Toddler Room

What's Happening

Surround yourself in this play area just for toddlers and infants. In this room you and your toddler will enjoy a mural of a marsh with wetlands plants and birds, soft play structures, games, puzzles, and educational toys. It may look like child’s play, but the fine motor, gross motor, and sensory awareness developed by this room’s activities are the prelude to all learning and movement. The toddler room is a place for parents and their young children to begin the journey of discovery at the Village.

Discovery Questions & Experiments

Try This

Watch your child play in the room. What does he or she go to first? Does he or she pick one of the climbing toys or prefer to play with cars?

Try This

A great way to interact with the exhibit is to play “I spy with my little eye.” For example, say “I spy with my little eye something that is soft.” See if your toddler can find it. Try spotting something that is red, or something that moves, etc.

Try This

Read one of the books in our storybook library. Have your child act out parts of the book.

Create Something

At Home

Make your own puzzles!

Some of the most popular activities in our toddler room are puzzles. Puzzles are not only fun for children, they also develop fine motor skills as well as shape and color discrimination and the ability to sort objects into groups. Your toddler is probably already enjoying wooden puzzles at home.

It is fun and easy to make your own puzzles. All you need are old magazines, cardboard, scissors and glue. Find a picture of something that your child likes: dinosaurs, animals, or a favorite food. Cut out the picture and glue it to the cardboard. When it dries, cut it into interesting shapes. As your toddler increases in ability, try making smaller pieces.

At Preschool

Lesson: Toddlers learn memory skills by making peek-a-boo boxes.

Materials:
Small boxes with lids such as shoe boxes, tape, scissors, pictures from magazines, photographs or small toys

How To:

Cut out pictures with familiar items on them such as animals, vehicles, or people.

Paste them inside the box so that they are easily visible to the child. Another option is to place favorite toys or other familiar objects in the boxes.

Have your preschoolers open up the boxes and say the name of the objects inside the boxes to reinforce word recognition. Now, put the lids back on the boxes. Have the children open the boxes and see if they can remember the name of the item or picture in the box.

As they improve, see if they can remember which boxes specific items or pictures are in. For example, you might ask, “Which box is the picture of the zebra in?”