FOR INFANTS AND TODDLERS

By: Kara Hoffman, Heather Fleig, and Sidney Sullivan

TREE TOP’S PHYSICAL

ENVIRONMENT

Our Rating System

No improvements needed

Few Minor Improvements needed

Many Minor improvements needed

Few Major improvements needed

Many Major improvements needed

The environment rating will be found in the top left hand corner in every slide

Soft

We offer….• laps to the children• Non-squishy wall-to-wall carpet which

lends itself well to newly walking infants• Soft pillows and mattresses• Soft bouncy balls and blocks• Grass and sand

Landing Pad for Slide

Book Nook Sleeping Bags and Cribs

Soft Blocks

Hard

Bench

Geoclimber and Balance Beam Sidewalk and Blacktop

Blocks and Legos

We offer• Walks on the sidewalks and blacktop• Hard benches and stools

Improvement• Bike path in the backyard so infants

and toddlers can practice running or ride their trikes

Wooden Tunnel

Intrusion

Looking from the infant room into the Two and preschool room

View from the top into other rooms

View into the Two Room

Low windows visits from firefighters

parents licensers

We offer• Low windows to bring the outside in• The licenser and firefighter visit yearly • Parents sometimes come in for a visit• Our room dividers are made of Plexiglass and bars

which allows the infants and toddlers to look into the other rooms. This also makes for an easy transition to the Two Room.

Seclusion

Wooden tunnelTree tunnel

crib

swingcastle

Exersaucer

We offer• Many places for children who are needing time to themselves• A “castle” which is a large lofted play-yard that children can also

crawl underneath. We set this up when we have many low-mobility babies.

Improvements• We would like to make a lofted area that children can access by

themselves

Closed Dimension

We offer-• Toys that are used for a specific purpose • Storage in the basement for teachers use so we can easily

rotate toys• We keep our art supplies in the laundry room• We keep snacks and dishes up in a cabinet in the infant room

so we don’t have to leave the room or leave the children unattended.

Puzzles and other closed toys

High book shelvesHigh storage Radio and other materials out of children’s reach

Open Dimension

We offer-• Manipulatives that are open-

ended • Toys that are easily

accessible; on the floor and low shelves

• There are no dividing walls in the infant room so all children are visible

Open ended toys

Low shelving

Manipulatives on the floor for infants

Simple Dimension

Buckets to dump

Plates and cups

• Bottles with colored water

and other materials inside

Balls to throw

We offer-• Plastic bottles with colored water and other things to shake• Buckets to dump• Cups and Plates in our kitchen area

Improvements• Add more everyday objects like pots and pans • Include more varieties of textures

Complex Dimension

Dishes and kitchen Sand, buckets, and dump trucksWe offer-

• A sandbox outside to experience scooping and dumping

• A kitchen area with dishes and foods

• Teacher directed complex activities such as bringing in a tub of water and a variety of scooping and pouring containers

Improvements• Bring sand and water inside more

often• Offer more complex sensory

experiences

Low MobilityWe offer-• Caregivers laps for the infants and toddlers• Teacher is always near by to make sure low

mobile infants are kept safe on the floor

Improvements• We can bring out the castle when

necessary

Heather keeping guardswings

Buggy

High MobilityWe offer-• An indoor slide for gross motor exercise • Pull up bar for infants and toddlers to strengthen their

arms and legs• Many things to explore in a safe environment

Indoor slide

Sidewalks to run on

Pull up barGeoclimber

ScaleWe offer-• The pictures on the wall are at the children

height • The toys are on low shelves or the floor to

make them easily accessible.

Improvements• We will be getting table and chairs that

the infants and toddlers can get into and out of independently.

• Stairs up to the changing table so they can go up by themselves.

Infant Book

Nook

• Low Bars

• Table • Kitchen Set Pictures

AestheticsWe offer-• Neutral colored walls and carpeting• Big windows that offer natural light• Wood tones• Soft muted colored valances

Acoustics

We offer-• Proper group sizes• Soft mattresses, pillows, and stuffed animals to absorb the sound

Improvements-• A nap room• Padded ceiling to mute sound

Soft Things

Carpet

Order• The infant room is set up so

there are certain areas so the children can focus.

• We have obstacles to break up the room that children can crawl through, around, and over.

• We have a slide so children can practice stepping up

• There are nooks cut out with interest areas

• We have organized adult shelves for things that are inappropriate for children to be playing with.

Obstacles

We do not have enough money or space to do all the

things that we would like to incorporate

into the center