Infant and toddler care, beyond babysitting

What is infant and toddler care? How is it different from babysitting or having a nanny?

In recent studies conducted by researchers at University of Helsinki, Finland, infants are found to be capable of learning even when they are still in their mother’s wombs. “However, an infant’s brain is not fully developed at birth,” says Charlotte Wong, head of Kinderland Singapore’s Infant Care & Toddler programme. “As such, infants and toddlers need visual, auditory, tactile and olfactory sensory input to build connections of the world they are in.”

Based on famous child development psychologist, Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, zero to two years of age is called the Sensorimotor stage. During this time, infants and toddlers learn primarily through their senses and movement. Understanding how they learn at this stage, Kinderland ensures that a wide range of activities is available to engage their senses and motor abilities. Complementing the activities are the safe and specially designed environments which utilise colours, textures and sounds, crucial for sensory-motor development.

At Kinderland, a low teacher-infant toddler ratio ensures that there are two trained and qualified caregivers at any given time in class. Teachers plan different activities each week, focusing on sensory-motor, language-cognitive and social-emotional skills. Daily responsive and interactive communication with the dedicated caregivers allow the infants and toddlers to establish foundation for speech and encourage social interaction.

Our infants and toddlers enjoy healthy and nutritious pureed and fresh baby food, planned by certified in-house nutritionist. “ Nutritional requirements and feeding frequencies for infants change at different ages and stages. Good nutrition for infants is crucial to ensure optimum physical growth and cognitive development,” says Kua Jo Ann, certified Kinderland Singapore’s nutritionist.

Music plays an important role in Kinderland’s curriculum, even for our infants and toddlers. A study by scientists at the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS) in 2016 shows that music improves infant’s brain processing of both music and new speech sounds. Different genres of music are played throughout the day at Kinderland, even during nap time.

Kinderland has been a leading provider of quality preschool education in Singapore with over 40 years of experience in an extensive regional preschool network of over 60 centres. To understand how your child can maximise their learning, come speak with us at Kinderland International Preschool @ Vista Verde today!