Our Infant Program
Our sensitive and caring teachers welcome you into a warm, secure and clean environment and assist you with your daily transition from home. Establishing a nurturing relationship gives you peace of mind and trust that comes from knowing your baby is safe in an attentive, respectful atmosphere you can depend on. Communication with parents is essential to the success of each infant’s care. Daily detailed reports will include your child’s eating, diapering, sleeping and developmental activities. We encourage and welcome parents’ questions and suggestions. The one-on-one interactions between infants and their caregivers are natural and spontaneous and stimulate brain development. Our caregivers’ focus each day is to meet all infant’s individual developmental needs, knowing that all interactions are an opportunity for connecting and stimulating development.
Language Development
Our caregivers engage in frequent conversation with the babies by referring to them by name, repeating sounds they make, speaking clearly and calmly, and identifying objects they pick up or see. Opportunities for individual interactions occur during feeding time, diaper changes and transitions. Caregivers will identify and acknowledge an infant’s feelings or sounds. Infants will have a formal, weekly Baby Sign Language class along with a formal music class during the week. Research shows that children as young as 6 months can begin making signs to communicate needs and that signing enhances verbal language acquisition!
Motor Development
Our play areas are designed to encourage physical development; clean, comfortable open floor areas for wiggling, turning and rolling; various textured toys made for “baby hands” that help with dexterity, eye-hand coordination, grasping and sensory stimulation. There are plenty of safe structures for crawling, pulling up and standing, climbing or walking! Independent exploration is encouraged with words and gentle practice, and there is always soothing music and lots of singing.
Emotional/Social Development
Our experienced caregivers recognize the emotional development of babies that begins long before they come to Woodchase. Caregivers respect and nurture your child with genuinely warm, cheerful smiles, hugs and encourage your child’s feelings and needs. There are unlimited opportunities for relationships to begin and each child will always be cared for with prompt, personal and sensitive responses to their feelings, needs and discoveries!
Cognitive Development
A child’s natural curiosity promotes this development and our unsurpassed curriculum encourages this curiosity! We provide plenty of “cause-and-effect” toys in an environment rich with opportunities to explore sights, sounds, feelings and emotions. Highly trained caregivers recognize what stimulates a child’s mind and respond to their discoveries with words of encouragement and praise!
