Foundations of Theory and Development for Toddlers

Emma King
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Practicum 1: Foundations of Theory and Development for Infants

The toddler room is inspired and influenced by classic attachment literature, Reggio-

Emilia emergent curriculum, and the philosophy of Emmi Pikler and Magda Gerber. The toddler

room is based on the belief that toddlers are worthy of the same conscientious respect as older

children and adults and that even in the very beginning years, toddlers deserve to be, and are

capable of being, involved in matters that affect them. The toddlers are full participants in the

relationships that their caregivers form with them, and those relationships are the basic context

for their development and learning. The toddler room at the currently holds nine toddlers from

the ages of 16 months to 34 months. The classroom holds three cooperating teachers along

with student staff, two practicum students and one student teacher.

Program Philosophy and Theoretical Foundations

The toddler room uses a Reggio Emilia approach. The Reggio Emilia approach is a child

centered educational philosophy. The elements of the philosophy are space and environment,

time, projects, observation and documentation, and families.

Space & Environment

The first element of the Reggio Emilia approach, and an emphasis on the philosophy

within the toddler room, is space and environment. Although space and environment sound as

if they are the same thing, there are differences between them. Space refers to the physical,

unchanging features of the place in which one lives and works with children, such as doors,

windows, hallways and common spaces, such as outdoor play spaces, the bathrooms, the

eating area and many others (Wurm, 2005). Although each physical space is different, some

being in old homes and others being in centers built for childcare, all Reggio Emilia spaces will
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provide the necessary needs for children to grow and thrive while making their own choices.

The environment, as noted before, is different from space. The Reggio Emilia environment

conveys a feeling of vitality (Wurm, 2005). Every environment will feel different, but the Reggio

environment will communicate the implicit value of children and each will make the true values

in the classroom explicit. Many Reggio Emilia teachers will use the catch phrase “The

environment as the third teacher”. This phrase really means that, with the Reggio Emilia

approach, the environment should support the work and interest of the children without

constant adult guidance and intervention (Wurm, 2005). The toddler room follows the

environment element with many things. The toys and activities are placed on shelves and tables

that are accessible to children. Something that one may not think of as a child centered

environment, is how children are served food. When children are served food on a paper plate,

it is different from when children are served food in glass bowls. The way that children are

served food shows them their value, and the Reggio Emilia approach shows children that they

are worthy of eating from glass bowls. The teachers can teach the children how to use them

properly and safely.

Family

Another emphasis on the philosophy within the toddler room is the family centered

approach. The family centered approach values communication and respectful relationships.

One of the five Reggio Emilia main elements is family involvement. Family participation is seen

as essential to both the families themselves as well as the school (Wurm, 2005). The school is

where the children spend a large chunk of time and it is important for the families to

understand the way that the school is set up and the activities that their children participate in
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throughout the day. Based on twenty years of research, it is known that “children whose

parents are involved are more likely than others to have positive educational outcomes, such as

improved academic performance, better school attendance, higher aspirations, reduced

dropout rates and increased graduation rates” (Wurm, 2005). In the Toddler room, the families

are invited to open houses and potlucks after school some evenings for family involvement. The

families are also invited to sit and read or play with their children in the morning while children

are being dropped off or in the afternoon while children are being picked up from school.

Projects

Projects are a large part of the toddler room. Projects are a large part based on the

Reggio Emilia approach along with the student teachers in the classroom. The toddler room

follows the emergent curriculum by offering projects from the New Hampshire Early Learning

Standards (Wheatley, Cantor & Carver, 2015) that are responsive to the children’s interests. The

emergent curriculum allows for the children to have more meaningful learning experiences. A

respectful and responsive curriculum is based on relationships between children and

caregivers/teachers that occur within planned and unplanned activities and experiences

(Gonzalez-Mena & Eyer, 2018). Learning goes on every minute of the day with toddlers whether

it is planned or unplanned. Self-managed projects are a large part of the toddler classroom.

Self-managed projects give the children opportunities to float to and from activities in the

classroom. This is an example of the phrase “environment as the third teacher” (Wurm, 2005).

