregivers no longer feelfoolish, but delighted with what theyare learning from and with these littleones.

Order Margie’s books on-line byvisiting our web site:

www.ChildCareExchange.com.

Contact Margie through herweb site with Deb Curtis at

www.ecetrainers.com.

Margie Carter has a renewed interest inbabies now that she is a grandmotherof an infant and toddler. She hasdeveloped a staff training video, TimeWith Toddlers, which is described onher website at www.ecetrainers.com.

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42 YOUNG CHILDREN AND WRITING ExCHANGE JULY/AUGUST 2009

Adult concerns about literacy development in early childhood fill the airwaves and have begun to trickle down and impact experiences for children under three. Infomercials promote the notion that “your baby can read,” showing happy babies identifying words on flashcards and toddlers writing letters. My first reac-tion is dismay: Why on earth would someone spend the precious, short time of babyhood forcing attention on isolated literacy skills and drills? But then my curiosity is piqued; the children look joyful and excited to be playing these games. Rather than worrying about what the children are learning, I want to discover what they see and understand about these interactions and the lines and squiggles that we call reading and writing. What is the baby’s point of view in these moments?

Recently, I was reviewing a toddler teacher’s docu-mentation story describing two-year-old Sofia reading a book to a stuffed animal. As I studied the photos, it was obvious that Sofia knew a lot about reading books. She had carefully placed the animal next to her, purposefully holding the book and turning the pages so the animal could see as she read. I was curious to notice in one of the photos that Sofia was

explicitly pointing to the letters in the book. What did someone so young know about letters? When Sofia’s mom arrived to pick her up I described my curiosity and asked her to tell me about Sofia’s knowledge of books and letters. She excitedly told me the story of how she and Sofia’s older brother do homework each night, focusing on reading, writing, and phonics and Sofia eagerly wants to join in. She told me, “Sofia knows letter sounds now, almost as much as her brother does and she loves to write them, too.” At that point she got out her cell phone and proudly showed me multiple photos of Sofia with clipboard and pen, intensely focused on writing lines of letters.

Children care about what adults care about

In my own informal research about children’s points of view about reading and writing, what jumps out at me is not the children’s interest in pen, paper, and letters, but their palpable joy in connecting with people as they engage in these activities. The adults on television with the babies who can read are smil-ing, clapping in celebration, and showing total, posi-tive attention to the children during each interaction with the flashcards. And it was apparent to me that Sofia’s interest and skill in reading and writing came from her desire to be a part of the important ‘real work’ in her family as well as her mother’s pride and attention. Children care about what the significant adults in their lives care about and will do what we think is important.

Make it meaningful

I’ve also discovered from my informal research that children pay closer attention to the lines and squiggles of literacy if they are connected to meaning-ful aspects of their lives. I playfully began to point to and say the letters of my one-year-olds’ names on the

Deb Curtis currently works with toddlers at Milgard Child Development Center. She is co-author with Margie Carter of the book Learning Together with Young Children (Redleaf Press, 2007). She and Margie have been leading professional development institutes to help teachers study with the Thinking Lens.

can babies read and write?by Deb Curtis

15

tags that identified their diaper bin as I was chang-ing diapers. To my surprise and delight the children eagerly took up this game, pointing and repeating the sounds with me. I would read and point “H-A-N-N-A-H, Hannah,” and then point to her photo next to her name and say, that’s your name. Hannah would follow me saying, “hch-hch-hch.” Most of the children loved this game, even requesting it by calling out a few sounds when we got to the diaper table. But what did they really understand about the letters? Did they see the connection between themselves and these sounds and squiggles? My best guess was that developmentally the work the children were doing at the time was learning to speak and make sounds, so this sound game was a perfect match for their inter-ests and ability.

I experimented further by writing the children’s names and saying the letters as I wrote when we were explor-ing markers. Again, the children would imitate me making lines with the markers as they repeated the letter sounds. But still, I wondered, did they do this because they wanted to further a relationship with me through this fun game, or were they connecting mean-ing to the marks and sounds and themselves?

After a few months of playing these games, I noticed 22-month-old Oona looking at a book that had the word LOOK on the cover. At one point she glanced at me and pointed to the two O’s and exclaimed “Oona.” Of course I was all over her with excitement and praise and eagerly told her dad the story when he picked her up. A week later she was painting at the easel, enjoying the movement of her arm and brush, inadvertently making swirling, circle shapes with the paint. She stopped; looked closely and pointed to the big O on her paper and said, “Oona.”

I can’t say that my focus on letter sounds and writing led to Oona’s discoveries, but it has been an engaging process that I will continue studying. I also worry that what I’ve described here could be perceived as over-emphasizing literacy skills at this young age. That’s not my intent. What I’ve learned from observing my group of one year olds is that they are making meaning all of the time. So if I make reading and writ-ing a meaningful part of our daily lives, they are just as interested in this as in everything else. I’ve come to see that what we do together is a part of identity de-velopment, not just literacy development. Each child’s face can be connected to their name, the sound of it, the letters and how it is written, as well as to their

family name, and their friends’ names. Making it meaningful in this way is the most important element.

Adults have the power

Adults have all the power in children’s lives. We are their window and access to safety, comfort, and engaging experiences. Children are smart enough to know this from the time they are babies. They have laser-like attention to what we care about and they want to imitate,please, and be a part of what we say and do. If you look at cultures around the world, children learn to do what adults value and believe children can accom-plish because this is what they focus on and take time to teach children to do. But with this power comes responsibility. Young children can learn about literacy if that is what we care about and focus on with eager attention in a playful, loving relationship. But we should ask ourselves: What are we and they missing when we spend so much of our time focused on lit-eracy skills? What about the scientific discoveries and magic in a puddle of water, the complex, creative work of pretend play, the deep, spiritual connections from time together in the natural world or the adventure and sense of accomplishment in toddling up a hill? Babies can read and write, but should they?

BeginningsWorkshop

Children care

about what

the significant

adults in their

lives care about

and will do

what we think is

important.

YOUNG CHILDREN AND WRITING 43 JULY/AUGUST 2009 ExCHANGE

PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR

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Brain Research,Infant Learning,and Child Care

Curriculum

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Bonding with Your Babiesby Alice S. Honig, PhD

An infant/toddler caregiver has a great many practi-cal tasks to master. Scrupulous health care practices,diapering, preparing formula or baby food for eachindividual infant — such expertise forms the core ofcaregiver competence. But beyond such fundamentalphysical lore lies the emotional wisdom needed tobond with and relate to each unique little person.

Babies flourish with loving caregivers. So the first andforemost emotional neediness of a baby is for YOU tobecome intimately engaged with the baby. Sure youwill hold and cuddle. Sure you will respond to infantdistress. But the essence of quality infant caregivinglies in the emotional bond you forge with each infant.

Unlike adults, babies happily cope if they have morethan one love partner in the duet of caring! Not onlyparents and grandparents but child care personnel canserve as intimate partners in babies’ lives. Findingyour way to create a love affair with each infant willtake emotional skillfulness and a willingness tobecome a pleasuring and pleasured partner.

Research has shown that early bonding facilitatesbabies’ development of secure attachment. Toddlerswho are securely attached as babies later show moreflexibility and resourcefulness, more confidence inplay mastery, and more cooperativeness withcaregivers in difficult tool-using situations (Matas,Arend, and Sroufe, 1978).

Practice Tuned-In, Tender Partnering

• Babies thrive on body loving, with lots of holding,draping, and lap time. Every baby needs an adult

partner committed to a special bodily-intimaterelationship.

• Tune in to and respond promptly to babysignals of neediness or distress. An upset baby isusing a strong signal to tell adults: I NEED YOUTO HELP ME FEEL BETTER. Babies don’t cry tobother adults. They cry when they feel bad. Whenyou soothe what hurts them, whether a urine-irritated bottom, a hungry tummy, or a lonely feelingthat needs a cuddle, they learn to trust you. Thenthe world feels like a good place to grow up, andit seems worth the effort to cooperate with care-givers and to learn what grown-ups want babies tolearn.

• Respect rhythms and tempos. As adults, weneed to understand and respect the rhythms andtempos of our babies so that we can have moretolerance for the normal ups and downs of theirbehaviors. Some new babies wake up several times anight for nursing and some seem to cry for longerperiods each day (or evening!). The developmentaldance of growth is not in a straight line, but a wave-like pattern. Some times are easy for babies; some-times babies are frustrated by what they want to beable to do but still cannot accomplish. Then theymay become more disorganized until they haveworked through this period of developmentaldisequilibrium.

Understand Trying Behaviors

Be FOR your little ones. Your emotional bonding is apowerful force not only for promoting early secure

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attachment of tiny infants in your care but also forsustaining trusting relationships during the TerribleTwo’s. Toddlers may show wild mood swings andseem not to need as much cuddling and body drap-ing as younger babies. They often run-run awaymischievously when called. But when frustrated ortired they will passionately demand to be held or willfling themselves into your lap.

If you have bonded well with each baby, then theirdeep confidence in your cherishing will tide themover. You can accept toddler mood swings andwillfulness calmly and offer body loving when it isneeded. You keep their self-esteem intact even asthey go through crabby or absurdly see-sawingcontradictions. Offer toddlers choices to avoidconflicts. (“Would you like juice OR milk?”)

Toddlers will need you to remember that theirrhythms and styles may not fit with group require-ments. Toilet learning and neat eating take longer toachieve for some toddlers than others. But if youtrust a toddler’s signals, you will be comfortableabout deciding when to encourage more maturelearnings or when to accept a more leisurely pace fora toddler to practice, struggle with, and master newand difficult life skills. Keeping the trusting relation-ship intact provides babies with life energy and goodwill to master positive peer relations, relate coopera-tively later to other teachers, and to strive for masteryin play.

Become a Skilled Play Planner

• Babies need safe play spaces to creep and crawl andcruise holding on to furniture.

• The most fascinating toys require a baby’s actionsin order to work or produce interesting results thatwill stretch baby’s attention span and persistence.Make life interesting for babies.

• Learning games to play with YOU as partnerespecially entrance a baby.

Relish and Share Language Treasures

Aside from cuddling and gentle handling, yourlanguage interactions will eloquently reveal thequality of the relationship you have developed witheach infant. A tuned-in talking partner jabbers withbabies during daily routines.

• Converse with your baby. Respond to baby sounds.Make baby’s early sounds and coos important. Showyour genuine delight at early jargon babbling and attoddler attempts to create one and two wordsentences. Embed turn-taking talk into every routinedaily activity, especially diapering and meal times.

• Hook your baby on picture books. Read on thefloor; read cuddled on a couch. Especially at the endsof days, when babies begin to wilt as the hours beforepick-up time grow long, a loving snuggle with youand a familiar book can confirm for a baby yourgenuine sensitivity.

• Read, label, and talk about body parts, clothing,foods, and ongoing activities.

• Sing and use chants to explain to baby what isgoing on at the moment and what will come nextduring daily routines.

• Talk about and model prosocial interactions —sharing, kindness, empathy, and patience. Read totoddlers about nurturing creatures. Help your littleones feel that being friends and caring about eachother is deeply important in the child care world.

Confirm Loveliness; Confirm Joy

• Bring beauty and loveliness into babies’ lives —with pictures, mobiles, colorful scarves and wallhangings, soft classical music, fragrant floweringbulbs, and slow waltzing times with babes in arms.Include aesthetics in your infant/toddler curriculum.

• Bring laughter into your own and your babies’lives. Giggling and grinning come early and easily tobabies. Enjoy this brand new world with the babiesyou serve. Get in touch with the deep core of yourown long-ago joy as a tenderly cherished baby as yourenew your awe at simple daily experiences thatcapture the delight of babies.

Learn a Wide Variety of Techniques

Perceptive cherishing will not alone boost the learn-ing careers of your babies. Techniques for enhancingearly learning will be easier to master if you havegotten to know and appreciate the personhood ofeach infant in your care.

• Dance up and down the developmental ladders oflearning. Each developmental task may be more or

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less difficult for a baby. Each learning domain maybe harder or easier depending on a baby’s skills,learning style, attention span, and persistence. Somany tasks have to be mastered.

• Hone your noticing skills. Notice how hard oreasy each different task is for your baby. If necessary,give a special boost to revive baby’s interest. Arrangequiet spaces where the baby can keep on workingand moving ahead with learning tasks.

