I review the material I’ve learned in my professional development classes often. Incorporating all this newfound knowledge is a process, but by implementing three or four new ideas into my daycare each month, I am able to make steady and measurable progress towards achieving best practice standards in each area of care, from discipline to curriculum to creating stimulating learning spaces for the kids. Gaining a better understanding of educational psychology and children’s temperaments and learning styles through a graduate class and various Childcare Resource & Referral workshops has helped me to tailor curriculum projects to each child’s individual learning styles. One child might learn easier by watching me make a project, while another child learns best from written or pictorial instructions. Probably the most fun thing I’ve been able to incorporate into the daycare is a better understanding of creative learning spaces. Labeling bins and toy cubbies with pictures and words to foster literacy, displaying children’s artwork at their own eye level, and making special areas where kids can sit down with a book or listen to music have been fun ways that the children and I can work together to stimulate additional learning.
Basically, I have tried to educate myself through reading, professional development, and post-secondary education courses, and apply that knowledge to my daycare. In practical terms, this has meant providing the youngsters in my care with access to as many different types of experiences as I possibly can.
I foster physical development with healthy nutrition by following the guidelines of the Child and Adult Care Food Program, and by encouraging both large and small muscle group exercise at every age - things like massage and range of motion exercises for infants and indoor and outdoor play using music, rhythm and lots of different kinds of jungle gym and physical education equipment for toddlers and older children.
Socially and emotionally, kids just need to know that they are loved, that I am attentive to their unique and individual needs, and that they have boundaries. By being consistent with them every day, with everything from our daily routine to how I teach and discipline, to how we transition from one activity to another, and by talking to them-- asking them questions and allowing them to figure out the answers for themselves-- the kids develop a solid sense of security and self awareness that is essential to social and emotional well-being.
To foster cognitive development, I use an age-appropriate curriculum and we take field trips when possible. Anything I can do to encourage curiosity, exploration, tactile experience, interactive play and problem solving – whether it be with rhythm, music, sound, lights, food, natural or craft materials, language, dramatic play, daily household activities, creative learning spaces, trips to the library, petting zoo, museum or fire department – stimulates a child’s creativity and cognitive development, and grows and strengthens those neurological pathways that are making this child who he or she is to become.
Early childhood care and education is important for young children and their families because it provides the foundation for all future learning. Neurological pathways, built upon environmental and interpersonal cues, connect with phenomenal speed in a young child’s brain during these first few years of life. In this way, the child grows and develops, and his or her unique persona is mapped. Quality early care and education that supports families and nurtures the child in a safe environment helps ensure that this little person will not only learn how to walk, speak, dress, and use good table manners, but that he or she will also learn how to interact socially as a loving, respectful, well-behaved and self-motivated person; the kind of person all parents hope their child will become.
A good family child care home does much more than keeping children busy, under control, and out of trouble.
Gummy Bears’ Daycare and Learning Center believes that in order to be a quality family child care home, we need to understand and respond to your child, as well as take care of their physical needs, comfort them, and teach them.
Young children learn best when they are actively involved with things and people. They also learn well when they are comfortable, in a familiar setting, and the experiences fit in easily with what they know already. For young children, daily happenings are important educational events!
The sort of family child care that Gummy Bears’ provides makes it possible for children to get the attention they need, when they need it, and promotes understanding between children.
Early childhood development is the basis for all later development. Your child’s feelings of self worth, their attitudes towards other people and the world, and the skills with which they cope and operate are all acquired early in life and through all their childhood experiences. As a quality child care provider, my intent is to fill the time your child spends in my care with meaningful and developmentally appropriate activities that will help your child grow.
My job as the caregiver is not only to show the children love and acceptance, but at the same time to strengthen the bond that they have with the most important people in their world: you, their parent(s)!