Growing Independence | Hands-On Exploration | Responsive Relationships | Learning Through Play
BIG GROWTH. BUSY DAYS.
Toddlerhood is full of movement, discovery, and rapidly growing independence. Children are developing language, testing new skills, building relationships, exploring boundaries, and discovering that they have ideas and preferences all their own.
At Little Roots, our Toddler Program provides a safe, nurturing environment where children have the freedom to explore while knowing trusted educators are nearby to support them. Our teachers recognize that toddlers are still learning how to communicate their needs, manage emotions, navigate relationships, and understand the world around them.
Through predictable routines, responsive relationships, hands-on experiences, and plenty of opportunities to move and play, we help toddlers build confidence while respecting the individual pace of each child’s development.
GROWING INDEPENDENCE
Toddlers are eager to do things for themselves. Throughout the day, children are encouraged to make choices, practice self-help skills, participate in classroom routines, and try new things with support from their educators.
LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION
Toddler language develops rapidly. Conversations, books, songs, gestures, repetition, and responsive interactions help children build vocabulary and discover new ways to communicate their thoughts, needs, feelings, and ideas.
SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL GROWTH
Big feelings are a normal part of toddlerhood. Educators help children begin identifying emotions, communicating needs, developing relationships, navigating conflicts, and learning the early skills they will eventually use to regulate their emotions more independently.
LEARNING THROUGH MOVEMENT & PLAY
Toddlers learn with their entire bodies. They carry, dump, stack, climb, push, pull, pour, scribble, squish, investigate, repeat something seventeen times, and then immediately find something new to explore. These experiences aren’t separate from learning. They are how toddlers learn.
Our educators create developmentally appropriate experiences that encourage children to experiment, solve problems, develop new physical skills, communicate, create, and explore cause and effect. Activities are thoughtfully planned while leaving plenty of room for children to follow their own curiosity.
MOVEMENT & MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
Climbing, running, balancing, dancing, manipulating materials, building, and creating help toddlers strengthen both gross- and fine-motor skills while developing increasing control of their bodies.
SENSORY & CREATIVE EXPLORATION
Art, sensory materials, music, movement, and open-ended experiences allow toddlers to investigate textures, sounds, colors, movement, and materials while expressing their emerging ideas.
EARLY THINKING & PROBLEM-SOLVING
Sorting, matching, filling and emptying, building, puzzles, cause-and-effect experiences, and simple investigations help toddlers begin developing early mathematical and scientific thinking through hands-on discovery.
CARE & ROUTINES
Predictable routines help toddlers feel secure and understand what comes next, while flexibility allows us to respond to the individual needs of each child. Our toddler day provides a familiar rhythm of play, meals, rest, outdoor exploration, caregiving, and learning experiences without expecting every child to develop or move through their day in exactly the same way.
As children’s skills and needs change, educators work closely with families to support growing independence while providing the reassurance and assistance toddlers still need.
MEALS & MEALTIMES
Mealtimes are an opportunity for much more than eating. Toddlers practice sitting together, communicating their needs, trying a variety of foods, using cups and utensils, and developing increasing independence while enjoying meals as part of their classroom community.
REST & QUIET TIME
Busy toddler bodies need opportunities to recharge. A predictable rest period is built into the classroom day, with educators helping children settle into a comfortable routine while recognizing that individual sleep needs can vary.
TOILETING & SELF-HELP SKILLS
As children show readiness, educators partner with families to support toileting in a positive, developmentally appropriate way. Children are also encouraged to practice everyday self-help skills such as handwashing, cleaning up, feeding themselves, and participating in dressing routines.
OUTDOOR EXPLORATION
Outdoor play is an important part of the toddler day at Little Roots. Children have opportunities to run, climb, balance, dig, investigate, and experience Vermont’s changing seasons while developing confidence in their growing physical abilities.
For toddlers, the outdoors is an enormous classroom. A puddle invites experimentation. A stick becomes something to carry, compare, build with, or investigate. Snow changes how the ground feels beneath their feet. Leaves, rocks, insects, wind, and mud provide endless opportunities for questions and discovery.