• Give barely noticeable help sometimes so yourtoddler can succeed at the task.

• Be available but not intrusive. Don’t interruptyour baby’s own efforts to explore, learn, sample, andexperiment. You may want a toddler to put rings onthe ring stack toy in order of increasing width. Rightnow, she may just want to experiment with gettingthem all on regardless of size. Give babies freedom toadventure with toys their own ways. Lengthenedattention span and task persistence, not perfect ringstacking, is your goal.

• Use admiring glances and positive talk to lureyour baby into new tries and persistent work at alearning activity.

• Help babies master certain prerequisite skills,such as staying dry for hours and saying toiletingwords, before you demand that they go on to thenext stage, toilet learning. At feeding times, babiescan only learn to eat neatly when they have goodwrist control plus firm fist control of the spoon.

Undertake Some Self-Searching

Sometimes freeing ourselves to bond well with babiesmeans first freeing ourselves from old prohibitionsand feelings of shame. Accepting the bodily needs ofbabies who drool, wet diapers, suck thumbs, and pattheir genitals may require that we reexamine andrework old, anxious scripts from our past. We alsoneed to reframe some of our attitudes toward misbe-havior. What look like “naughty” actions of babiesmay really be learning experiences. Give babies safeways to experiment.

• Provide arms and a lap (the perfect refuelingstation) generously if a discouraged baby needs aboost to self-esteem.

• Find personal supports or pleasures to help youkeep calm. When adults are contented and proud oftheir nurturing work, then babies will thrive in thataura of contentment.

• Take deep personal pleasure in your ability toread signals and to tune in responsively to babies’needs. Your trustworthiness in cherishing buildsconfidence, secure attachment, a sense of self-control,self-esteem, and good will in babies. Intimate bond-ing with your babies reflects your courageous com-mitment to quality infant/toddler care!

Reference

Matas, L., R. A. Arend, and L. A. Sroufe. “Con-tinuity of Adaptation in the Second Year: TheRelationship Between Quality of Attachment andLater Competence,” Child Development, 1978, 49,pp. 547-556.

Alice S. Honig is a professor in the Department of Childand Family Studies in the College for Human Develop-ment at Syracuse University. She has been a consultantfor numerous projects for infants, young children, andparents; has lectured widely; and is the author of severalbooks and articles.

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ined yet — creating a balance betweenchild-initiated and adult-initiatedlearning activities. Each has a place inthe daily flow of events in the infantand toddler program. Generally, theyounger the child, the greater shouldbe the emphasis on child-chosenactivities.

Child-Initiated orChild-Chosen Activities

What it looks like:

The child is in the play environmentand starts doing something sponta-neously. It might be a body activity —using muscles in what looks to theadult like a random way, such asscootching around on his belly, crawl-ing, rolling, pulling up on furniture,and cruising. Often it will be playingwith an object that is available, turningit over, hitting it on the floor, shakingit, throwing it.

Value:

To understand why child-initiatedactivities are important, it helps to takea look at the main learning mode ofinfants — mastery behavior. The childpractices emerging skills over and overin a sort of self-imposed drill. The childis driven to do this. An emerging skill isanything the child is almost ready to beable to do, or has just recently master-

Eleven-month-old Zachary cruises alonga set of homemade 18” high woodencubes that have the front sides open. Thefourth cube has a circle cut out in thetop and a round, plastic dishpan sits inthis hole. As he reaches this fourth cube,Zachary’s hands touch the rim of thedishpan, causing it to wobble.

He stops and looks at the dishpan. Hehits it again and notices it move. He hitsit harder and it wobbles more. He thenlooks through the front opening of thecube and hits the dishpan from theunderneath. Again! Next time he hits itharder, and the dishpan pops out of thehole and falls on the floor. He stoopsdown, picks up the dishpan, and slamsit back into the hole. He pops it outagain and repeats the sequence, sixtimes. Then he looks around and startsputting other objects and toys throughthe hole, seeing what fits through andwhat doesn’t.

This exploration went on for over 20minutes. While I observed, I was verygrateful that the caregiver didn’t comeover to involve Zachary in some learningactivity. What this child was learningwas fascinating to him. He coulddevelop his own ideas . . . much morevaluable learning, probably, than any-thing an adult could devise for him.

This time, I’d like to discuss an issue ofcurriculum planning we haven’t exam-

ed, such as the gross motor activitieslisted above, a fine motor activity likevisually directed reaching, or cognitiveexplorations such as object permanenceor the relationships of size and space.You can trust the child to be working onexactly what she needs at the moment.

To make it work:

For child-initiated activities to be valu-able a few things need to be in place:

� It must be a well-enriched environ-ment, with many interesting optionsfor the child to choose from, such asobjects with interesting shapes andtextures to examine, and interestingsurfaces, angles, and spaces to climbon and explore.

� In infant care, the child must haveaccess to this environment. In otherwords, the child must be allowedfree movement on the clean floorand not be in a baby trap such as aswing, infant seat, sitting ring, orwalker. These all inhibit the child’smovement and force the child to be apassive observer, rather than anactive learner.

� With toddlers, the environmentneeds to be organized so that thechild knows where to find certainplay objects. Toddlers are easily dis-tracted; if there is too much of a

Karen Miller is the author of (among other titles) Simple Steps: Developmental Activities for Infants, Toddlers and Twosand the newly revised version of Things to Do With Toddlers and Twos.

Don’t Interrupt a Busy Baby

Creating a Network of People Who Work With Infants and Toddlers

Karen Miller

23


mess, the child will be less likely tomake and carry out plans. Instead,the child will just react to what is infront of him.

Adult-Initiated Activities

What it looks like:

The adult starts something the childhasn’t thought of, such as an art ormusic activity. Sometimes these areplanned activities that the adult sets upand then brings children over to. Othertimes these are little pick up games thatthe adult does spontaneously, such aslap games or spontaneous exchanges ofpeek-a-boo.

Value:

Adult-initiated activities, depending onwhat they are, can lend variety, head offboredom, redirect potentially trouble-some behavior, provide information tothe child, teach vocabulary, and gener-ally create fun and valuable socialinteraction for the child.

To make it work:

The real skill is providing just the rightkind of activity — one that is not toodifficult or too easy, and most impor-tantly, one that really interests thechildren. This requires that you knoweach child well and are aware of theemerging skills each is working on:

� Keep the activity simple so that youhave minimal set-up and clean-up.

� Do it with one infant child at a timewhile you keep an eye on the otherchildren. With toddlers, small groupsof two or three children can be com-fortable. Coordinate with other staffto supervise the other children.

� Present the activity out there andallow the child to be drawn over to itby his own interest. Allow refusals, ifthe child would rather be doingsomething else.

� Use the flop and do technique. Simplyflop down on the floor and startdoing something and see who isdrawn over to you.

� Allow repeats. Children gain fromthe experience of doing things overand over again.

� Resist the temptation to do too muchfor the child, whether in plannedactivities or in a child’s chosen activi-ties. Well-meaning adults often wantto help the child who seems to bestruggling to get the puzzle piece inor place something in a child’s handshe is reaching for but unable tograsp. We have to allow the child tostruggle and the opportunity to tryover and over again, figuring it outherself, using her own muscles. Ifyou sense frustration is building,make sure there are other interestingobjects or things to do nearby. Thechild can usually gauge her own tol-erance for frustration and will go onto something different (matching heremerging skill) if the object at handpresents too much of a challenge.

How Do You Plan?

You start with the environment, bothindoors and outdoors. It’s hard to over-emphasize how important this is. Youplan what materials to make availablein the environment for the child to dis-cover and use spontaneously. The childmight come up with totally differentthings to do with the materials thanwhat you had anticipated. Trust thatwhat the child chooses to do is just right,

providing he is not hurting anything. Keep certain favorite objects available forchildren, knowing that they will playwith them in different ways as their skillsprogress. But also bring out new thingsfor children to explore on a regular basis— simple things like large pieces of fab-ric, big cardboard boxes, sturdy books,inflated plastic beach toys, and all kindsof containers, especially those with han-dles. That takes care of the child-initiatedpart. For the adult-initiated activities,have a repertoire of simple interactivegames up your sleeve to offer as needed.Then plan a variety of activities to offerover, say, a two-week period of time.Favorite books and activities that extendfrom them, music and movement games,art activities, and sensory activities are allpossibilities.

Now, back to our title. Observe what the child is doing before you offer anactivity . . . and respect what the child isdoing. While the child’s occupation maylook random, it may be a genuineexploration, as described in the first para-graph. Watch for signs of concentrationon the child’s face. If the child seems atloose ends or bored, then offer yourplanned activity. Caregivers sometimesfeel like they are not doing their job, justletting children randomly play. As youcan see, it takes a lot of thought and goodplanning to create rich play opportunitiesfor children. Observe closely. Take notes.Be able to describe how the child is bene-fiting from the self-chosen activities aswell as planned activities. Most of all,enjoy the wonder of it all — appreciatingeach child’s uniqueness.

If you would like to join the informale-mail network for this column,

make a comment, or suggest futuretopics, just send a message to:

Karen MillerPO Box 97

Cowdrey, CO 80434-0097([email protected])

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Action Symbols

A newborn, of course, does not comeinto the world knowing how to usesymbols. Very early on, however, thisnew human being is learning how toread symbols in the environment. Animpending action can be represented bya symbol. A siren, for example, is asymbol that tells us we will soon see aspeeding vehicle and we should get outof the way.

Very young infants quickly learn sym-bols for when something is about tohappen. Here’s one that is easy to recog-nize: you reach toward the child withyour arms to pick him up, and the babystiffens his neck and moves a littletoward you, or even reaches his armsout to you, indicating that he has readthe symbol of your posture. There areother symbols of daily routines youcould probably think of: putting coatson = going outside; the smell of food =being fed and satiating hunger; tele-phone rings at home = interruption ofinteraction with the child.

What we can do:

� Always approach the child from thefront and use the same gesture ofputting your arms out when you areabout to pick up the child. Also use

There is a piece of cognitive develop-ment that we usually don’t pay toomuch attention to with infants andtoddlers: the use of symbols. Here’s howmy desk dictionary (TIME: Webster’sNew Deal Dictionary, 1978) definessymbol:

1) Something that stands for somethingelse; especially something concrete thatrepresents or suggests another thing thatcannot in itself be represented or visual-ized. 2) A letter, character, or sign used(as to represent a quantity, position, rela-tionship, direction, or something to bedone) instead of a word or group ofwords.

Our technological society is built aroundsymbols. Reading and writing, mathe-matics, finance, and science all requirethat an individual is adept at usingsymbols.

In one sense, educators often make themistake of trying to force children to usesymbols too early, before they are readyfor abstract concepts. We see this whenwell-meaning parents spend much timeshowing children flash cards of words,or teachers drill children on the alpha-bet. On the other hand, symbols arepresent in children’s natural play almostfrom the beginning. If we understandhow they use symbols, we can give themgood opportunities to grow the skill.

the word symbols to go with thisgesture. “Up . . . “ or, “I’m going topick you up now.”

� Create other consistent symbols.Play certain, calming music or a par-ticular lullaby when you put thechild down to nap; tap on the bowlwhen you are about to feed thechild; or always take the child to thesame chair when you are about togive the child a bottle.

� With toddlers, play certain music atclean-up time, ring a small bell whenit is snack time, bring out a particu-lar puppet when it is time for a story.

What else can you think of? All of thesesymbols help the child read the environ-ment and know what is going to hap-pen next. That helps a child feel secureand in control.

Object Symbols

First of all, before we even talk aboutsymbols, give the child lots of experi-ence playing with safe objects of allkinds. The child must handle andmouth objects of all shapes and materi-als simply to get the feel of the physicalworld. In so doing, the child learnsabout the properties of shapes, materi-als, and textures. This helps the child toform a firm image in his mind. The

Karen Miller is the author of (among other titles) Simple Steps: Developmental Activities for Infants, Toddlers and Twosand the newly revised version of Things to Do With Toddlers and Twos.

How Infants and Toddlers Use Symbols

Creating a Network of People Who Work With Infants and Toddlers

Karen Miller

25


phenomenon of object hunger dominateschildren’s play from about the age ofsix months to 18 months. It is thefamous into everything stage. The chil-dren are on an obsessive quest to touchand become acquainted with everyobject within sight . . . and not necessar-ily within immediate reach!

