Setting up a Learning Environment.

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Setting Up Learning Environments Setting up a Learning Environment Infants and toddlers learn through exploring and coming to know and understand their environment. The physical environment in a group setting strongly affects children, caregivers, and their interactions. In infant/toddler classrooms without a plan specifically directed at supporting children's development, young children waste a great deal of their time either aimlessly wandering about the room or engaged in teacher-directed activities. In inadequately planned classrooms, children's engagement in self-directed exploration and focused play is impaired. When children are not appropriately engaged, aggressive behavior rises. In such an environment, she or he needs to pretend to be a police officer and guardian, managing behavior instead of facilitating individual and group needs. Exploring their physical environment contains a great deal of the "curriculum" for mobile infants and toddlers. We must, think about the impact of the environment on children and caregivers, and learn to plan spaces that contribute appropriately to children's development. Many classrooms are not designed to meet the developmental needs of infants and toddlers in-group care, nor do they provide teachers, in their position, as facilitators of children's knowledge and self-directed play. By contrast, a well-designed environment can have huge positive influence on the well being of both children and teachers. A well-designed environment is, of course, safe for infants and toddlers but, more than that, it supports their emotional well being, encourages their senses, and tests their motor skills. An excellence of design aims to generate a classroom that is extremely functional, aesthetically appealing, age-appropriate, child-directed, and teacher-supported. A well-designed group care environment encourages children's individual and social development. The setting, arrangement, and equipment give infants many opportunities to challenge themselves through seeing, touching, feeling, and moving. In surroundings that are safe to explore freely, infants discover how to chart their environment cognitively, to manipulate it, and to master it. Crawlers and Walkers  and Toddlers and Twos Square Footage – Should be 500-600 square feet usable.Space for Movement - Movement is vital to a
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child's physical and emotional development. Once an infant can crawl and pull herself up, moving becomes a huge center of her day. Even if there is not anything safe in the classroom to climb on, she will find a way to climb-onto tables and shelves, rocking chairs and high chairs. Because these activities are unsafe, the teacher can redirect the child off the piece of equipment. The message the child receives is that what she or he is doing is not okay. Self-initiated exploration, a primary focus for healthy development, is prevented instead of promoted. Creating a classroom that supports ...

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