WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM INFANTS, TODDLERS, OR PRESCHOOLERS?
INFANTS
Attachment relationships between infants and caregivers are the basis from which all learning, growth, development, and views of the world are formulated. These attachment relationships begin with the day-to-day interactions of the caretaking routine as infants are fed, changed, bathed, and put to bed. Infants learn—as their needs are consistently met—how to trust, build relationships with others and view the world as a loving and nurturing place. In the first year of life, infants need a loving, consistent, appropriate, and responsive caregiver(s), to protect their mental health and grow into emotionally healthy adults.
Typical Infant Behavior:
- Infants and families learn about one another’s habits, needs, likes, and dislikes.
- Infants learn the rhythm of their families’ routines and begin to anticipate: feeding time, play time, bath-time, story time, and nighttime.
- Infants learn how to communicate from the words that are spoken, the tone of the voices and facial expressions on loves ones faces, gestures, body movements, and touch.
- Infants communicate their likes, dislikes, joys, and fears through their head turns, cries, smiles, arm and leg movements; feeding, sleeping, and elimination routines.
- Infants learn about the world as they take in their surroundings with all of their senses: hearing, touching, tasting, seeing, and smell.
- Infants’ early learning is optimized when they have time and safe spaces to explore their natural curiosities and when loved ones are there to describe, interpret, and encourage these explorations.
- Infants’ physical development unfolds quickly from birth.
- Newborns come into this world as fragile bundles in need of gentle handling, holding, and head and neck support. Within three months’ time, infants’ necks and upper torsos strengthen to support their heavy heads.
- Infants continue to strengthen and develop throughout their first year from their heads to their feet as they go from prone to upright to standing; from uncontrolled large arm movements to deliberate reaching to picking up small bits of food with their finger tips.
- Infants’ perspective of the world changes dramatically with their advancing physical abilities. Infants see ceilings, faces, and the scenes in front of them as they are held and carried. This view changes as they are placed on the Floor where they may see carpets, chair legs, and shoes. In 12 months time, this view changes again as they are able to hold themselves upright, pull themselves up to standing, cruise holding on, and finally walk—it is now truly a room with a whole new view to a curious infant.
TODDLERS
Like infants, toddlers continue to learn about the world from those who care for them. There are so many firsts, so many new objects, pets, people and places to name, describe, and learn about. A toddler’s natural curiosity fuels her energy to endlessly touch and experiment with everything around her. Toddlers learn their value and how to treat others well (with respect) from caregivers who listen, answer their questions honestly, offer choices, honor toddlers’ decisions, and have patience for toddlers to do things for themselves, in their own way, and in their own time.
Typical Toddler Behavior:
- Toddlers’ natural curiosity drives them to separate from those who care for them and explore on their own but remain dependent on loved ones to foster their learning.
- Toddlers want to please their loved ones. As toddlers learn, caregivers learn to change the environment and remove breakables and untouchables out of reach to keep toddlers safe and provide the best first learning environment.
- Toddlers fear what they do not understand and depend on caregivers to make sense of what they see, hear, feel, and smell.
- Toddlers across cultures, typically around 18 months, use play as a vehicle to make sense of what they experience.
- Toddlers can be seen playing the simple routines that are a part of their life such as feeding the baby or putting the baby to bed.
- Toddlers practice doing things for themselves such as feeding, dressing, and toileting. Toddlers take their time as they study and experiment with the nuances of these day-to-day activities over and over again until they become more expert and they have committed these routines to memory.
- Toddlers fluctuate between doing things on their own and wanting others to care for them and their needs. This is a natural conflict and negotiation between toddlers’ dependent and independent needs.
- Toddlers practice language and their limited vocabulary by pointing, naming, and talking a lot. As toddlers are exposed to more people, places, and things, and are given words and phrases to communicate about those people, places, and things, their vocabularies flourish.
- Toddlers learn about cause and effect by asking, “Why?” questions, sometimes over and over again.
Preschoolers (Age 3-5 Years)
Years 3-5 are the years children are continuing to develop their vocabularies, physical abilities, knowledge about themselves and their capabilities as they spend many hours at play in rich stimulating environments which offer new learning opportunities. Typically, young children 3-5 years old are in the midst of formulating their self-concept. Preschoolers see themselves as others see them. Preschoolers’ play; now, also includes more exploration into different roles and occupations. They experiment with their sense of themselves as a boy or a girl and the concepts of power, heroes, and the morality of right and wrong. Preschoolers’ knowledge base about reality, cause and effect, and problem solving of situations is still developing. Consequently, preschoolers are literal in their translations of what they see, hear, taste, touch, and smell.
Typical Preschool Behavior:
- Preschoolers do not understand the double meanings behind teasing, sarcasm, jokes, or feelings.
- Preschoolers show growth in their ability to distinguish appearance from reality but still depend on ego-centered thinking and magical beliefs to explain events for which they have no existing script, limited life experience, or seemingly no plausible explanation. Therefore, they rely on their rich imaginations to solve problems.
- Preschoolers think the world is connected directly to them. They believe if they wished it or thought about it then they somehow made it happen. Consequently, preschoolers feel responsible for what happens to the people, places, and things in their lives.
- Preschoolers depend on wishes and heroes to exert power over their world and foster the change they hope to see.
- Preschoolers who are given words and time to ask for what they need are much more cooperative.
- Preschoolers arc carefully watching the grown-ups around them and are learning what it means to be a boy or a girl, to hold a book and read, to communicate using words, a greeting card, a phone call, a touch; to know right from wrong.
Opening Minds USA is the trusted advisor and professional resource for people who educate and care for young children.
openingmindsusa.org ⋅ 30 E. Adams, Suite 1000. Chicago. IL 60603 ⋅ (P) 312.427.5399