Another cognitive phenomenon thatoccurs at this time which has a closeconnection to the ability to see objectsas symbols is object permanence. Thechild learns to create and maintain amental image of an object that is out ofsight as she searches for it. Objects,especially toys, can be symbols thatrepresent something else. When a childhas learned to keep the image of anobject in her mind she will also be moreable to look at a toy and see the larger,real thing that the toy object represents.

I first became aware of a toddler’sability to see toys as a symbol when Iwatched a 20 month old lie down on a4” long dollhouse bed. It’s true that atoddler doesn’t really know how big hisbody is, but I don’t think this toddlerwas that confused. What he was reallydoing is saying by his actions, “I knowwhat this small piece of wood repre-sents.” Other examples are toy tele-phones, toy steering wheels, dolls, andvarious doll accessories. We often seechildren even under one year of agepick up such objects and show that theyknow what the thing it represents isused for.

This is the first seed of dramatic play,using objects as symbols. Later, thechild will begin to take on a role andinteract with others within that role.But for now, just using a toy object inan appropriate way indicates that thechild understands what it symbolizes.

What we can do:

� Give young infants plenty of freetime on the floor and many safe and

interesting objects of all types toexamine.

� Find toys that represent things in the child’s world and make themavailable.

� Play along. If the child hands youthe toy phone, for example, talkinto it.

Picture Symbols

A picture is a symbol of a three-dimensional object. We know that oneof the first steps in learning to read isreading the illustrations in a picturebook. The child must see that thearrangement of lines and shapes onthe page symbolizes something real.One prerequisite that people, eventhose who write and illustrate booksfor this age, sometimes forget, is thatthe child must be familiar with theobject before the picture will be mean-ingful. If the child has never seen anelephant, the small shape on the pagewill not give the child an accurateimage of the thing.

What we can do:

� Find pictures of things in thechild’s environment. Talk aboutthem as you show them to thechild. Compare them to the objectthat is present.

� Glue pictures of objects in the envi-ronment to individual cards. Handthe card to the child. See if thechild can bring the card over to theobject it represents.

� Create photo experience books.Take pictures when the childrenare engaged in something memo-rable, like playing with bubbles orgoing for a walk. Put these photosin a little book, or on a piece ofposterboard. Then look at the pho-

tos together and talk about them. Thechildren will learn to connect theimages to real things and happenings.

� Make a visual discrimination poster.Glue pictures of many of the toys youhave in the room on one piece ofposterboard. (Out of date suppliercatalogs are a good source for thepictures.) Then bring a toy over to theposter and ask the child, “Where is thepicture of this toy? Can you find it?”

Books

Books, of course, are a whole system ofpicture symbols as well as word symbolsthat represent objects, actions, and expe-riences. When you choose books for yourprogram be very conscious of the qualityof the illustrations as well as their rele-vance to the child’s life. When you readto very young children, what you aremostly doing is helping them withpicture identification. You follow theirlead and allow them to point to picturesand name them. They delight in findingan object you name on the page in frontof them.

What we can do:

� Gather together some of the objectsrepresented by pictures in the book.First, let the child see the pictures,then play with the real objects. Afterreading Pots and Pans by PatriciaHubbell (Harper Growing Tree), forinstance, let the child use woodenspoons to beat on a real pot.

� Do some of the activities representedin a book. For instance, if there iscooking in the book, do some cookingwith the children.

Language Developmentand Symbols

Words are symbols, of course. The morewords a child acquires, the more adept he

26


becomes at using symbols. Words pro-vide handles or anchors for thoughts. Soeverything you do to enhance languagedevelopment encourages cognitive devel-opment. Talk to children. Read to them.Describe what they are seeing and doing.Listen to them and be patient in theirattempts to speak. Let them know thattheir language has power.

Why Should We Be ThinkingAbout the Ages and Stages

of Symbol Use?

Many children spend their first threeyears in an impoverished environment,when it comes to learning to use sym-bols. The modern day culprit is, no newshere, television. Television is really allsymbols, you might rightly say. But theyare the wrong type of symbol at thewrong time. They are too fast, and tooabstract. Rather than showing a connec-tion to real life, they are often simplymesmerizing as the child stares atmoving patterns. Make sure that the chil-dren in your program do not lead a bor-ing life, trapped in swings and such, orrandomly playing without much qualityadult interaction.

A simple awareness could go a long wayto enhancing this aspect of your program.Delight when you see children interpret-ing some subtle symbol. Tell the parentsabout it. Invent new symbols, and buildon what you already do.

Good Ideas

Adding to the ideas shared in our Janu-ary column on motivating adults to learn,Joyce Kilbourn of Bright Horizons FamilySolutions in Cary, North Carolina sharesthese things they do to encourage on-going learning in staff:

� One person in each center is assignedthe responsibility of readingprofessional publications and passing

on articles to people who might beinterested.

� Articles from popular magazines aswell as professional journals areclipped or copied and put into abinder by topic, such as “sleepissues,” “toilet learning,” “play,”“behavior,” etc. These are then madeavailable to parents or staff whenissues come up.

� They provide rewards for people whowrite a response to an article.

� “Did you know’s . . . “ — one smallstatement or piece of research circu-lated to staff.

If you would like to join the informale-mail network for this column,

make a comment, or suggest futuretopics, just send a message to:

Karen MillerPO Box 97

Cowdrey, CO 80434-0097([email protected])

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The transition to child care can bechallenging for both parents of youngbabies and the teachers who welcomethe baby and family into their program.

Parents of infants may face a multitudeof intense feelings that can includeprotectiveness for their young infant,grief at the impending separation, andconcern for their child’s safety. Theyoften have conflicting worries that theirchildren may have a bad experience inchild care or that their babies may growmore attached to their teachers than totheir own parents. Infant teachersstruggle with how to best supportparents in this highly emotionaltransition, knowing that parentsfrequently have strongly conflictingemotions about the decision to use out-of-home care. Infant teachers must keepthe emotional needs of the family inmind as they begin to work with theyoung baby in their care. Thisemotionally-charged transition canbecome even more stressful when aninfant is colicky, fussy, or otherwisehard-to-settle (see sidebar on page 70).

What does this mean for the infantteacher in a child care setting? Child careteachers cope with juggling multiplecompeting demands: managingrelationships with parents, coping withindividual infant temperaments, andmeeting the group needs of the otherinfants in their care. Infant teachers oftenplay a unique role in that they may bethe first adults to listen and understand

what the experience of having a fussybaby has been like for the parent as theyencounter similar issues with the babyin their classroom. Infant caregivers canprovide the non-judgmental empathyand support that a parent needs.

Research shows that parents of hard-to-settle babies may benefit from qualitychild care as it provides a respite forthem (McKim, Cramer, Stuart, &O’Conner, 1999). Families also use childcare providers for both emotional andinformational support with regard tochildrearing (Gilman & Collins, 2000).Caregivers provide more sensitive andsupportive care when there is opencommunication with parents (Owen &Ware, 2000).

Erikson Institute’sFussy Baby Network

In 2005, a grant from the PrinceCharitable Trusts enabled the FussyBaby Network, Erikson Institute’s firstclinical program, to expand services tosupport infant teachers working withfussy babies in child care. As a part ofthis project, we have been listening toexperienced infant teachers share theirwisdom as to what may help whenfacing a fussy baby in child care. Here is what they told us:

68 INFANT CAREEXCHANGE JULY/AUGUST 2008

supporting infant teachersin their care of fussy babiesby Cindy Jurie and Marsha Baker

Cindy Jurie completed her M.S. atWheelock College, intending tobecome a teacher of four year olds,but since then has spent most of hertime working in programs with infants,

toddlers, their families, and caregivers. Cindy’sexperience includes work as a director of a MigrantHead Start Center, early childhood mental healthconsultant, CDA advisor, and positions supportingteachers in several grant-funded programs in diversecommunities. She has taught vocational, communitycollege, and graduate courses, including onlinecoursework. She is presently a doctoral student at theErikson Institute, preparing her dissertation proposalfocusing on infant teachers and infant mental health in early child care settings.

Marsha Baker completed her degree inoccupational therapy over 20 yearsago, and has been working with younginfants and families ever since. Sheattended Erikson Institute to receive a

master’s degree in early childhood development witha specialty in infant studies, and then returned tocomplete a certificate program in infant mental health.Marsha’s experience includes extensive work with EarlyIntervention programs throughout the Chicago areaand public school special education programs. Shewas an instructor at St. Xavier and MidwesternUniversities. She presently works for Erikson InstituteFussy Baby Network providing direct service to familiesand consultation to home visiting programs, earlychildhood programs, and child care centers. Herspecial interests are feeding disorders and infantmental health.

(see sidebar on page 29).

28

Communication is essential — fromboth parent and infant teacher.

■ Lack of communication from theparent is teachers’ single biggestchallenge — from routineinformation about how the baby’snight before and morning have beento more specific information aboutcaregiving practices such as how theparent puts the baby to sleep.

■ The level of communication withparents of fussy babies improved asthey shared the strategies they weretrying at home and at the center.Honest, yet sensitive, communi-cation is important as it helpsparents to understand that the infantteacher is trying hard to meet theirbaby’s needs in the context of agroup setting.

The importance of listening incommunication is essential.

■ Parents of fussy babies tell us thatthey are given advice all the time,whereas few people seem interestedin hearing how stressful thisexperience has been for them. Thisalso parallels teachers’ experiencesof getting advice from others in theircenter.

■ Listening is a powerful way ofshowing parents that care is beingoffered to their family.

■ Listening also reinforces to theparent their importance to theirbaby as the ‘expert’ in this child’slife.

■ Listening to a parent can lay thefoundation for mutual respect,which is important as both parentand teacher work together caring fora fussy baby.

Formal practices to supportcommunication can be helpful.

■ Teachers tell us that simple, formalpractices, such as a daily journal ofbaby’s day, can be extremely useful infacilitating communication withfamilies.

One center reported that theirrequirement that parents change thechild’s diaper when they arrive at thecenter gave the infant teacher a fewminutes to talk with the parent abouthow the baby’s night had been, whichproved beneficial.

■ Knowing how well a child slept, howor whether they had eaten in themorning, if there had been anythingdifferent taking place recently (familymembers visiting, a sick siblinghaving impact on sleeping patterns),all can help the infant teacher providemore responsive care.

Teacher knowledge is important.

■ This includes knowledge of theindividual baby and her family, aswell as an understanding of thecultural practices that may be at workin this situation.

■ Enrollment forms that providespecific information on the baby’sindividual preferences prior tostarting care, home visits to thefamily’s home, and developmentalscreening are all mentioned ashelpful.

Building a relationship makes adifference!

■ The goodness of fit between aprimary caregiver and an infant is aconnection that helps support thehard-to-settle baby by reducing thenumber of staff that baby must adjustto.

■ Teachers are emphatic that this goodfit be looked at carefully and not justassumed and assigned.

■ Primary caregivers also offer aconsistent relationship to families thatfacilitate the development of trust,helping to reduce a parent’s stressand concern over the transition tocare outside of the home.

Understanding there is no one ‘rightanswer.’

■ As medical science has not yetdiscovered the magical ‘pixie dust’ tocure colic and crying in young babies,infant teachers share a variety ofstrategies they have tried to helpthem in responding to crying infants.

■ Far and away the most commonlymentioned practice was that ofswaddling the baby in a blanket (ifpermitted by licensing).

■ Classical and soft jazz music werealso commonly mentioned as well assound relaxers as they seem to helpprovide a calmer atmosphere in thebaby room.

■ Taking advantage of fresh air andgoing outside may be helpful as isinfant massage (although this shouldnot be done when the baby is in themiddle of a crying spell).

Maintaining a calm sense of oneself inthe middle of the storm.

■ Teachers tell us that despite thechallenges of dealing with a fussybaby, their ability to be consistent intheir practice and maintain a positivespirit aids them in their work.

■ Seeing this experience in aprofessional sense of their owndevelopment helps them, as oneteacher told us:

“It’s a very challenging job, and youlearn something new every singleday. If you have one child, a fussybaby, you learn something from them,

INFANT CARE 69JULY/AUGUST 2008 EXCHANGE

29

and then it’s easier for next year. Andthen you get another child and youlearn something new. It’s ongoing.”

