Infant / Toddler
Ages 3 Months - 3 Years
Did you know that during the first three years of your child's life, they will develop more rapidly than at any other time? These important years provide the foundation for later learning. The Infant/Toddler program at Amherst Montessori is so much more than daycare. Starting with our teachers' rigorous training, to the meticulously prepared classrooms, and beautiful materials, the Infant/Toddler program offers a sensory-rich and exploratory curriculum that emerges from each child's unique skills and interests.
Nurturing your child's natural instinct for wonder, exploration, and discovery
During the infant and toddler years, your child will develop skills in language, concentration, problem-solving, and physical coordination. They will play alongside other children at first and then with others. They will start to make sense of the world around them, with a developing sense of order and sequence, and also cause and effect. Based on daily observations, teachers introduce new materials and activities that engage curiosity and stimulate learning.
Our Infant/Toddler classrooms are designed to be comforting, soothing, and home-like. South-facing classrooms are filled with sunlight, plants, natural materials, and organized play spaces designed not to overstimulate, but to engage your child's natural instinct to touch, feel, smell, taste, and explore their environment.
Carefully prepared Montessori materials and activities promote independence, order, coordination, and concentration, as well as support social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development. These learning activities include:
- Self-care: washing, dressing, toileting, and eating, according to each child’s individual capacity
- Care of the environment: cleaning, food preparation and food service; plant care and animal care
- Large-motor activities (indoors and out): walking, climbing, running, jumping, balancing, climbing steps, and more
- Fine-motor skills: reaching, grasping, picking up objects, transferring objects, using tools and utensils, doing art work
- Language: naming objects, describing actions and intentions, discussing pictures, conversation, music, and singing
- Social skills: developing manners through interactions with peers, teachers, and adult-led small group games