Developmental

	Developmental Characteristics	Goals – Brain Development	Suggested Activities/Materials
Cognitive	Children learn through 5 senses, actively use hands to explore environment, infants will actively explore their environment when they feel secure, develop object permanence (know objects exists out of sight and will search for them), begin to be aware of cause-effect relationships.	Children learn cause-effect relationships. Use of positive responses by adults when infants seek out and perform new skill will help infants gain self-confidence in their ability to learn. Children realize that out of sight objects exist.	Caregivers should provide times for children to play with toys and rattles, play peek-a-boo and hide and seek, and play on the floor. Musical toys, classical music, books, squeeze toys and rattles that have sound and visual effects with a variety of textures are examples of suggested materials.
Social/Emotional	Children develop attachments, trust, and learn to smile socially, recognize familiar people and their own self in mirrors. Children will explore their environment in the presence of caregivers.	Children become socially competent individuals. When a child’s needs are met consistently, trust, love, and security develops. Children develop and maintain a trusting relationship with the same primary caregivers.	Caregivers should hug, cuddle, and rock children often, especially to soothe and calm a fussy baby. Caregivers should refer to children by their name, and talk to them often. Voice tone and volume should be nurturing and encouraging. Mirrors, washable stuffed animals, soft dolls, and puppets should be available for the children.
Communication	Children communicate through crying, coos, gurgles, babbles, squeals, laughs, facial expression, and respond to human voices. Infants will also imitate the sounds of others.	Children develop self-confidence as they learn to communicate their needs. Two-way communication teaches children that words have meanings and people will respond to their sounds.	Caregivers should talk, sing, read, and name objects on a daily basis. Cardboard picture books, variety of musical tapes, and puppets are examples of suggested materials.
Physical	Children have innate reflexes (sucking, grasping), progress from lying on stomach with head raised to sitting alone, develop pincer grasp, reach, learn to transfer things from one hand to the other, learn to crawl, scoot and/or walk.	Children become aware of their own bodies in the environment and develop fine and gross motor skills.	Caregivers should encourage and facilitate fine and gross motor skills. Grasping toys, rattles, teething rings, play gyms, vinyl mats, push and pull toys, and riding equipment are examples of suggested materials.
Self Help	Children’s needs are met by caregivers. Begin to encourage older infants to feed themselves and drink from a cup.	Children develop trust and security as needs are met on a regular basis. Older infants develop self-esteem and independence.	Caregivers should meet the needs (feeding, diapering, sleeping, and nurturing) of individual infants on a consistent basis. Provide finger foods and cups with tops to encourage self-feeding when age appropriate.

	Developmental Characteristics	Goals – Brain Development	Suggested Activities/Materials
Cognitive	Children can follow simple directions, name familiar objects, understand relationships between objects, clearly see cause-effect relationships, and have an increasing desire to explore and experiment.	Children’s explorations become increasingly purposeful to find meaning in events, objects, and words as they attempt to discover how the world works. They begin to understand the concept of parts and wholes.	Caregivers should allow children to explore the environment while supervising and encouraging their play. Books, classical music, pattern-making materials, matching manipulatives, interlocking toys that can be taken apart and put back together are examples of materials. Introduce sand and water play and other sensory activities. Provide multiples of popular toys and materials so children will not have to wait
Social/Emotional	Children experience stranger anxiety, look for caregivers responses in uncertain situations, express affection for others, imitate others behaviors, engage more in parallel play and simple interaction with others, test limits, strive for independence, and are egocentric.	Children develop identity and a sense of self. They also realize they are separate individuals from caregivers and environment.	Caregivers should nurture children throughout the day both verbally and non-verbally. Caregivers should allow time for dramatic play. Examples of materials include books, play kitchen set, pots, pans, doll clothes, doll carriage, bottles, hats, dress up clothes, and a full length mirror.
Communication	Children progress from saying first words to speaking in simple sentences. They also point to and name objects, play with sounds, ask questions, imitate others’ speech, and by 24 months have a vocabulary of 24-50 words.	Children learn to communicate their needs, learn that words have meaning and power, learn the importance of written words, and develop a vocabulary.	Caregivers should expand on children’s words, maintain eye contact, read, sing, and use gestures as well as words to communicate. Books, nursery rhymes, records, tapes, puppets, and flannel board stories are examples of suggested materials.
Physical	Children walk backward, run, dance, turn the pages of a book one at a time, build block towers, push, pull, throw, empty, fill, open, shut, squeeze, poke, and drop toys	Children are learning as they discover through physical development. Self-confidence develops as motor skills become better. Children enjoy repetition, such as dumping and filling. Eye-hand coordination is developing.	Caregivers should allow time for children to walk, climb, run, jump, dance, etc., and play with manipulatives that will enhance fine motors skills. Example of materials include books, puzzles, blocks, stacking cubes and containers, nesting cups, lacing and stringing materials, musical instruments, wagons, push and pull toys, balls, finger paint, large markers, crayons, and paint brushes.
Self Help	Children are still working on feeding themselves with a fork and spoon and drinking from a cup. They can finger feed with ease.	Children develop self-esteem, independence, and a positive attitude on feeding themselves, as well as fine motor skills.	Caregivers should allow children to feed themselves and select foods, and should sit with children during meals and encourage conversation. Provide child size eating utensils and cups with lids.