Strategies for supportinginfant teachers in theirwork with fussy babies

Understanding is essential and thisincludes not just the director but also allmembers of the center team. It can bechallenging to feel competent in themiddle of what one teacher described asa ‘screamfest’ when others (and thisincludes other teachers, administrators,and parents) are making judgmentsabout their actions. One veteran teachersaid she was tired of hearing:

“What are you doing for him? Why ishe still crying? Did you do anythingwith him at all?’ And, that’s thefrustrating part because you’ve beentrying. You’ve tried this and you’vetried that. You’ve held him. You’ve sungto him. You’ve read stories. You’veoffered bottles. You’ve changed diapers.And so it’s frustrating, but they’re notthere to see you going through thosechanges.”

It can be very tempting for teachers tojudge others, but part of our work inchild care involves working as a part ofa team. That means supporting oneanother when times are difficult!

Looking at program practices andstaffing can also help.

■ Do enrollment forms for infantsprovide enough information to helpteachers in the support of a new babyin their care?

■ Are infant teachers staffed inconsistent ways to help provide astable schedule for babies, whileallowing families and teachers toestablish routines and relationships?

■ Is it possible for an infant teacherwho is having a truly awful day witha crying baby to get coverage to giveher a few essential minutes of peaceand quiet to regroup and regain hercoping skills?

Are relationships in place withfamilies where additional support orresources may be used as referrals ifindicated? Many families who arecoping with a colicky baby have alreadytalked with their pediatrician about this.Yet many pediatricians see colic as a‘benign condition’ as it usuallydisappears by four months of age (seebox above). If families are worriedabout developmental concerns orsensory issues, they may want toconsider contacting early intervention

(EI). You can find your state’s EI contactinformation at:www.nectac.org/contact/ptccoord.asp.Is a system in place in the center to helpparents find community resources such as early intervention?

When infant teachers reflect on theirexperience of having a fussy baby intheir care, they will often note that partof this experience is developmental andthat patience is essential. Many of thepractices that support families andteachers with fussy babies are essentialpractices of quality early care. Theexperience of working through theissues that come with a fussy baby arenot easy.

If center staff are able to establish arelationship and work as partners incare with the family, it strengthens thecare for the baby and family, the infantteacher’s professional practice, and thechild care program itself. As one teachertold us:

“One day, I said (to the mother), ‘LatelyI’m having problems with him, what doyou do at home?’ so I can help himbetter. And she said, ‘Oh, how funny! Iwas thinking to ask you the same thing.’ Okay, so we have, I always say, thesame problems. We have the same baby,so we need to talk. And my relationshipwith families is better, I think.”

References

Brazelton, T. B. (1990). Crying and colic.Infant Mental Health Association Journal,11(4), 349-356.

Gilman, E., & Collins, A. (2000). Betterstrategies for babies: Strengthening thecaregivers and families of infants andtoddlers. Children and Welfare Reform, 7.New York: Columbia University,Mailman School of Public Health,National Center for Children in Poverty.

70 INFANT CAREEXCHANGE JULY/AUGUST 2008

What is colic?

Wessel’s Rule of 3’s defines colic as:

infant crying for more than 3 hoursa day, more than 3 days a week, formore than 3 weeks.

That is a lot of crying! This crying isfrequently at a higher pitch thantypical crying. Many parents (andchild care providers) report cryingto be most common in the lateafternoon/early evening. While asmany as 20% of babies may showsigns of colic in the first months oflife, pediatricians often considercolic as a benign or self-limitingcondition, one that babies will, onaverage, outgrow by four to sixmonths of age. Colic has not beenfound to be linked to parentingbehaviors, breast- or bottle-feeding,or cultural practices. It may berelated to gastrointestinal issues,sensory thresholds, some form ofdevelopmental immaturity, orpossible allergies — all reasons formaking sure families have talkedover their concerns about cryingwith their child’s pediatrician.

30

McKim, M. K., Cramer, K. M., Stuart, B.,& O’Connor, D. L. (1999). Infant caredecisions and attachment security: TheCanadian transition to child care study.Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science,31(2), 92-106

Owen, M. T., & Ware, A. M. (2000).Caregiver-mother partnership behaviorand the quality of caregiver-child andmother-child interactions. EarlyChildhood Research Quarterly, 15(3), 413-428.

Partners in Care: Supporting FussyBabies in Child Care — more informa-tion and resources to support infantteachers in their care of fussy babiesmay be downloaded at:http://www.erikson.edu/partnersincare

INFANT CARE 71JULY/AUGUST 2008 EXCHANGE

The Crying Curve and Infant Care

The amount of time that babies cry was documented over 40 years ago by Dr. T. BerryBrazelton through cry diaries completed by families in his practice in Cambridge,Massachusetts. This ‘crying curve’ has been confirmed in many studies in cultures withdifferent caregiving practices. The peak period for infant crying is 4-6 weeks of age — a timewhen many working families are facing the transition to non-maternal care. Knowledge of thiscurve may assist infant teachers in supporting families through this transition and helpingparents to realize that if their baby is crying more at this time, it may very well be part of thisdevelopmental stage (Brazelton, 1990).

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10 Exchange November/December 2007

this?” Audrey stares at the new drum-stick for a moment and then drops thesmaller drumstick in order to take thenew one. She immediately uses it to hitthe drum. The noise is louder. Audreyshows her excitement by smiling andshaking from head to toe. Ms. Roselaughs and says to Audrey, “The biggerdrumstick makes a louder noise.”

Ms. Rose is using what she has learnedfrom her training to guide her inter-actions with Evan, Audrey, Gabrielle,and Madison. Ms. Rose is becoming amore intentional caregiver. She knowsthat intentional care optimizes develop-ment for all children.

The intentional andpurpose-focused caregiver

What are the characteristics of anintentional caregiver?

■ An intentional caregiver focuses onwhat is developing with specificoutcomes or goals in mind forchildren’s development and learning.For infants and toddlers, she focuseson each of the developmentaldomains: cognitive, social-emotional,motor, and language.

■ The intentional caregiver possesses awide range of knowledge. She knowsand follows the “windows of oppor-tunity” from early brain development

More Purposeful and IntentionalInfant and Toddler Care

by Pam Schiller

Nine-month-old Audrey stirs from hernap. As Ms. Rose passes Audrey’s crib

while she is on herway to place Evan inhis crib for his nap,she says to Audrey,“Hi, Audrey, I will bethere to get you in justa minute.” Ms. Rosegives Evan a hug andsays, “Sleep well,Evan. We’ll see youwhen you wake up.”Evan starts to fuss.Ms. Rose pats him onhis back and saysagain, “We’ll see youwhen you wake up.”

Ms. Rose leaves Evan,who is still fussingjust a little, walks overto Audrey, smiles ather and says, “Youhad a long nap. Ithink you are ready toplay for awhile.” Asshe lifts Audrey fromher crib, she gives her

a hug and begins singing softly.

You’re not sleeping.You’re not sleeping.You’re awake.You’re awake.Now it’s time for playing.

Now it’s time for playing.Audrey’s awake.Audrey’s awake.

Ms. Rose walks to the changing tableand begins to change Audrey’s diaper.“Let’s get you a dry diaper. Did youhave a good nap?” Audrey starts tobabble, “ma-ma-ma-ma.” Ms. Rosewaits for a break and then interjects.“Listen to you talk! Are you telling meabout your dreams?”

Audrey hears laughter across the roomand turns her head in the direction ofthe interesting noise. Ms. Rose noticesand says, “You hear Gabrielle laugh-ing.” After finishing Audrey’s diaperchange, Ms. Rose plays a couple ofrounds of Pat-a-Cake with Audrey, thenpicks Audrey up and brings her to theplay area.

Gabrielle and Madison are playing witha few toys on the floor. Ms. Rose sitsAudrey down near her and says, “Hi,Gabrielle and Madison! Audrey wantsto play by you.” She hands Audrey adrum and small “drumstick” (smallround stacking disk). Audrey watchesthe other children for a minute and thenhits the drum with the “drumstick.” Ms.Rose says, “Listen to the sounds you aremaking with the drum! Here is a larger‘drumstick’ (larger stacking disk).Would you like to hit the drum with

Guidelines and training

PamSchiller,Ph.D., is aNationalCurriculum

Specialist for The WrightGroup/McGraw-Hill and aninternationally recognizedauthor and public speaker.Dr. Schiller has been a childcare administrator forseveral years and has alsotaught in the public schoolsas a kindergarten teacher.She served as Head of theEarly Childhood Departmentat the University of Houstonwhere she also directed theLab School. She is seniorauthor of five early child-hood curriculums, includingThe DLM Early ChildhoodExpress for The WrightGroup, ten children’s books,and more than 30 teacherand parent resource books.Pam lives in Cypress, Texas.

Infant Care

32

research. She understands how toaccommodate individual differencesamong little ones with differenttemperaments, personality styles, andlearning styles.

■ An intentional caregiver provides abalance of classroom experiences sothat children and caregiver take turnsleading activities.

Using neuroscience as a guide

When caregivers use the guidelinesprovided by the “Windows ofOpportunity,” they create a purposefulclassroom. The information in thesedevelopmental timetables are based onscientific research. They are the same forall children no matter where they areborn. They are the same for all childrenwhether they are born on time, prema-turely, or with developmental delays.The “windows” open at birth and“wire” with experience until puberty.All future wiring will be based on thisfoundation. The chart below shows thefertile time for wiring in each domain,as well as the optimum time forreinforcing the wiring with repetitionand practice.

As you can see, infant and toddler care-givers play a crucial role in the lifelonglearning of each child in their care. The

November/December 2007 Exchange 11

Infant Care

initial wiring for all domains is forgedbetween birth and age three. Infant andtoddler caregivers write on the soul ofevery child they encounter.

■ In the opening scenario for thisarticle, Ms. Rose effectively usedinformation from the “windows” andapplied that information to her inter-actions with Audrey. Ms. Rosemanaged to include at least oneactivity to promote development inall five domains.

■ Ms. Rose spoke to Audrey to let herknow that she noticed that Audreywas awake. Ms. Rose told Audrey,“I’ll be there in a minute.”(trust/attachment)

■ Ms. Rose smiled and hugged Audreywhen she picked Audrey up from hercrib. (trust/attachment)

■ Ms. Rose sang a song to Audrey asshe held Audrey and walked with herto the changing table. (early sounds)

■ Ms. Rose talked with Audrey duringdiaper changing. (vocabulary)

■ Ms. Rose responded when Audreyheard other children laughing. (cause and effect)

■ Ms. Rose played a couple of roundsof Pat-a-Cake with Audrey. (motor)

■ Ms. Rose talked about the differentsounds that different drumsticksmake. (cause and effect)

Intentional activities and experiencesoptimize children’s learning! Doing justone activity each day, for each child, ineach domain is infant and toddlercurriculum.

Selecting toys and equipmentwith intentionality and purpose

An effective way to build a more inten-tional and purposeful infant and toddlerenvironment is to use the “windows ofopportunity” as a guide for selectingand using the toys and equipment inthe classroom. It will enable you toengage children with specific outcomesin mind. Many items overlap domainsbecause they have multiple uses. Makea list of items in your classroom andthen sort them by domain. Take a lookat each item under each domain andthink about how you might use thatitem to provide experiences that corre-late with the “windows of opportunity.”A few examples are shown on page 11.

Using activities withintentionality

Looking at the activities and experi-ences you offer children with the sameguide will also help you create a morepurposeful environment. The followingchart describes activities that promoteearly development in each developmen-tal domain. The activities correlate withthe “windows of opportunity.”

Singing with intentionalityand purpose

Children’s songs are a wonderful toolfor learning. They are far more effective,however, when you use them with aspecific outcome in mind. For example,you might change the word “little” in

Windows of Opportunity

Window Wiring Opportunity Greatest Enhancement

Thinking Skills 0–48 months 4–pubertyCause and Effect 0–16 monthsProblem-Solving 16–48 months

Motor Development 0–24 months 2–5 years

Language 0–24 monthsEarly Sounds 4–8 months 8 months–10 yearsVocabulary 0–24 months 2–5 years

Emotional Intelligence 0–48 months 4–pubertyTrust 0–14 monthsImpulse Control 16–48 months

Social Development 0–48 months 4–pubertyAttachment 0–12 monthsIndependence 12–36 months

.

