Quality child care centers provide a variety of learning opportunities for toddlers. Spend some time researching your options and choose the program that best matches your expectations. Once you've made a list of potential providers, visit each one and spend a few hours observing. Watch interactions between caregivers and toddlers and pay attention to how conflict is resolved. The best programs demonstrate a respect for children in a safe, nurturing environment.
Quality Child Care
High-quality child care environments complement and build upon toddlers' home experiences. Toddlers benefit from programs that provide safe and well-supervised boundaries where they can develop social, language and physical skills. Choose a child care setting with a ratio of one caregiver per four to six toddlers. A quality setting provides opportunities for outdoor and indoor active play, encourages conversation with caregivers and peers and provides access to different types of materials such as blocks, art supplies and sturdy books, according to the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies.
Sense of Security
Child care settings that follow a daily routine help toddlers develop a sense of security. "The routine helps children know what to expect and helps them wait for events like a parent coming back," according to Penn State's Better Kid Care Program.
Caregivers who encourage toddlers to take turns by helping them negotiate a solution, keeping them occupied while they wait and protecting them while they have their turn contribute to this security. Even though toddlers have a difficult time sharing toys, they can learn to take turns with a little help from a caring adult.
Communication Skills
Caregivers help toddlers build language and communication skills by singing, laughing and talking during daily routines, according to the Better Kid Care Program. During interaction with other children, toddlers learn how to deal with and communicate their feelings when providers give them words for those feelings. For younger toddlers, just hearing the words can be calming and educational. For older toddlers, learning to use and understand words such as "stop" can often deflate aggressive situations. As language skills develop, caregivers encourage children to express themselves verbally and to offer their own solutions for conflict.
Independence
Child care settings provide plenty of opportunities for toddlers to help. Toddlers enjoy conquering new things and like to contribute to routine activities. In a quality setting, toddlers get opportunities to help pick up blocks, wipe their faces after a meal or bring a diaper for changing time, for example. These kinds of experiences are affirming and help toddlers to develop a sense of independence.
Quality programs also give toddlers opportunities to make decisions. When a child care setting is divided into activity areas, toddlers get to choose where to play. Art activities that are open-ended give toddlers the freedom to be creative.
Imagination Development
In a quality program, toddlers are encouraged to use their imagination. The freedom to pretend helps children learn to distinguish real from pretend and allows toddlers to explore ideas in a supervised environment. By providing materials such as housekeeping toys, empty boxes, blocks and small people figures, caregivers give toddlers tools to "power their imagination," according to Better Kid Care.
