Toddler Development: A Milestone in Growth and Learning - Essay Sample

Introduction

As toddlers grow, they start learning skills such as kicking the ball and playing with others; this stage is a developmental milestone. At this age, children engage in activities such as jumping, running, and balancing. Toddlers grow a desire to become more independent. They are eager to explore the world that surrounds them. Toddlers start learning more, experience emotional changes, social interactions, and develop high thinking capacities (Courson & Wallace, 2010). At this stage, toddlers are in a position to make two to three steps directions, group objects by their shapes, color and, imitate adults. Toddlers also can play with others and express their emotions. It is essential to understand the behavior of the toddlers to devise an appropriate curriculum. This paper illustrates a 1-week program for toddlers ranging between 2-3 years. The target is to make children have fun as they learn in the process.

Child Planning Form

Current information Plans

New accomplishments Help toddlers achieve new goals. Look at what they are good in and bad at and help them to improve. Come up with strategies to adopt if the plan does not work out well. Help toddlers learn how to play with their toy cars and dolls.

Interests Help toddlers discover new things. Taking them to external learning settings to watch butterflies. Feelings smooth and rough textures. Playing with sand and modelling clay. Using magazines with conspicuous funny pictures. Storytelling and singing.

Dislikes Playing in wet environments. Playing in injury prone areas such as surroundings with stones. Work that is too much complicated and its beyond toddlers’ comprehension. Feelings of sadness and isolation.

Family news Knowledge of parents full names. Understanding their siblings and how they relate. knowing personal names and age. Ability to figure out home address.

Special needs Handling disabled with much care. Making the disabled children feel comfortable and respected. Helping the rest of children appreciate and live peacefully with special students.

Group Planning Form

Changes to the Environment

The lessons will be focusing on getting an indoor and outdoor experience. Children like to see exciting things, and they can get such opportunities by interacting with nature (Courson & Wallace, 2010). Outdoor learning opportunities will give children the chance to observe beautiful sceneries to develop their cognitive abilities. There is a notion that outdoor activities distract toddlers from meaningful learning. Toddlers need to figure things on their own and not be forced to understand things against their will (Courson & Wallace, 2010).

Change to Routines and Schedule

Children will be allowed adequate time to play up to their satisfaction. They will not be disrupted while they are engaged. Students will take a minimum of 45 minutes in an activity. The transitioning will occur carefully to avoid interfering with the learning process. Toddlers need adequate time to figure out what they are doing. Children learn best on their own and not what parents or teachers think they should learn (Courson & Wallace, 2010). Hence this learning process will allow children to be more independent and flexible to do what they want.

Family Involvement

The learning process will involve parents so that they can provide all the needed materials. We will require modeling clay, crayons, painting books, dolls, plastic car toys, and balloons.

Indoor activities Singing six little ducks (Courson & Wallace, 2010).

Painting beautiful flowers. Making multiple flower colorings.

Watching picture books. Wash the little dolls and do their hair.

Play with bubble form.

Create simple patterns and puzzles.

Read and see pictures from the Corduroy children book. Ride the plastic car toys. Carry small load using the cars.

Wash the plastic car toys. Make different color portions using the painting books.

Draw pictures of birds, cats and butterflies and paint them (Courson & Wallace, 2010). make different rainbow colors. Fill the balloons with air and play with them. Model different objects such as people and cows. Allow children to use the modelling art to create images of their choice.

Outdoor activities Hopping and jumping.

Playing chase game.

Watching butterflies (Cooper, 2018). Walking, listening and measuring nature. Take a walk with the children and measure objects encountered such as leaves.

Create sticks patterns and arrange objects. Help toddlers explore nature using the available opportunities. For instance, visit a park and allow them watch the animals (Cooper, 2018). Play with sand and make sand heaps. Feel the textures of different soils. Collect leaves and play counting games. Use chalks and allow toddlers make drawings on pavements about anything they think about.

Allow children make water balloon parachutes.

Figure 1: Outdoor activities. (Cooper, 2018).