33

“Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” to tiny,gigantic, silent, or blinking. You can alsochange your voice and add handmotions to help emphasize the differ-ences between each word. When yourefocus a traditional song in this way, itoffers a great vocabulary lesson. Or,when you suggest that children pre-tend to be the spider, using full bodymovement, to accompany “Itsy BitsySpider,” you add the benefit of grossmotor development to the song. Dis-cussing what caused the spider to fallinstead of just assuming childrenunderstand the cause-and-effect con-nection will enhance their cognitivedevelopment.

If you stop to define words such as waterspout, you also will be using thesong as a tool for developing vocabu-lary.

The challenge

All caregivers and teachers of youngchildren face the same challenge —finding strategies that will lead to amore purposeful learning experiencefor children. All are striving to becomeintentional teachers and caregivers.

Here are three suggestions for movingtoward more purposeful care:

■ Think of desired outcomes as youplan and move through dailyroutines. This will automatically leadyou in a more purposeful andintentional direction.

■ Strengthen your knowledge of theresearch that supports earlydevelopment. You will become moreeffective in selecting outcomes thatare beneficial.

■ Remember that teaching is as muchabout following as it is about leading.Teachers who are keen observers ofchildren learn as much from thechildren as the children learn fromthem.

Ann Epstein, author of The IntentionalTeacher (2007), says that “the quality oflearning rarely exceeds the quality ofteaching.” Every child has a right to aquality learning experience. Are you aquality caregiver? Do you providepurposeful care?

Bibliography

Epstein, A. (2007). The IntentionalTeacher. Washington, DC: NationalAssociation for the Education of YoungChildren.

Ramey, C. T., & Ramey, S. L. (1999).Right from birth: Building your child’sfoundation for life — birth to 18 months.New York: Goddard Press.

Schiller, P. (2005). The complete resourcebook for infants: Over 700 experiences forchildren from birth to 18 months.Beltsville, MD: Gryphon House.

Schiller, P. (2003). The complete resourcebook for toddlers and twos: Over 200experiences and ideas. Beltsville, MD:Gryphon House.

Schiller, P., & Moore, T. (2006). And thecow jumped over the moon: 750 activitiesfor teaching toddlers with songs andrhymes. Beltsville, MD: Gryphon House.


Infant Care

Window Wiring Opportunity Toys/Equipment

Thinking Skills 0–48 monthsCause and Effect 0–16 months rattles; busy boxes; musical instrumentsProblem-Solving 16–48 months puzzles; blocks; stack-and-nest sensory toys; pop-and-lock beads

Motor Development 0–24 months balls; climbers; giant sight-and-sound tubes; baby band; large push vehicles; pull toys;riding toys; scarves

Language 0–24 monthsEarly Sounds 4–8 months talk-to-me telephone; music CDs; books; baby bandVocabulary 0–24 months giant sight-and-sound tubes; me in the mirror; puppets; single word books; photo cards

Emotional Intelligence 0–48 monthsTrust 0–14 months one-on-one interactions with caregiver with or without toys; CDs with one-on-one activities;

see activities chart in this article; resource books that suggest one-on-one activitiesImpulse Control 16–48 months “This is all about setting boundaries — impulse control is learned through interactions with

peers and caregivers.”

Social Development 0–48 monthsAttachment 0–12 months one-on-one interactions with or without toysIndependence 12–36 months CDs with one-on-one activities; CDs with group activities; group games; mirrors; zipping and

buttoning boards

34

Domain Games/Activities/Experiences*

Cognitive Keep your eye on the ball (6 months)Roll a ball across the floor, encouraging little ones to keep their eye on the ball.

In the bag (12 months)Show one child two familiar items such as a rattle and a block. Place both items in a bag one at a time in front of the toddler. Ask the child to reach into the bag and find the one of the two objects, for example, the rattle.

Real object match (toddlers)Trace the outline of objects , such as rattles, puzzle pieces and eating utensils onto a sheet of posterboard. Give toddlers the poster board and the real objects to match.

Motor Pat-a-cake feet (3 months)Play pat-a-cake with baby’s feet instead of hands.

Tactile crawl (6 months)Place a few sheets of different textures of fabric in a pathway on the floor. Invite crawlers to crawl over the fabrics. Narrate their crawling experience.

Walk the line (toddlers)Place a strip of masking tape on the floor. Help toddlers to walk the line of tape.

Language Mirror talk (3 months)Place baby in your lap and face a mirror. Talk to the baby in the mirror.

Talk walks (6 months)Walk baby around the room or outdoors. Talk about the things you see.

I spy (toddlers)Give a description of something close by and see if the toddler can identify the thing you are describing.

Social-Emotional Tummy to tummy (3 months)Lie down on your back and place baby on your tummy. Talk to baby.

’Round the house (12 months)Hold baby’s hand palm up. Trace a circle on the palm as you say, “’Round the house, ’round the house, goes the little mousie.” Walk index finger and middle finger up the baby’s arm as you say, “Up the stairs, up the stairs, goes the little mousie.” Tickle baby gently under the arm as you say, “in the little housie.”

Piggyback rides (toddlers)Take toddler on a piggyback ride.

*Activities taken from The Complete Resource Book for Infants and The Complete Resource Book for Toddlers and Twos, both published by Gryphon House.


Infant Care

35Training

14 Exchange May/June 2005

My colleague Deb Curtis has returned toworking with infants and toddlers, andit is with great joy and fascination that Iperiodically visit her room and see whatis unfolding among the children and theinfant and toddler staff. Deb has taughtearly childhood college classes for over20 years, and she co-authors books withme, and travels widely to speak andconduct workshops. But all of that nowpales in the face of her joy in workingwith the babies and what she is discov-ering each day with them.

Most of the infant and toddler teachers Ivisit view their work quite differentlythan Deb. Typically they are focused onthe chores and caregiving routines andappear fairly stressed about their work.Though they may be emotionallyinvolved with the children, few findthemselves intellectually engaged withwhat is unfolding in their daily activi-ties. Deb and I regularly talk about howshe can encourage her co-workers to bemore focused on the joy of working withthis age group, more observant and curi-ous about what they are seeing.

Infant and toddler caregivers areinvolved with one of the most amazingand rapidly developing times of thehuman experience. It is a time whenchildren are most acutely learning whothey are, from adults and from theirinteractions and responses to them.Infant and toddler caregivers have aremarkable impact on this process. AsRon Lally describes it:

“In infant and toddler caregiving, more ishappening than tender loving care andlearning games — values and beliefs arebeing witnessed and incorporated. Theway you act is perceived, interpreted,and incorporated into the actual defini-tion of the self the child isforming.”(Lally 1995)

How do we convey this message to ourstaff? What strategies will give them bet-ter insights into working with this agegroup and help them use their powerwisely with these our youngest of chil-dren?

Relationships arethe curriculum

For infants and toddlers, responsiveinteractions are what curriculum is about.Usually we don’t think about respondingto babies as a plan, but rather do it at asubconscious level. We act and react to achild’s body movement, facial expression,and a certain cry or giggle. We change awet diaper or feed a hungry belly, oftenwithout awareness of the complexity ofwhat is involved in these brief, ordinaryexchanges. But when we look closely atwhat is happening and its significance,the ordinary becomes extraordinary.

In the caregiving relationship, infants andtoddlers are learning who they are andwhat they are capable of in each of thesesmall moments with adults. The childrenare subconsciously searching for answersto questions such as:

■ Is the world a safe place?■ Will my needs be met?■ Am I a successful communicator?■ Will you accept my raw, uncensored

emotions?■ Do I have any power?■ If we part, will you still be there?■ Do you see what I already know and

am further wanting to know?

Strategy:Read children’s books

Looking through picture books aboutinfants and toddlers can remind care-givers of how to think about curriculumfor this age group and how to interact inculturally sensitive ways. Here are booksthat tend to generate thoughtful discus-sion and new insights.

■ Deborah Chocolate, On the Day I WasBorn (Scholastic, 1995). Have the staffstudy the illustrations and make noteof the language used in this book. Askthem to cull out what could be thoughtof as “curriculum themes” for babies— for instance, the themes of softness,

by Margie Carter

Ideas for training staff

Margie Carter is the co-author of anumber of books with Deb Curtis,including Reflecting Children’sLives: A Handbook for PlanningChild Centered Curriculum fromwhich this article was adapted. Her video produc-tions include Time with Toddlers and she is currentlyfilming a new video for infant and toddler caregiversthat features Deb Curtis and several other caregivers.To learn more about Margie’s work, visit her web siteat www.ecetrainers.com.

Riding the Waves of WorkingWith Infants and Toddlers

36Training

May/June 2005 Exchange 15

a sense of belonging, and being knownand delighted in by those around.

■ Margy Burns Knight, Welcoming Babies(Tilbury House, 1994). As your staffreads about the different ways culturaltraditions convey a sense of identity andaffinity to young children, ask them toconsider what they know about thesetraditions for the families of the childrenin their care. If little is known, how couldyou find out? Don’t assume a question-naire is the best approach, because thatmight not be culturally appropriate.

■ Barbara Joosse, Mama, Do You Love Me?(Chronicle Books, 1991) and MargaretWise Brown, The Runaway Bunny(Harper, 1942) are books alive with theintense emotions young ones are experi-encing: If I runaway, have a big tantrum,do something you think is naughty, willyou still love me? Have teachers make alist of how the parent in each of thesebooks responds to these efforts toexplore security and power and thenconsider paraphrases that might workfor the children in their care.

Caregivers in our programs have the job oflearning about the developmental needsand tasks of this age group while comingto know each child’s individual ways ofbeing and expressing her or himself. Theyneed sharp observation skills and the abil-ity to read and respond to the cues the chil-dren are continually expressing as afoundation for responsive caregiving.Equally important, caregivers must learnmore about themselves so they are con-scious of their reactions and can intention-ally respond in a way that enhances thewell-being and self-concept of each child.

Reading andresponding to cues

With infants and toddlers, interactions inthe caregiving process are primarily basedon nonverbal cues. Adults send and receivehundreds of messages in our daily interac-tions through facial expressions and our

tone of voice. This form of communi-cation, although subtle and at a sub-conscious level, is extremely powerful.The way we move our bodies, tilt ourheads, and touch and hold a child tellsher or him about themselves and theworld around them. Try offering theseactivities to enhance caregiver aware-ness of the cues they read and send.

Strategy:Analyze pictures

Gather a collection of photographs ofinfants and toddlers in various activi-ties from magazines, newspapers, andbooks. Have staff study them andpractice reading cues and analyzingresponses by looking at each photowith the following questions:

■ How does this picture make mefeel? Why? Where do those feelingsin me come from? What is myinstinctive reaction when I’m feelingthis way?

■ What do I think this child needs?■ How do I know this?■ What would my response and spe-

cific behavior be with this child?■ Are there any new considerations

and revisions in how I would like torespond to a child doing somethinglike this picture?

Now consider my response from thechild’s point of view:

■ How successful are my messages tothis adult?

■ How interesting am I?■ Are my feelings understood and

acceptable?■ Is it safe to be myself?■ What should I fear?

Changing instinctive responses tobehaviors and emotions is usually notan easy task, even if new understand-ings come to light. It takes practice toreprogram ourselves. Suggest thatyour staff continue to explore their ini-tial responses to infants and toddlers

by observing them in stores, restaurants,or shopping malls and then consideringthe above questions. If you provide timein each meeting with caregivers to prac-tice recognizing their own feelings and tothen consider the experience from thechild’s point of view, you will be teach-ing them a methodology for developingresponsive caregiving.

Everyday routines arethe curriculum

The caregiving process is central toinfant and toddler curriculum because itfosters a child’s development andpositive identity. The more caregiversincrease their awareness of how every-day materials, activities, and routinesconstitute “a curriculum,” the moreintentional they will become in how they offer these experiences.

Deb tells me that her diaper changingtable is a good example. The childrenlove climbing up the stairs at this tablebecause they are steeper and morechallenging than any other equipment inher room. Deb has figured out a way tosafely let children climb and stand on thestairs to watch a playmate getting a dia-per change. This helps build relation-ships among the children as well as withDeb. They hear the conversation andexpand their language exposure. Theyexperience the physical challenge andtheir identity is strengthened by compe-tentcy in the task of climbing, holdingon, and watching. What Deb has discov-ered is that when you believe childrendeserve such experiences and you arewilling to invest in the coaching processwith them, you discover how much morecapable they are than you otherwiseimagined.

Strategy:Analyze catalog materials

In a staff meeting gather several earlychildhood catalogs and look through thesections related to infants and toddlers.

