Family Daycare: Toddler Time

Caring for toddlers is one of my favorite things.  I love how creative they are in their play, and how their view of the world changes so frequently.

Providing play space that meets toddlers' needs in a family daycare is a work in progress for me. I embrace the idea of developmentally appropriate toys, but also value the resource bins from my local Child Care Resource and Referral Agency. 


How to find balance in a theme-bin-based world?

I created this space with toddlers in mind. Sensory blocks, a soft mat, and a bin of large dinos.

The fundamental basis to my approach is developmentally appropriate practice - choosing materials that are interesting to the children, first.  I then supplement this approach with thematic resources (such as puzzles, library-book-bins, dramatic play items etc.)

My preschoolers created this with the materials; "Dino Party."

This approach has had another valuable pay-off; it naturally meets the needs of a multi-age care environment. Many of the toddler-toys are open ended, with a variety of play opportunities (stacking cups which nest, tower, fill, roll etc.) that also appeal to a preschooler's developing sense of cooperative and dramatic play (stacking cups are glasses in a restaurant, caves for dinosaurs, stamps for paint, a tower for a dragon etc.)


I'm learning that I have more success when I start my planning from a toddler perspective and add items for older children, than when I start with an older child in mind and try and adapt down.

Joyfully on toddler time,
Caz.

Banana Bread's Dino Roar.