Discovery Plan

Discovery plan allows children to learn about the world and how it works. Discovery learning will enable students to develop skills that can help them to fit into daily life activities (Bruce, 2012). It is crucial to create discovery areas to allow students to explore and learn more. Children are more likely to recall things they learn on their own. Hence adopting a discovery plan into the curriculum can help in realizing better results. Children are like little scientists, and they are always eager to discover (Bruce, 2012). The learning process will encourage students to develop the cognitive capabilities by applying discovery plans.

The learning process will allow students to discover by providing them with the materials and learning opportunities to become more adventurous. The curriculum will use books with conspicuous illustrations to motivate children to try and figure out things on their own. The outdoor activities, such as playing with the butterfly, will help students get an opportunity to interact with nature and get to learn more (Bruce, 2012). Children will engage in more practical activities such as painting flowers, which will boost their cognitive abilities. Group works and playing together will make students develop interpersonal relationships and create strong friendship bonds. Toddlers love to work and play; the learning process intends to help toddlers learn as they play.

The learning process will engage students from different cultures and categories. The curriculum takes care of students with disabilities and believes they should get equal chances and feel part of the whole process. The outdoor learning process will visit areas where all students can access regardless of their status. The target is to make toddlers discover things independently, make them explore their world, and feel confident about what they do.

Newsletter to the Parents

Dear parents

Thanks for entrusting the school with your children. Your support and contribution has made the school achieve this huge milestone. The school has an excellent program for the toddlers that it is all-inclusive. The school believes that toddlers need to get opportunities to figure things out on their own. Therefore, we have introduced indoor and outdoor learning programs to ensure that students can get all the relevant skills they require.

Many parents take their toddlers to school with a notion that they are going to get class education. Class education is essential, but young children should not get coerced to learn things that they do not want. The learning process should be more natural so that the children can make the best out of it. I intend to work with your children to help them explore. We will engage in activities such as painting, modeling, arts, and group learning. During the week, I expect the students to develop cognitive abilities and socialize with others. I target to boost the children's confidence by allowing them to face difficult situations on their own and find answers.

I hope that you can extend what we learn in school at your homes. Use every available opportunity to allow your children to learn. For instance, let your children make bubble shooters and make sure they have fun in the process. Preparing dough will enable children to play with it and make some funny models; this is how they learn. When going to the garden, go with your toddlers, let them observe the nature's beauty. Answer their many questions and quench their curiosity. It is our responsibility as parents and teachers to make our young scientists explore more.

What I Plan to Accomplish and Evaluation

I intend to create an environment where young toddlers can be free to learn and explore things on their own. I target to make learning more enjoyable and comfortable to make the toddlers participate willingly. From experience with the children, I will learn them better. I will be able to discover what they like and dislike. I will be able to estimate the period toddlers can take to engage in an activity actively. By the end of the week, I target to develop the toddlers' social and emotional skills. I want to help the students learn how to work with each other through the learning groups.

I intend to improve the connection of the students to nature through outdoor activities. I want them to observe the beautiful butterflies and draw what they find back in class. I want the toddlers to learn soft skills, such as caring for nature. They should be able to see the beauty of the environment and get attached to it emotionally. The learning process will ensure that all students participate irrespective of their conditions. The process will carry along students of color and the disabled. I will evaluate my achievements by doing periodic assessments and observations on the changes. Looking at the steps, we make with the students will tell me if we have had some positive growth. I will work with the parents to ensure the curriculum succeeds.

To conclude, the curriculum intends to help toddlers between 2-3 years explore and learn in the process. The learning process will help children exploit the available opportunities to develop their cognitive and interaction abilities. I will employ both indoor and outdoor activities to enhance active learning. The process is all-inclusive; it considers all students regardless of their status. I intend to build an environment where the disabled are respected and treated well. With the support of the parents, the plan is going to succeed.

References

Bruce, T. (2012). Learning through play, for babies, toddlers and young children. Hachette UK.

Cooper, S. (2018). Pre-school outdoor learning ideas. https://teaching2and3yearolds.com/44-preschool-outdoor-learning-ideas/

Courson, D., & Wallace, C. (2010). Planning a developmentally appropriate program for children. http://asuchildhoodservices.org/docs/planning_developmentally_appropriate_program.pdf.