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16 Exchange May/June 2005

Training

Have staff quickly choose pictures ofmaterials and equipment that are part oftheir daily work. For each one, ask themto identify the kind of learning theyknow occurs when this material orequipment is used thoughtfully by thecaregivers and children. Consider self-concept and identity development,social/emotional learning, sensory/motor, language and literacy, numeracy,scientific thinking, etc.

Hearing Deb’s enthusiasm for her workthis year and her detailed stories of how the children are challenging herassumptions about them has sent meback to a story she wrote in ReflectingChildren’s Lives about a brief stint shehad as a toddler teacher ten years ago.She called it “Riding the Waves Again”and describes how working withtoddlers reminds her of growing up inSouthern California. “It’s like learningto swim in the ocean. You can onlymaster an understanding of the natureof waves by spending quite a bit of timewith your body immersed in the experi-ence. You have to be able to anticipate

what’s going to happen and follow thelead of the waves, but at the same time,be totally observant and aware ofwhat’s happening with all the elementsat each moment. You can never really bein control or change the waves. You justlearn to understand how to respond tothem . . . . I guess what I’m trying todescribe is the part of teaching that isn’tabout planning or leading, but aboutlearning to stay with the process.”

If we want our staff to acquire thislearning, we have to immerse them in alearning process that parallels what wewant them to offer children.

References

Curtis, D., & Carter, M. (1996). ReflectingChildren’s Lives: A Handbook for PlanningChild Centered Curriculum. St. Paul, MN:Redleaf Press.

Lally, J. R. (November 1995). “TheImpact of Child Care Policies andPractices on Infant/Toddler IdentityFormation. Young Children.

38

R


Hold and Mold: Nourish Babies

Be a Responsive, Reciprocal

Partner

Secrets forEarly Childhood

Professionals

39


Enhance YourNoticing Skills

Learn Agesand Stages:

Prerequisitesand Windows

Digest and Apply Developmental

Theories

Provide LanguageTreasures:

Enhance Beauty inChildren’s Lives

ReadPicture Books

PromoteKindness andFriendliness

40


Discover Infants’Unique Tempera-

mental Styles

Conclusions

References

41

September/October 1987 Child Care Information Exchange 15

Our surroundings affect our behavior.As adults we whisper in libraries, wefeel lost on the streets of strange cities,we relax in our own homes. Exactly likeadults, children's feelings and behaviorsare shaped by the physical situation inwhich they find themselves.

Even children who are too young toknow about rules or possible dangersare affected by physical space: thinkabout an infant's surprise at being laiddown on a cold changing table, the waya two year old runs when faced with aramp, the shyness of many four yearolds entering a new classroom.

But for many years people have arguedthat while young children react to theirenvironments, they are most stronglyaffected by the immediate qualities oftheir surroundings: cold air or bathwater, wet diapers, rough edges, lostbalance, or loud noises. This view ofchildren's relationships to the physicalworld is meeting considerable chal-lenge.

Infants: What Do They Know?

For a number of years, researchersargued that the vision of infants is hazy.Consequently, people believed thatinfants react to skin sensations more

landmarks, not just bodily cues. If awindow is on an infant's left on a tripdown a hall, the baby will look for it onhis/her right side during the return trip.

Clearly, the physical environment is notat all a distant blur or a bundle ofimmediate sensations for infants.Beyond worrying about the temperatureand texture of surfaces, we have to rec-ognize that very young children are sen-sitive to the organization andappearance of their surroundings.

Toddlers: How Does Their World Shift?

If infants are already beginning to havea sense for the world's geography, thenwhat, if anything, changes between theages of one and three years? In thisperiod, children go from sitting tocrawling to walking to running. Withthe shift away from armchair life, chil-dren begin to cover increasing amountsof territory. They have to figure out notonly how to get from here to there buthow to get back. They may try to followa ball as it rolls out of sight and bouncesoff different objects. They learn to usesomeone's voice to guide their way backto home base.

Once children lie, squat, walk, and run,they are faced with solving a whole new

Worlds for Infants and Toddlers: New Ideas

By Jim Greenman

than to the world out there. Over thelast 20 years, researchers like T. G. R.Bower and Robert Fantz have shownthat even young infants make sense oftheir physical surroundings in clear andhighly organized ways. Infants can rec-ognize an object from the front, the side,or the bottom. Similarly, infants are dis-tressed when they see a videotape oftheir mother in one location and hearher voice coming from a different loca-tion.

Until very recently, people believed thatsince young children are limited to per-sonal or body sensations, they under-stand very little about the actualgeography of objects, rooms, and largerspaces. This description turns out to beharsh. Research by Susan Rose andHolly Ruff at Einstein College of Medi-cine shows that as early as six to twelvemonths babies work at piecing togetherseparate kinds of spatial information.Infants who mouth objects without see-ing them can later recognize those sameobjects by sight.

Research from the laboratories of Her-bert Pick at the University of Minnesotaand Linda Acredolo at the University ofCalifornia at Davis shows that infantsdo realize how large spaces are orga-nized. They have been able to demon-strate that infants think in terms of

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16 Child Care Information Exchange September/October 1987

familiar plans for preschool spaces andadd cribs and changing tables. In thiscase, the scale is too large and the orga-nization much too formal to make sensefor younger children.

In place of borrowing, we need originaldesigns meant specifically for infantsand toddlers. These kinds of designs arebased on observing babies in the wild. Akeen sense of how babies or toddlers actat home, in parks, or in group care isprobably the most important tool. Thebest training is to watch an infant or atwo year old and to observe such thingsas:

• how they move through space,• how they explore the surface and

objects they meet,• what captures their attention,• the level of their gaze and reach, and• what disturbs or frustrates their

activity.

Once you have a feel for the way that aninfant or toddler interacts with space,you have to take the basic qualities ofgood environments and ask: “How doesthis apply to infants?” or “What wouldthis mean for toddlers?”

Health and Safety

Of course it is important that an envi-ronment be safe and healthy. This meansthat there must be careful control oftemperatures and ventilation (especiallyat the low levels where children will be).There must be sanitation precautionsthat are thorough but easy for caregiversto follow out. The setting must beinspected for sharp edges, dark corners,uneven flooring. Materials must containno toxic substances. Toys should beexamined so that no baby can choke,suffocate, or be cut, even when playingwith the toys in unorthodox ways.

At the same time, an environmentwhich is overprotective is unhealthy inits own way. It stifles movement and

set of spatial problems. Children who canbe at all these levels live in a very com-plex spatial world. When such a childhunts for an object, she has to take intoconsideration not just where but fromwhat point of view he/she last recallsseeing it.

During these years, children's socialworld is often reorganized. Many chil-dren are increasingly able to separatefrom their parents. Once they give upclinging to familiar knees, they wanderand explore. A two year old can easilyfollow a peer behind a bush in a play-ground. From that vantage point thewhole world looks different. At amoment like that, a child may have tocope with confusion, even fear. She willalso have to call on all kinds of alterna-tive cues for navigating: taller landmarkslike roof lines and trees, or quite differentclues such as noises and voices.

Work by Jerome Kagan and his colleaguesshows that during their second and thirdyears, children develop an initial set ofstandards. Two and three year olds real-ize that certain behaviors are right,whereas other behaviors are wrong inparticular situations. In that way, childrenmay cease to think about all physicalspaces as being the same. Even thoughthey could not put it into words, two yearolds know the difference between what isexpected in a nap room and what isexpected on the playground. In otherwords, even though toddlers may not fol-low out their understandings, they havesense for the social messages carried bydifferent spaces.

Environments Made forInfants and Toddlers

Despite this changing picture of youngchildren's understanding of space, welack good models for thinking about thedesign of infant and toddler environ-ments. One mistake is to create bedroom-like settings which are limiting and lackchallenge. The other mistake is to borrow

exploration; it hurts children's ability totrust themselves and the physicalworld. Children are smart about theirown safety when it comes to motorskills; they simply do not make thesame errors over and over. They learnhow to handle steps and how to protectthemselves if they roll off a riser. Thejob is to learn not to patrol children orto limit the kinds of equipment but toset up the environment.

Crowding is often overlooked as a basicsafety problem. There must be clearspaces for large motor activity, butspaces should be small enough to pre-vent children from bunching up. Untilchildren are older, they lack much clearsense of other children's space needs;more than three or four children maylead to a fair amount of accidentalbumping and knocking. Also, smallnumbers permit children to concentrate.If a child is alone on a ramp or a ladder,she can think about where she puts herfeet. If there are large numbers of otherchildren around, she is likely to be dis-tracted.

If a child's fingers are pinched by arocker, don't ban the rocker. Look for anew place to put it where it won't be inthe flow of traffic. Think about paddingand carpeting risers and lofts. Don't doaway with drawers if a child's handgets closed in one. Instead, realize thattwo year olds are fascinated by openingand closing; build alternative sourcesfor that experience into the room.

In boring rooms, children end upexploring each other. That leads to pok-ing, pushing, even biting. In restrictiverooms, adults are constantly pullingchildren away from items or areas thatinterest them. Being turned into a poli-ceperson makes teachers tense, evenangry. It wastes valuable teaching andcaring time.

43


Variety

One of the biggest challenges of groupcare lies in avoiding the institutionalqualities of the experience: everyonedoing the same thing at the same time.This factory atmosphere has high costs:boredom, frustration, loss of individualityfor both caregivers and children. In hos-pitals and old age homes, just as much asin child care, staff members have to workto avoid this kind of dulling routine.

The actual layout of physical spaces andfacilities can be extremely important. Ifthe spaces are individual and smallenough, babies won't be moving in packs.Because of the size of the children, thereshould be something interesting everytwo feet. That way, within a small areatwo will be playing hide-and-seek behinda pillow, one will be collecting blocks,another will be in a lap looking at a book.In this type of space, babies and toddlersmove at their own pace and tire at theirown pace. Consequently, their active,quiet, and sleeping periods will becomeindividual.

Personal or individual activity schedulescan be accentuated by the kinds of furni-ture in the room. If the room containslarge motor equipment as well as lowmattresses and groups of pillows, onechild can be very active while anotherinfant takes a cat nap. The variety of pos-sibilities also answers to the fact that inany single day individual children willfeel energetic or quiet, sociable or crabby,needy or independent.

A second issue in providing individual-ized care comes from thinking aboutinfants or toddlers as age groups: “Infantslike …,” “Infants can ....” Anyone withchild care experience knows that no twoinfants are alike at nine months. Spacesmust reflect the individual rates of devel-opment and the spectrum of interests orskills likely to show up in any group ofchildren. Basically, this means there mustbe considerable variety. The same room

must work for babies who sit or walk,who like books or ramps.

A final problem with group care comesfrom age segregation. Usually infantsand toddlers are restricted to their owncompany and their own spaces. Manyteachers and directors are concerned thatolder children will mow down babies.But infants and toddlers need the varietyof walking to other rooms in a center,even playing in baby-proofed regions ofother rooms. It is not positive foryounger children (or their teachers) to bewalled off from the three to five yearolds.

Programs should consider ways of inte-grating babies into the larger community.Five year olds can help feed babies orthey can come to play with individualtoddlers in the late afternoons. Perhapsthere can be a loft or a window whichpermits two year olds to observe olderchildren in another room or to watchtraffic through a hallway.

Flexibility

At no other time in their lives are chil-dren changing in quite so many ways atonce. Yet it is rare that we think aboutwhat this rapid rate of developmentmeans for the way we design and furnishspaces. Infant and toddler spaces have tobe set up flexibly so that the environmentcan keep in step with children's shiftingneeds but stay within what is probably avery modest budget.

Take the instance of providing seatingand surfaces. These items can work foreating and for many other purposes aswell. Some car seats come with specialorder trays that allow you to turn theminto high chairs. These can be mountedon the wall. Infants may eat there, and, ifteachers put interesting materials on thetrays, the seats become a functional playspace for quiet, individual activity.

In other centers, infant seats have been

mounted on top of cabinets. The cabinetsstop several feet above the floor, leaving aspace for carpet and pillows below. Inthat way, eating, storage, and play spacehave been combined. Still other solutionsare based on inventive combinations ofpurchased furniture, such as adding a topto the water table which turns it into alunch surface or a safe space for tabletopblock play.

