Infant Care At Eureka Kids
In the Infant Rooms at Eureka Kids our teachers create inclusive, safe and nurturing environments for our youngest learners to grow and develop. Your child's developing sense of safety, self-esteem and confidence are important to us.
Our Infant Rooms are designed to meet the social and emotional, language, cognitive and physical needs of infants from the ages of 6 weeks to 16 months. Infants experience incredible growth and change during their first 16 months, and have different needs at different stages. Naptime and feeding schedules are based on each child's needs. Routines are a vital part of an infant's day and help build the foundation of trust.
Caregiving is the most important part of our day with your child. Our teachers focus their efforts on responding promptly to meet the needs of each child. This helps to build a child's sense of safety and security.
Teachable moments occur during diapering, meals and feedings, dressing and napping. Our teachers will engage children during daily routines and create an environment rich in guided play and hands-on experiences, as well as quality adult-child interactions which include kind voices, smiles and frequent eye-contact.
The S.M.A.R.T.E.R. curriculum and activities we use in our Infant Rooms are led by each child's unique needs and abilities. It is the teachers' role to observe, meet children where they are at developmentally, and enrich their growth and learning experiences.
Parents are kept up to date with daily reports that give information about the feedings, diapering, naps, and classroom activities that happen during a child's day. The staff is responsive to each parent's concerns and suggestions, and your child's accomplishments are happily shared.
Each day is a new opportunity for your child's growth and learning!
Social and Emotional
Trust and Emotional Security
What we do:
- Promptly respond to a child’s needs and communications
- Provide a safe and nurturing environment
Self-Awareness
What we do:
- Mirror play with facial expressions
- Use a child’s name
Self-Control
What we do:
- Guided and supervised interactions between children
- Provide toys that foster pretend and caring play (dolls, stuffed animals)
Relationships
What we do:
- Frequent eye contact, talking and singing
- Using all children’s names
- Encouraging positive interactions between children
- Reading books about feelings
Language and Communication
Listening and Understanding
What we do:
- Sing and repeat songs and finger plays
- Describe daily care routines
- Label and describe items and people in the room
Communicating and Speaking
What we do:
- Ask questions and make comments about the stories we read
- Listen and respond when a child communicates
- Repeat familiar words
First Steps in Reading
What we do:
- Read to the children throughout the day
- Provide age appropriate books that a child can hold, look at and turn pages
- Provide age appropriate writing materials for scribbling and drawing
Thinking (Cognitive Skills)
Exploration and Discovery
What we do:
- Offer safe toys and objects for children to look at and touch
- Allowing children to explore their environment by looking, reaching and touching
- Provide supervised and age appropriate outdoor play
Memory
What we do:
- Play hiding games with children
- Encourage children to locate items and people in the classroom
- Repeat songs and finger plays
Problem Solving
What we do:
- Provide age appropriate puzzles
- Allow children the time to decide what to do next when they encounter a problem, guiding them when needed.
Pretend Play
What we do:
- Provide age appropriate toys that promote pretend play
Physical
Using Large Muscles
What we do:
- Provide tummy time for infants
- Allow children to have supervised both teacher guided and self-directed large muscle activity time
Using Small Muscles
What we do:
- Provide age appropriate manipulative toys so children can practice using small muscles and hand-eye coordination
Physical Health and Well-Being
What we do:
- Establish routines for eating and naptime
- Assist children with age appropriate self-care tasks such as dressing and hand washing