Our educators support children as they explore, take developmentally appropriate risks, practice new motor skills, and experience the natural world firsthand.
A DAY IN OUR TODDLER ROOM
Toddler days at Little Roots are busy in the best possible way. A predictable daily rhythm helps children know what to expect, while plenty of time for child-led play and exploration allows them to follow their curiosity, practice emerging skills, and simply be toddlers.
Throughout the day, children move between active play, teacher-guided experiences, outdoor exploration, meals, caregiving routines, rest, stories, music, and opportunities to connect with their educators and friends.
ARRIVAL & MORNING PLAY → MORNING MEETING → PLAY & EXPLORATION → OUTDOOR TIME→ MEALS & CONNECTION → REST → AFTERNOON DISCOVERY → HOME
STAYING CONNECTED WITH FAMILIES
Toddlers may have a lot more to say than they did as infants, but their version of the day’s events isn’t always especially reliable. That’s why communication between families and educators remains an important part of our Toddler Program.
Through ChildPilot, families receive information and updates about their child’s day, including meals, rest, toileting and diapering, classroom experiences, and other important information. Photos and classroom updates also give families a glimpse into the play, learning, friendships, and discoveries happening throughout the day.
Communication goes both ways. Families are encouraged to share changes, milestones, new interests, challenges, or experiences happening at home. This helps our educators better understand what each child may be bringing into their day and provides continuity between home and Little Roots.
SUPPORTING DEVELOPMENT TOGETHER
Toddler development can move incredibly quickly. New words appear seemingly overnight, physical abilities change, independence grows, and children’s social and emotional needs continue to evolve.
Our educators observe children throughout their everyday experiences to better understand their development, interests, strengths, and emerging skills. These observations help us plan meaningful experiences and determine how we can continue supporting each child’s individual growth.
Rather than expecting every toddler to reach milestones on exactly the same timeline, we meet children where they are and work in partnership with families as they grow.
BIG FEELINGS & POSITIVE GUIDANCE
Toddlers experience enormous emotions while still developing the language and self-regulation skills needed to express them. When children are overwhelmed, frustrated, excited, tired, or trying to communicate a need, those feelings can sometimes come out through crying, yelling, grabbing, hitting, biting, or other challenging behaviors.
At Little Roots, we view these moments as opportunities for teaching and connection. Educators provide clear, consistent boundaries while helping children begin to identify their emotions, communicate their needs, and learn safer ways to interact with others.
Our goal is not to expect toddlers to manage emotions like older children. Instead, educators provide the calm, supportive guidance children need while those skills are still developing.
NAMING EMOTIONS
Educators help children begin connecting words with their experiences by naming emotions and acknowledging what they may be feeling.
LEARNING NEW SKILLS
Children are supported in practicing emerging skills such as using words or gestures, waiting, taking turns, asking for help, making choices, and navigating interactions with peers.
CLEAR & CONSISTENT BOUNDARIES
Warm, responsive care and appropriate boundaries work together. Educators calmly intervene when needed, keep children safe, and guide them toward more appropriate ways to express their needs and emotions.
GROWING TOWARD PRESCHOOL
The transition from toddlerhood into preschool is about much more than reaching a particular birthday. As children grow, our educators support the increasing independence, communication, social skills, self-help abilities, and confidence that will help them feel successful in their next classroom.
Children gradually become more comfortable participating in group experiences, following classroom routines, caring for their belongings, communicating their needs, developing friendships, and taking greater responsibility for themselves and their environment.
When the time comes to transition into our Preschool Program, Little Roots educators work together to help make that change as familiar and comfortable as possible. Our goal is for children to move forward already knowing that Little Roots is a place where they belong.
READY TO DISCOVER TODDLERHOOD AT LITTLE ROOTS?
There’s no better way to understand our Toddler Program than to see it in action. Visit our classroom, meet our educators, explore the environment, and experience the wonderfully busy world of toddler learning at Little Roots.