Another form of flexibility comes fromrethinking the usual, like a couch. Forinfants, a couch provides a perfect spacefor two caregivers to sit and hold babies.As children learn to crawl, the couch canbe moved out from the wall to create aninteresting path. When children want topractice walking, the same couch pro-vides a soft walking rail. Once toddlersbecome fascinated by more complexkinds of spatial games like hide-and-seek,the couch can become the base for a slideor for tunnels made from blankets. Thisprocess of designing and redesigning anenvironment creates a caring and a work-ing space which keeps pace with changesin children.

Scale and Perspective

It is easy to forget how small infants andtoddlers are. Almost everything in theirlives goes on under 30 inches. Thisrequires that designers and teachers turntheir normal expectations upside down.Beneath three feet is the active zone(where the curriculum happens), abovethree feet is the passive zone (storage,wall-mounted cradles, bulletin boards,etc.).

The body size of infants and toddlers hasimplications for laying out spaces anddistances within a playroom. What is asmall space for an adult may feel like abaseball diamond to an infant. A fiber-board drum, a cardboard box, a pillowleaning up to a couch are all rooms largeenough for two babies. What is a shortdistance for an adult to cross may be toogreat a span for a young child. Items like

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18 Child Care Information Exchange September/October 1987

paper and crayons, toys, water tablesshould be located very close together.As children become self-assured walk-ers, these distances and spaces shouldchange.

In planning environments for veryyoung children, adults also have tothink about adjusting their perspective.While older children and adults spendalmost no time looking at the ceiling orthe undersides of furniture, babies seequite a lot of this kind of scenery. Thechallenge is to find ways of makingthese spaces interesting and functional.As people plan infant and toddlerrooms, they should consider mobilesabove changing tables, ceiling displaysin nap rooms, textures along base-boards.

Softness and Responsiveness

Infant and toddler rooms should sparkthe response: “What a neat place to be alittle kid!” “What a neat place to beWITH a little kid!” There are two majoringredients in producing this kind ofresponse: softness and responsiveness.

Softness is created by masking the ster-ile, efficient side of child care settingswith the qualities of a living room: softlight, plants, nooks and corners, com-fortable furniture, easily movable propslike blankets and pillows. The point isnot to create some House and Gardensetting. The point is to design a placewhere babies will know how to find pri-vacy and intimacy and where adultswill find it easy to provide these samethings.

Responsiveness is a slightly differentquality. It is the way in which a roomspeaks back to a child who acts on it. Aroom has to be sensitive to the way thatchildren of different ages are likely toact. Infants and toddlers provide a goodcontrast in this respect. For infants, aroom has to be a fine space in which tosit, crawl, or walk short distances. It is

full of pillows, low mattresses, barelyraised platforms, and changes in tex-tured surfaces.

The materials in an infant room shouldreact to light touch and chance motions,because that is what babies producespontaneously. In a playroom for babiesyou want mobiles that respond to aircurrents; mirrors that reflect simplechanges in position; easily graspeditems such as soft balls, foam blocks, orbooks with cardboard pages. An idealitem is a plastic swimming pool contain-ing scarves, strips of cloth or paper. Ababy can crawl directly into the pooland sit in the middle, where the small-est change of position creates interestingnoises and visual changes.

But toddlers enjoy an environmentwhich responds to quite different kindsof action. By the age of two, most chil-dren enjoy interacting with materialsthat demand more focus, work, andplanning. Storage shelves that havecompartments with some doors, shut-ters, and drawers would frustrateinfants, but they can fascinate toddlers.Similarly, the furnishings in a toddlerroom can be more challenging. Possibili-ties include ladders to lofts, slides downfrom raised areas, light movable cubeswhich permit children to create theirown novel spaces.

The toys in such a setting should alsochange. An infant may be interested bya mirror in a busy box, but a similar dis-play would be boring for two to threeyear olds. Instead, they need a mirrorwith a set of colored plexiglass coversmounted nearby or a mirror coveredwith all different kinds of latches andcatches.

Harmony and Order

An environment for young children hasits own brand of attractiveness. It isbeautiful if it works well for the chil-dren who spend their hours there. More

often than not this means that the set-ting is harmonious and well ordered,rather than cute or pretty. A mural ofMickey Mouse may amuse adult visi-tors, but it is unlikely to mean much tosmall children. From a child's vantagepoint, it may just be visual noise, lots ofcomplexity which doesn't help the childto understand the way the room works.

A child care center contains hugeamounts of details and motion becauseof the sheer number of people in thesame room. Walls and surfaces shouldprovide a background against which theitems that children use stand out. Plainwooden shelves show off toys andmaterials well. Against that kind of sim-ple background, picture labels showingwhere items belong stand out. With abackdrop of neutral walls and fabrics,people stand out sharply. This makes iteasier for infants and toddlers to findthem, move towards them, and focuscommunications.

A Community of Adults and Children

As much as it is important to take achild's eye view, it is critical to considerthe needs of adults working in infantand toddler rooms. An environmentwhich is exclusively child centered willbe tiring and stressful for teachers. Hid-den nooks delight infants, but if a roomcontains any number of invisible hide-outs, teachers will be distraught in notime.

Infant and toddler rooms must behighly organized. Items which are usedtogether must occur in the same space.A diapering area must contain not justthe changing table, but the sink withtoweling and plastic bags mounted onthe wall and storage for clean clothes.This kind of thoughtful centralizationmeans that teachers spend their timewith children, not on hunts for equip-ment. It also means that parent helpers,substitutes, or extra help at lunch time

45can step in and be helpful immediately.This kind of organization also promotessafety. Adults are not constantly dartingback and forth; they can focus theirattention on what children are doing.

Materials and spaces should not pro-mote a false sense of security. Changingtables with straps or rails are dangerousin their own way. Sooner or later a babywill escape, and there will be an acci-dent. Better no such gimmicks, then it isclear that no child can be left alone.

Finally, rooms for young children musthave easily restorable order. Infantshave no rules against spilling. No twoyear old can resist seeing if popcorn willfloat in the water table or what happensif poker chips are mixed in with theplay dough. If adults are going to lastwhole days (never mind years), childcare settings have to contain built-inlimits on the amount of dirt and chaos.Surfaces must be easily wiped off. Dif-ferent types of messy materials can berotated through an area of the room thatis especially set up for handling drippy,dirty stuff. In that way, children canexperience water, play dough, and paintwithout adults being run ragged withmopping and changing.

Activities involving small pieces such astabletop blocks, Legos, or poker chipscan be carried out in small, more con-tained spaces. Toddlers love dumping,sorting, and collecting. In order toanswer to this fascination and preservestaff sanity, build a sorting pit which isseparated from the rest of the room bypillows, shelves, or a carpeted bump.

Spaces can be designed so that the orderis visible and clear even to young chil-dren. Items are less likely to get scat-tered wildly around the room if childrenhave defined spaces for play: raisedplatforms, trays, mats, areas marked offwith tape, changes in flooring, or circlesof hosing. Even young children canbecome responsible for maintaining

order if the clues are sharp and clear. Ifthe play phones are stored on a shelfwith a picture to label the space, tod-dlers have adequate clues for puttingthem back.

Storage such as bowling ball lockersprovides spaces just large enough forindividual items. Two year olds can eas-ily grasp this kind of simple space-to-item matching. Teachers can be flexiblein what they think of as worthwhileactivities. For example, toddlers can begiven empty buckets labeled with pic-tures of toy cars, Legos, or chips. Theycan be asked to hunt for all the straybits scattered throughout the room. Thebasic idea is to create a setting in whichlearning and nurturance, not mainte-nance, consumes the most attention andinterest.

Jim Greenman is author of Caring Spaces,Learning Places (Exchange Press, Inc.).


4638 STAFF TRAINING

EXCHANGE JULY/AUGUST 2008

Margie Carter is the co-author of sevenbooks with Deb Curtis, including their mostrecent title, Learning Together with YoungChildren. They both live in the Seattle area,but travel widely to speak and consult.

Among the various age groups in ourearly childhood programs, toddlers seemthe most challenging for teachers towork with. What words do you typicallyhear used to describe these newly mobilecitizens of our world? Toddlers are oftenviewed as oppositional, clingy, whiny,prone to tantrums, untrustworthy, andexasperating. Imagine if your identitywere being shaped by words like these?How would you begin to feel aboutyourself? How might you, in turn, startto behave? The reputation of ‘the terribletwos’ is ubiquitous across our country. Ithink this characterization insertsunnecessary negativity into the spirits oftoddlers and their caregivers. My goal inworking with toddler teachers is to shiftthe mindset from ‘terrible’ to ‘terrific’twos.

With such platitudes I could beperceived as a Pollyanna and furtherannoyance to caregivers struggling withtoo many children in their group and toolittle support. The stress imbedded intheir work is real, but I believe a differentview of toddlers and the caregiving rolecan transform their daily experience. My

working partner, Deb Curtis, has becomemy role model for this possibility.Leaving her college teaching to return todirect work with children, Deb has spentthe last ten years showing me howteachers can bring joy back into theclassroom. Three years ago she startedworking with toddlers, and her dailystories have both enriched andchallenged my thinking. For instance, inthe staff training video Time with ToddlersI made a dozen or so years ago, you’llsee me with a group of toddlers advisingtheir teachers how to work around thelimited attention span of these terrifictwos. Not so, says Deb. Toddlers haveattention for everything around them,that’s why they are usually on the move.Look at this! Oh, what is that?

We know from brain research thattoddlers are learning more and at a fasterrate than most adults. How strange thatthe typical characterization of toddlers ison what they can’t do, how unreliablethey are, and what they don’tunderstand. In the past I’ve used theseportrayals myself trying to advocate fortoddlers, to encourage parents andcaregivers to take a developmentalperspective, while keeping these activeones safe from harm. I can now see theflaw in how I’ve presented this. Whenwe focus on what they can’t do, rather

than their capabilities, we have adiminished view of toddlers, which limitswhat we offer them and taints theexperience of our responses to theirefforts. More helpful to toddlers, theirparents, and caregivers is encouragingthem to seek the child’s perspective.

Meet up with their minds,not behaviors

Everywhere we work these days, Deb and I are sharing an insight thatcame to us in our re-reading of thereflections of Lilian Katz (1998) on whateducators could learn from ReggioEmilia. She describes that in the United States teachers tend to focuson children’s behaviors, whereas inReggio, “Adults’ and children’s mindsmeet on matters of interest to both of them.” I find this an incredibleprovocation for toddler teachers, and Debhas numerous stories of her efforts totranslate this into practice. When toddlersare engaged in typical behaviors, i.e.,climbing on tables, running away,grabbing a toy, screaming in objection tosomething asked of them, how could wemeet up with their minds, rather thanfocus on their behaviors? A mindset ofcuriosity rather than compliance canbegin to transform our responses. Seekingthe child’s point of view, wondering what

✦encouraging a new viewof toddlersby Margie Carter

47

is on his or her mind, offers us newpossibilities. Perhaps we’ll see a childwanting a connection with anotherchild, rather than aggressive behavior;an eager explorer, rather than animpatient child; a person longing forsome power, a sense of agency, ratherthan a defiant or mischievous two yearold.

Strategy:Consider otherpossibilities

Gather a collection of photos or shortscenarios and explore them with staff,using questions such as the following:

■ What is your first reaction to thisand why?

■ Can you describe the details of whatthe child is doing?

■ How do you imagine what’s on thechild’s mind here? What is he or shetrying to accomplish, understand, orcommunicate?

■ What could you say and do tosupport this child’s endeavors?

Strategy:Practice writing ravereviews

Ask caregivers to bring an observationof a child which is an example ofbehavior that tends to ‘push theirbuttons’ or ‘drive them crazy.’ Postchart paper divided into two columns,the first with a heading of ‘terribletwos’ and the second ‘terrific twos.’Have the group generate a list ofwords and phrases for the firstcolumn, assuming one viewed thischild negatively. Next, use the abovequestions to explore possibilities formeeting up with the child’s mind,rather than behavior. From thisdiscussion add words or phrases in thesecond column, ‘terrific twos’ totransform each of the ‘terrible twos’

STAFF TRAINING 39JULY/AUGUST 2008 EXCHANGE

Practice Writing Rave Reviews

Left: Jacob found the basket of little dishes wehave on the shelf and brought it to the table.When we next looked, he had spread out thedishes and had a spoon raised high as if it werea stick he was preparing to bring down on adrum.

Right:Despite our

repeatedreminders,Ella climbsaround theoutside of

our loft,rather than

on theinside

platform.

