Many people think it's not appropriate to "teach" infants and toddlers.  They are supposed to explore, play, and grow on their own.  Adults are supposed to sit back and let them play.  That's what explorative play is, right?

Wrong!  Our job as an adult caregiver is to set up the environment, talk to the child, ask questions, show, support, scaffold, and observe.  It is actually more difficult to teach and infant and toddler than an older child because you have to be artful in your approach.  What does that mean?  Knowing what your goals is, modeling, and setting up learning and exploration to make it happen.

An infant and toddler's brain is developing faster than at any other point in his/her life.  Never think a child can't learn. Take time to consider these infant and toddler modules to learn more about how to introduce skills to very young children.

~The ECSE Team