	Developmental Characteristics	Goals – Brain Development	Suggested Activities/Materials
Cognitive	Children respond to simple directions, begin to imitate adults, have a limited attention span, begin to sequence and match objects, identify objects and ask questions.	Children develop reasoning and problem solving skills. Children begin to think for themselves, problems begin to be worked out mentally rather than by use of trial and error, creativity and logical thinking are expanded.	Caregivers should let children attempt to work out problems on their own, create, and explore. Suggested materials include books, large pegs to group, sort and stack, large crayons, markers, paints, paint brushes, paper, and classical music.
Social/Emotional	Children are protective of their possessions, want to be independent, are self-centered, they play near and watch other children, occasionally joining in play with others, and they begin to engage in imaginative and dramatic play. They say no often.	Children develop social skills (getting along with others).	Caregivers should encourage cooperative and individual learning opportunities (sharing and taking turns) as well as creative expression. (But caregivers should understand that Twos do not do this well.) Provide opportunities for dramatic play with simple themes and props such as doctor’s office or restaurant. Caregivers should allow children to make choices on activities. Multiples of some popular toys and materials should be available.
Communication	Children should engage and be encouraged to begin to use language more in play, ask names of things, make negative statements, and increase their vocabulary.	Children develop fine motor skills and reading readiness skills (turning pages left to right). Vocabulary, memory, and speech are increased by labeling items in books and asking questions.	Caregivers should talk clearly to children using simple positive statements and allow to respond back (two-way communication), expose children to the written word through a variety of literacy based materials, and sing throughout the day. Caregivers should allow children to make choices on activities. Caregivers should bend, kneel, or sit down to establish eye contact when talking with children. Examples of materials include picture books and short story books with repetition and rhymes, poems, and finger plays. Reading areas should be cozy and inviting for children and include pillows, puppets, stuffed animals, flannel board, etc. Materials, equipment, and real objects should be labeled.
Physical	Children of this age walk upstairs 2 feet on a step, sit on riding toys and push with feet, hop in place, and jump from low heights, climb, run, throw objects using forearms, and are increasing fine motor development.	Children develop eye-hand coordination, prewriting skills, large muscle skills, and strengthen fine motor skills and increase gross motor skills.	Caregivers should allow children to run, throw, catch, jump, climb, ride on riding toys and make choices on activities. Low climbing structures, riding toys, balls, modeling clay, blocks, puzzles, and books are examples of suggested materials.
Self Help	Children can feed themselves, wash and dry their hands with assistance, and are beginning to be or are toilet trained.	Children develop positive self-esteem independence, fine motor skills, and one to one correspondence. Children also learn to count objects and follow simple directions (cognitive).	Caregivers should allow children to serve themselves and help set the table, and should sit with children during meals and encourage conversation. Provide soap and paper towels for children, as well as child size utensils.

	Developmental Characteristics	Goals – Brain Development	Suggested Activities/Materials
Cognitive	Children have short attention spans (10 minutes), cannot deal with abstract ideas, are curious, inquisitive, and egocentric, are aware of past and future, enjoy stories, singing, numbers, quantity, and art activities, are beginning to mentally represent objects.	Children are able to symbolically represent objects, they focus on one aspects of a situation, and reason from particular to particular.	Caregivers should provide opportunities for children to sort and classify objects. Books, construction materials, pattern making manipulative, puzzles, musical instruments, music and simple games are examples of suggested materials.
Social/Emotional	Children have difficultly sharing and taking turns, are beginning to show self-control, need help resolving conflicts, express sympathy, enjoy humor, begin to get bossy but learn to play cooperatively, want to please adults, show aggression, and love living things.	Children’s peers become increasingly important, and they need to develop a positive self-concept.	Caregivers should support children self-concept and positive self-esteem and help them develop a sense of self. They should also provide opportunities for children to play and work together. Caregivers should allow children to make choices on activities. Activities should be provided that allow children to negotiate social conflicts (dramatic play, blocks, books).
Communication	Children state 3-4 word sentences, can follow 2-3 simple directions at a time, can give simple accounts of their day/experiences, can say their own name, begins to use plurals, have difficulty taking turns in conversation, and enjoy finger plays, rhymes, and songs with repetition.	Children develop the ability to think out loud and talk themselves through situations. They can represent their thoughts and feelings verbally.	Caregivers should converse with children frequently, listen carefully to them, read to and sing daily, and provide a variety of settings for language use. Caregivers should bend, kneel, or sit down to establish eye contact when talking with children. Caregivers should allow children to make choices on activities. Dramatic play themes, book corners and writing utensils and paper placed throughout the room, stamps and stamp pads, puzzles, magazines, and chalkboards are examples of some activities.
Physical	Children are continually improving coordination, run at even pace, turn and stop well, swing without being pushed, ride a tricycle, beginning to balance on beam and stand on one foot. Children can also build block towers, string beads, pour liquid, draw shapes and objects, and hold writing instruments with fingers.	Children continue to perfect fine and gross motor skills and develop competence and confidence in their abilities.	Caregivers should provide equipment that varies in skills level, prepare open-ended activities with ample time for children to work. Caregivers should also offer encouragement to children. Caregivers should allow children to make choices on activities. Activities and materials include drawing, painting legos, clay, pegs and peg boards, scissors and paper, tricycles, tires, hoops, balance beam, parachute, ring toss, hollow blocks, nature walks, and music for dancing.
Self Help	Children can button and unbutton, zip and unzip, set the table and serve themselves.	Children develop self-confidence as they are able to do things for themselves.	Caregivers should allow children to help set the table and serve themselves, and should sit with children during meals and encourage conversation. Provide child’s size bowls, pitchers, and serving pieces.