Self-managed projects support the interaction and the learning of the students without the

direct adult intervention. The children may walk through the classroom, play at one activity for

a few minutes and then choose another. It allows for children to socialize and be together while
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the teachers can appreciate what the children are doing without interfering. Teachers can add a

few words to support the experience, but otherwise, it is a child led experience.

Observation & Documentation

The last piece of the Reggio Emilia structure that is widely evident in the toddler

classroom is observation and documentation. Observation and documentation are a large part

of the children’s learning experiences, as the documentation will allow the teachers to collect

the experiences with many different observation techniques while being able to look at the

outcomes to see what emerges for the benefit of the children and adults in the room (Wurm,

2005). The student teachers in the toddler room are constantly observing and documenting the

learning experiences of the children in the classroom. The student teachers and cooperating

teachers will get the information from the documentation to better the experiences for the

children in the classroom. Observation and documentation do not only need to be done during

activity time. Many times, the observation in a toddler room will be records of any experience

that children are having, such as social interaction or individual interaction. The ongoing

assessments of children like class list logs can tell how a child is doing; where the leading edge

of learning, growth and development lie and what is needed next (Gonzalez-Mena & Eyer,

2018).

Developmental Domains

The New Hampshire Early Learning Standards are a statewide resource that provides

essential information to support and enhance children’s development and learning. The

standards provide a resource about children’s development from birth to age five. The

standards promote a whole-child approach that affirms that learning and development are
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interrelated and build on previous learning. New Hampshire Early Learning Standards guide the

choice of developmentally appropriate curriculum, teaching strategies, and assessments while

also being directly correlated to the New Hampshire Kindergarten Readiness Indicators

(Wheatley, Cantor & Carver, 2014).

Physical Development & Health

Physical development and health are an extremely important part of every young child’s

development. Children use their bodies to explore and experiment with their environment from

the time they are born, and it is important that caregivers and teachers acknowledge and help

build opportunities for young children to engage in physical activity, both indoors and outdoors.

The physical development and health domain includes body awareness and control, large

muscle development and coordination, small muscle development and coordination, nutrition,

basic safety, and self-care. Toddlers, with the age ranges from sixteen months to three years,

are beginning to become more aware of theirs and others’ bodies, become more mobile and

learning basic self-help skills. These, however, are just small examples of developmentally

appropriate expectations for the youngest toddlers. Toddlers will build and develop an

understanding of the connections between healthy habits and their own body’s growth and

development with appropriate adult guidance (Wheatley, Cantor & Carver, 2014).

The toddlers are between the ages of sixteen months and thirty-four months. Body

awareness and control is a large strand within the physical development domain. The toddlers

are building spatial awareness by becoming more aware of where their body is in relation to

other objects in the environment, they can negotiate moving around objects and people

without bumping into them. The toddlers will begin to show increased balance and
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coordination in play activities while also beginning to move their bodies through space with

balance and control (Wheatley, Cantor & Carver, 2014).

Within the body awareness and control strand, the toddlers will begin to develop their

senses by using their senses to experiment with objects, demonstrate sensory preferences, use

information received from their senses to change the way they interact with the environment,

and begin to focus on important stimuli while ignoring extraneous stimuli (Wheatley, Cantor &

Carver, 2014).

The toddlers are developing physical state regulation by eating three meals per day plus

snacks throughout, showing tiredness or hunger through predictable behaviors, resisting sleep

or napping even when they are tired and begin to take initiative to make themselves more

comfortable (Wheatley, Cantor & Carver, 2014).

With the large muscle development and coordination strand, toddlers are building gross

motor skills by becoming mobile, progressing from crawling to walking and they may show a

strong interest in climbing. The toddlers will move from one place to another by walking and

running with basic control and coordination and have more control with their arm and leg

movement while beginning to purposefully explore with their whole body (Wheatley, Cantor &

Carver, 2014). Similarly, the small muscle development and coordination is directly connected

to fine motor skills. The young toddlers will begin to coordinate their eyes and hands while

exploring with or holding objects. As the toddlers get older, they will reach, grasp and release

objects with more control and experiment with using tools and eventually the toddlers will use

tools purposefully to accomplish a goal (Wheatley, Cantor & Carver, 2014).