Practice transforming your view of toddlers. Closely look over the photos and observationnotes below; fill in additional words and phrases in the ‘terrible twos’ column of the chartbelow. Then discuss the questions in the box to explore other possibilities. Next, match eachword or phrase with a new one in the column labeled ‘terrific twos.’ Finally, write a ‘ravereview’ describing how you’ve come to see this child’s actions as indicative of a completechild.

Add your words or phrases to transform how toddlers are characterized.

Rave Review for Jacob Rave Review for Ella

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Terrible Twos Terrific Twos

Have no idea of what is safe Are passionate about finding out how things work

■ What details do you notice in what each child is doing?■ How do you imagine what’s on the child’s mind? ■ What is he or she trying to accomplish, understand, or communicate?■ What could you say and do to support this child’s endeavors?

48

ideas into a view of the child’scompetency underpinning this behavior.Finally, have staff write a one- or two-paragraph documentation story withthe flavor of a ‘rave review’ about thisbehavior, including mention of how thecaregiver was able to meet up with thechild’s mind to better understand andrespond to this remarkable child.

I often prompt caregivers to reflectivelydescribe changes in their under-standings, asking them to use phraseslike, I used to think_______________________________ , but now I see _____________________ .When they are explicit about theirprocess of seeing toddlers in new ways,they open a window for others to do the same.

References

Carter, M., & Reed, J. (1991). Time withToddlers, a training video for caregivers.Seattle: Harvest Resources.

Katz, L. (1998). “What Can We Learnfrom Reggio Emilia?” In Edwards, C.,Gandini, L., Forman, G. The HundredLanguages of Children, AdvancedReflections. Greenwich: AblexPublishing Company.

40 STAFF TRAININGEXCHANGE JULY/AUGUST 2008

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The year I spent closely observing toddlers as a child care teacher was one of the most intellectuallyengaging and joyful years of my career. I kept a daily journal and took lots of photos of the unfoldingactivities that seemed significant to me and thechildren. I studied the photos and notes for my own learning and also loved sharing them with thechildren and their families.

Every observation was full of accounts of thechildren’s remarkable focus and determination,curiosity and delight. Whether happy or sad, angry or tired, the children brought to every encounter an innate optimism and an eagerness for newexperiences. My observations confirmed the currentresearch that reports that the natural inquisitivenessand drive of these very young children ensures thatduring the first three years of life their brains willdevelop faster than at any other time. With anastounding 250,000 brain connections growing eachminute, there are no ordinary moments during thistime of life! The significance of this work was hum-bling and exciting. My hope was to find a way to takein each of these extraordinary moments with thechildren, to honor them and help them grow.

Seeking the children’sperspectives

It took practice for me to slow down and look and listen attentively; suspending any agenda I might have for what the children should be doing. Instead, I tried to put myself in their shoes to understand the world from their point of view. Seeingthe children’s perspectives influenced mydecisions and actions, and was critical forengaging with them in a deeper teaching and learning process.

Here is an entry from my observation journalilluminating the power of taking the children’s point of view:

Today I brought in the clear plastic containers withlids, packed with colorful, sparkly bracelets that Ifound at the thrift store. I immediately knew from myprevious observations that these would be a greatlearning material for the group. As I observed thechildren they were absorbed in using the materialsjust as I predicted. They loved exploring how thebracelets sparkled in the light from the glitter sealedinside. Of intense interest to them was fitting theplastic rings back into the cup and securing the lid.I’m always so intrigued by how serious toddlers areabout this kind of work. Do they feel the satisfactionof conquering the challenge of a tricky puzzle, orsoothed by the security of knowing that some thingsin the universe fit together just right?

Oscar immediately knew what the rings were for, andso he spent a very long time putting every bracelethe could get ahold of onto his arm. I was delightedthat the other children seemed to understand the


Deb Curtis is a toddlerteacher at theBurlington LittleSchool, in Burlington,Washington. She alsoteaches workshops,seminars and confer-ences for adults in avariety of settingsaround the country.She is the co-author of severalbooks with MargieCarter. This article isextracted from theirforthcoming book,Learning Togetherwith Children (RedleafPress, in press).

No Ordinary Moments:Using Observations With Toddlersto Invite Further Engagementby Deb Curtis

Beginnings Workshop

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importance of this work to him and let him have manyof their bracelets so he could complete the task.

At one point I noticed Kiran deliberately throwing thebracelets onto the floor in front of him. My initial reac-tion was to jump in and stop this behavior. One of myongoing goals is to help the children see how to carefor our materials. Fortunately, before I jumped in, Istopped to watch for just a moment. What I realized isthat Kiran was purposefully throwing the rings. Hehad discovered that if he threw them just the rightway they would spin around and around like a top,until they slowly lost momentum and wobbled to astop. I was thrilled to learn this new way to explore thebracelets and called the other children’s attention toKiran’s idea. I’m so glad I stopped to see his perspec-tive. I was astonished that he figured this out; he’sonly 14 months old! His discovery is now a part of thelearning games we play with the bracelets, and thechildren are getting quite good at controlling thissmall aspect of the science of physics.

Capturing the details

Another observation skill I cultivated to enhance theteaching and learning process with my toddlers wasto notice the many small things that occurred withinthe group. Children look closely at the details that we adults take for granted and don’t pay attention toanymore. We are quick to assign a label or meaning to what we see. General information such as “theyloved playing with the water” doesn’t give us much toengage with to deepen the teaching and learningprocess. Capturing the specific details of what youhear and see, documenting with a clipboard and pen,

a sketch, tape recorder, or camera canhelp you learn more about individualchildren, and see the complexity of theunfolding moments. You also get ideasabout additional things to offer toextend their interest for furtherlearning.

Here’s another journal entry where I used the details of what I wasobserving to help the children connectwith each others’ ideas and actions:

I’ve been delighted to watch thechanges in how my group of toddlersengages with the baby dolls and propsin the room. For a long while they have

been imitating the actions that come from their ownexperiences, earnestly trying to fit the bottles in thedolls’ mouths and cover them with the blankets. Asthe children play with the babies I observe themclosely to see what they do. I also love to makeguesses about what they might be thinking as theyplay. I imitate their behavior and play along side them.As they play I describe the details I see unfoldingaround me.

“Kiran is feeding his baby a bottle.”

“T’Kai is gently putting his baby to bed.”

“Hannah is rocking her baby to sleep.”

“My baby is crying. I’m going to give her a hug.”


Beginnings Workshop

Children look

closely at the

details that we

adults take for

granted and

don’t pay

attention to

anymore.

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I notice that as I highlight their actions, the childrenseem to pay more attention to each other’s play andoften try what I have pointed out. I’ve been wonderingif my comments may be helping their play skills grow.Today I watched their behavior with the baby dollschange. The difference I discerned is the childrenwere playing together with the babies. They watchedand interacted with each other a lot more than usual.I am so curious about this new play. I know it is astage in their development to start to play together,but it seems that broadcasting their actions hashelped them make a leap in symbolic thought. Didwatching each other pretend introduce them to thepower of their imaginations?

I particularly noticed this with Oona’s play today. Theother children eagerly followed her lead as she fedthe babies, wrapped them in a beautiful cloth, androcked them for a long period of time. She noticedtheir attention to her and I think it enabled her to seeherself and her actions in a new way. A dreamy lookcame into her eyes and a satisfied grin came over herface, as she seemed, at that moment, to understand

the power of her imagination. It was such aprofound experience for me, witnessing hergrowing awareness of the magical world ofmake believe.

Using observations withthe children

As I continued to describe the details of myobservations to the children, it was apparentthat this had a positive influence on theirplay skills. I began to use my observationsand photos with them more purposefully. Myjournal entries about our study of flubberdemonstrate the power of using observationstories and photos with the children.

Flubber journal entry #1:I invited the children to begin a study offlubber today which we will continue over anextended period of time. I have chosenflubber because it is a substance that movesand flows and responds to the children’sactions. Today as they worked with theflubber, I narrated their actions and pointedout the things they were doing to the otherchildren.


Beginnings Workshop

Using

observations

and photos with

the children

gave me a

profound

respect for their

insights and

abilities.

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“Oh look, when Kiran puts his finger in the flubber hepokes a hole.”

“Oona is using the comb to make dots and lines allover the flubber.”

“T’Kai is putting the lid on the cup.”I noticed as I described and pointed out these actions,the children seemed to copy what they saw and heard.They also stayed at the flubber table a little bit longerthan usual.

Flubber journal entry #2:Today I brought a homemade binder book full ofphotos I have taken of the flubber explorations wehave been doing. I read the book to the children whenthey came to the flubber table to play. They wereengrossed in the story of themselves and the flubber;and when I was done, a number of them lookedthrough the book again. The children continued toexplore the flubber, trying out the tools and actionsthat were in the book. I continued to refer them to thephotos and describe their actions. They stayed at theflubber table even longer today.

Flubber journal entry #3:I saw Wynsome sitting by herself lookingat the flubber book and she was imitat-ing the poking action that Kiran wasdoing in the photo. She was poking thephoto with her finger just like he was. Iwonder if when she sees these reflec-tions, she notices things not readilyavailable when she is immersed in heractual experience with flubber. When Ireflect back children’s work to them inthese ways, does it help them develop asymbolic representation of it in theirmind?

Flubber journal entry #4:I worked with Oscar and Hannah with theflubber again today using my observa-tions and photos to show them back theirwork. As they played, I continued todescribe what I saw them doing andpointed out their actions. After I hadtaken a number of photos, I immediatelydownloaded them into the computer, andinvited the children to look at a “show”about their work. Many other children


Beginnings Workshop

Capturing the

specific details

of what you

hear and see,

documenting

with a clipboard

and pen, a

sketch, tape

recorder, or

camera can

help you learn

more about

individual

children, and

see the

complexity of

the unfolding

moments.

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Y DE

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53

came over, fascinated to see themselves on thescreen. They pointed excitedly, saying each other’snames.

Oscar was very interested in seeing a photo of himself making an imprint in the flubber with theedge of a plastic container. As he looked at thephoto he made a grunting sound and pointed,indicating that he had pressed hard to make theimprint. I suggested that he show us with the realflubber. This time as he pressed hard to make eachimprint, he made the same grunting sound. Hannahshowed us she caught on to Oscar’s meaning rightaway. She demonstrated by pressing her handstogether really hard and squinting her face as shemade the same grunting sound. Both of them continued to make imprints in the flubber gruntingas they worked.

This thrilled me, as I believe that the work we havebeen doing to revisit our actions with descriptionsand photos has encouraged the children to create ashared language for the hard pressure needed forimprinting. I saw this event as important for thedevelopment of their symbolic thinking and lan-guage, but I also saw a bigger significance. I got towitness the miraculous process humans go throughto develop language!

These few entries are just a glimpse of the joy anddeep engagement that the children and I hadtogether. Using observations and photos with the

children gave me a profound respect for theirinsights and abilities. Sharing these stories with thechildren’s families helped us all slow down andappreciate this special time of life. What I discov-ered is that when I stopped, watched, and waited, I learned so much more about the children andmyself. My actions communicated respect for thechildren and, in turn, furthered the possibilities fordeeper meaning in the ordinary moments. I came totrust the children as partners in the teaching andlearning process. I couldn’t wait to get to work eachmorning, looking forward to what the day would holdfor us.


Beginnings Workshop

I got to witness

the miraculous

process

humans

go through

to develop

language!

Do it yourself — create an observation journal: Curtis’s vivid examples of what she

learned from capturing the details in her observation journal are worth a try. Work with

teachers to begin the process of creating and adding entries to an observation journal.

Sharing observations with children: Sharing the details of keen observation with

children by describing what you see to the children seems like an easy way to implement

an idea. Try it out and keep watching for insights and the “joy and deep engagement”

reported by Curtis.

Talk it over: Help teachers pair up to review observation journals and dialogue. A

colleague may see things differently and add insight to what the written journal reveals.

Using Beginnings Workshop to Train Teachers

by Kay Albrecht

Recipe for Flubber

Mix in a bowl1 cup of Elmer’s® glue3/4 cup of waterFood color or water color

Mix in another bowl1/2 cup of water1-2 teaspoons of Borax®

Pour both bowls into one bowl and mix.Watch the magic!

essentials - young peoples workshop caring for infants ... pam schiller, ph.d., is senior national...

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