Welcome to our Infant and One Year Old Room!
    Our room consists of 9 children from the ages of 6 weeks to approximately 20 months.  Miss Dee enjoys caring for the babies while Miss Maria and Miss Linday split their day with our one year old's.  Miss Dee is the assistant director and oversees the classroom to ensure that all our children's needs are met.  She is also a proud grandmother.  Dee has been with The Clubhouse since its inception in 1987.  Miss Maria and Miss Lindsay oversee our one year old children.  Our classroom is very busy and active but our schedule is based on your child's needs. We do not put your child on our schedule, instead we will follow the schedule you give us and adjust it as your child grows.  
 
You are probably wondering how we spend our day.   
    Our environment is set up to ensure your child has the space, equipment and personal interaction to develop into wonderful and curious toddlers.  This is how we accomplish this:             
   Sensory, water and floating playthings are an important part of our program.  Water is soothing and water toys stimulate play.  We introduce a variety of toys to sink, float and splash with.  This type of activity will help your child develop his/her fine and gross motor skills as they attempt to reach and balance themselves.  An introduction of objects that react differently in water will bring about a sense of water.  And, of course, we have to taste, smell and hear what is happening.            
   Dramatic Play involves different props such as dolls, stuffed animals, animated characters along with personal interaction from peers, classmates, teachers and parents.  It is important that your child sees how you and your child’s provider can work closely together to ensure that they are receiving the best care possible.             
   Curiosity Possibilities: Children are curious about the world in which they live.  They want to find out what is in it and how everything works.  An assortment of rattles is a delightful means of interacting with young babies.  They love to use long, round, skinny, hard, squeezable, noisy or musical rattles.  They can look, chew, bang, shake and listen as they enjoy the rattles.  Repetition of movement and activity is vitally important for brain development.  Repetition helps babies “wire” their brains and strengthens neural pathways that are just developing.  A lot of time with these first action/reaction toys that are easily gripped, mouthed and kicked is clearly a good use of time.  Plastic jars with tops to undo,  simple sorting, surprise toys such as a jack-in-the-box and busy boxes with a variety of things to turn and push are all interesting.  The role of our teacher is to interact with your child and provide plenty of invitations to play.             
   Problem Solving experiences begin at infancy.  One such great activity involves mirrors.  An important part of our infant environment is strategically placed mirrors.  At children’s eye level, they are used to catch a view of their teacher who may be busy with another child, discover oneself, look at other children and observe the surrounding environment.  Your child’s own image is one of the most interesting he/she will  explore during the first three years of life.             
   There are so many areas of play that are essential for your child’s development such as literacy, music, movement, outdoor activities, projects and, of course, parent participation.  We strive to give your child a good balance of all these areas.  - And you thought all we did all day was play.              
   As working moms ourselves, we understand how hectic mornings can be.  If you forget anything we will write a reminder on your child's daily slip, however we have extras of almost everything.  We will not let your child go without!  If you have any questions regarding your child's care please let us know.  Our goal is to work closely together with you to provide the best care for your child.

                                                                                    Sincerely,
                                                                                    Our Clubhouse Babies,
                                                                                    Miss Dee, Miss Maria, 
                                                                                    Miss Lindsay and
                                                                                    The Clubhouse Staff