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Know

An infant-toddler care and learning environment can accommodate young children at their current levels of development, provide appropriate challenges, and encourage the development of new and future skills. To develop new physical skills, infants and toddlers must have opportunities to a variety of interactions and experiences supported by responsive adult caregivers. A safe and supportive environment for infants and toddlers encourages movement and exploration of interesting objects to touch, grasp, mouth, shake, and pick up. It includes space to move around freely, crawl, pull-up, walk, climb, jump, and run. Additional information regarding ways to create safe and engaging care and learning environments for infants and toddlers can be found throughout the Safe Environments and Learning Environments courses.

Environments That �Թ��� Physical Development

Creating a safe environment that encourages movement is critical to a child’s physical and motor development. It is important to focus on how you can help infants and toddlers develop an active lifestyle from the beginning. Keep in mind that:

• Infants and toddlers mature and develop physically at individual rates.
• Motor development progresses through a sequence.
• Infants and toddlers need to build on what they know, moving from simple to more complex skills.

The above points, along with the information you learned in Lesson Two, will help you consider the physical setup of the environment as well as the interactions, experiences, activities, and materials you offer.

Features of Environments that �Թ��� Physical Development

You, as an infant or toddler caregiver, should consider the characteristics of a safe environment that help support the physical development of the children in your care. Examples of environmental features that support physical health are:

• Clean and safe: Provide young infants opportunities to play on their tummies and backs. Make sure the area is clean, and put anything away that would be considered unsafe for an infant to put in their mouth. Consider using a quilt, blanket, or soft mat. When young infants play on their backs on the floor, offer toys a little off to the side and above their heads to encourage reaching and turning, which can help them learn to roll over. During tummy time, remain close to infants and watch for signs of distress. Never, ever leave an infant unattended on their tummy as suffocation can occur.
• Open space: Try to limit the use of swings, bouncers, and other furniture that constrains mobile infants. When caring for several children at once, offer toys on the floor for tummy time, space for mobile infants to crawl, or hanging toys for reaching.
• Firm padding: Firm, washable pads, and cubes can be arranged to create interesting and challenging surfaces for crawling, creeping, walking and climbing.
• Rounded edges: As mobile infants begin cruising, they need long, low, stable surfaces to hold on to. The edges of shelves, window sills, counters, and equipment at child height should have rounded corners so children can move freely without bumping sharp corners.
• Platforms and sturdy structures: Sturdy structures that have secure platforms and steps encourage toddlers to climb. Stairs and platforms can provide access to a window or a mirror.
• Safe objects to hold and stack: Be aware of the infant’s or toddler’s developing abilities to handle objects and offer appropriate materials that match these abilities. Mobile infants new to walking often enjoy carrying objects in their hands. Older toddlers enjoy stacking cups, fitting puzzle pieces into holes, and fitting rings on sticks.
• Tables and chairs: Use appropriately sized tables and chairs so that all children can sit, play and eat safely and comfortably.
• Outdoor play: Outdoor play: Offer the opportunity to move and engage with the natural world. Safe outdoor play areas challenge a toddler’s balance and stability while walking and climbing on uneven terrain and play structures.

Materials for Experiences that �Թ��� Physical Development

Offer a variety of materials and experiences that build on skills children currently have, and challenge them to use current skills in new and different ways. As you continue to create experiences for the infants and toddlers in your care, remember that young children of the same age often display different skills and develop at different rates. As the caregiver, continue to observe each infant or toddler carefully to consider how you can adapt interactions or experiences to meet their needs. Choose materials depending on the interests and needs of the infants and toddlers in your care, noting new physical skills that develop.

Review the following tables for different experiences and materials that support infants and toddlers:

Gross-Motor Development (Large Muscles)

Fine-Motor Development (Small Muscles)

Sensory Experiences: Indoors and Outdoors

For healthy physical development it is important for children to learn about the natural and physical world around them. Sensory experiences help strengthen the connections among brain cells, which is important for learning and supporting development. From birth, children begin learning about their world by touching, tasting, smelling, seeing, and hearing. For example, as toddlers play and explore materials with their hands at a sand and water table, they are using their sense of touch; which is supporting their use of fine-motor muscles. As toddlers scoop and dump different materials, they strengthen their muscles and create opportunities to build skills that will help them use spoons and drink their milk from a cup during mealtime.

As a caregiver, you should strive to provide daily opportunities for infants and toddlers to be outside (weather permitting) and interact with living things (plants, classroom pets) throughout their day. Research shows that children who play outdoors regularly have more active imaginations, lower stress levels, and have greater respect for themselves and others. You can also enhance sensory learning by providing infants and toddlers with a variety of materials and experiences, such as sand, water tables, and other materials with visual and textural qualities.

Below are additional creative ways to support sensory experiences indoors and outdoors:

Each infant and toddler will have unique preferences and a personal comfort level with sensory experiences and materials. Observe throughout the day to help determine which types of sensory experiences and materials work best and are most engaging for each child in your care.

• What do you notice in infants and toddlers when playing music and using musical instruments?
• While washing hands, do some children seem to enjoy exploring the water, soap, and bubbles?
• During mealtimes, do you notice some children exploring their food with their hands? What is their comfort level in handling food with their hands?
• While outdoors, do you notice any infants or toddlers who seem to enjoy playing in the dirt? Playing and rolling around in the grass?

It’s very common for young children to appear uncomfortable with certain sensory experiences. This may be related to having little exposure to a material, or few experiences with a particular material. If you find that a child is uncomfortable with a specific type of material, you can:

• Place the material in a plastic, sealable bag to allow them explore the material with the bag serving as a barrier
• Provide other materials to explore with, such as a paintbrush or sponge

To prevent injury, it is very important to remember that infants and toddlers must be carefully supervised as they explore materials (e.g., water or sand from the sand and water table) with their hands and mouths.

See

Do

There are many different experiences and materials that can be offered to help the children in your care grow and develop physically. Read through the following examples — and pick at least one to try. Share your observations and thoughts with a trainer, coach, or administrator.

• Post pictures and mirrors at eye level on the wall.
• Hang a mobile that infants can see and kick.
• Place interesting and colorful toys outside an infant’s reach — encourage the child to reach or scoot to obtain it.
• Provide soft objects for mobile infants to crawl over.
• Read a thick board book and help an older infant or toddler practice turning the pages or pointing at pictures.
• Show a toddler how to push and pull objects.
• Provide a toddler with materials for scribbling and drawing.
• Create a board with zippers, buttons, or fasteners for toddlers to use and practice.
• Sing songs and do finger plays with infants and toddlers.
• Setup an obstacle course and encourage mobile infants and toddlers to climb, jump and explore.