Emmi Pikler and Magda Gerber’s theories connect to muscle development. Muscle

development is one of the many pieces to Emmi Pikler and Magda Gerber’s studies in infant

and toddler motor development. “Toddlers need freedom to move and experience a variety of

ways of using the skills they possess. Large muscle activity cannot be saved for outdoor time

but must be both allowed and encouraged inside” (Gonzalez-Mena & Eyer, 2018).

The next piece from the physical development and health developmental domain is

health. Nutrition is extremely important for toddlers to be involved in. Toddlers will chew and

bite and develop the ability to eat finger foods, successfully chew and bite foods of varying

textures, demonstrate willingness to try new foods if offered on multiple occasions and begin to

show some awareness that some foods are more nutritious than others (Wheatley, Cantor &

Carver, 2014). Basic safety is the next strand within the health domain. Within this strand,

toddlers will seek physical contact and look to with primary caregivers when faced with new or

unfamiliar people or environments, acknowledge potentially unsafe situations, but are not yet

able to be responsible for their own safety, and begin to show increased awareness of health

and safety practices. The last strand for the health domain is self-care. Self-care is important for

the toddlers to build on as they grow older and are expected to develop self-help skills.

Toddlers may be able to participate, with adult assistance, in self-care tasks, show increasing

interest in and sometimes insistence on doing things themselves, will be able to participate in

simple health routines, if culturally appropriate, and begin to willingly participate in self-care

routines, if culturally appropriate (Wheatley, Cantor & Carver, 2014).

Play is a large part of everything that toddlers do throughout their day. Within the

physical development and health domain, children will play in the gross motor room, play with

manipulatives and wash their hands or even tables as an activity in order to build those skills.

Language Development & Emergent Literacy

Toddlers are constantly communicating, whether it be facial expressions, body language

or speaking words. Young toddlers understand language long before they are able to speak

words. Language development and the understanding and usage of language is an important

foundation of literacy. Children become more interested in language, reading and writing as

they watch the adults in their lives engage with and use verbal and printed language.

Language development includes the strands of listening comprehension, nonverbal

communication, communication concepts, and verbal expressions. The toddlers are always

developing understandings of language and how to use it with others. The youngest toddlers,

being sixteen months old, will show listening comprehension by demonstrating their

understanding of others’ speech through their actions, such as responding physically to simple

requests. Eighteen to twenty-four-month toddlers will indicate non-verbal communication by

understanding others’ nonverbal symbolic cues such as nodding for yes or shaking their head

for no. The same age range will indicate communication concepts by conveying a variety of

meanings through simple vocabulary. Twenty-four month to thirty-month-old toddlers will

indicate vocabulary development from verbal expressions by demonstrating a burst of new

vocabulary words, which the toddlers may or may not use correctly. Lastly within the language

development part of the domain, the oldest toddlers, being 33 months old, will indicate
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expressive language or speaking from verbal expressions by using connecting words such as

“and” or “then” (Wheatley, Cantor & Carver, 2014).

Emergent literacy includes the strands of emergent reading and emergent writing. The

emergent reading strand connects to the constructs of participation in language and literacy

activities, narrative and story sense, comprehension and interpretation, interest in and

appreciation of reading, phonological awareness, and book awareness (Wheatley, Cantor &

Carver, 2014). The emergent writing strands connect to the constructs of print and alphabet

awareness and interest in emergent writing. The sixteen-month-old children in the toddler

classroom will be participating in language and literacy activities by enjoying being read to and

seeking out opportunities to be read to and to interact with books. The eighteen to twenty-

four-month-old children in the toddler room will develop narrative and story sense by showing

the ability to recognize that a story is beginning from a clue like “Once upon a time”. The

twenty-four to thirty-month-old children will show comprehension and interpretation by

indicating that they can identify with a particular character or scene. The oldest toddlers, the

33-month-olds will develop interest in and appreciation for reading and will indicate their

progress when they ask fir familiar books to be read in exactly the same way each time and

know when sections are skipped (Wheatley, Cantor & Carver, 2014).

The youngest toddlers, again, will develop phonological awareness and show their

indicator of progress when they recognize and react to the sounds of language and can

discriminate between non-speech environmental sounds. The eighteen to twenty-four-month

old children in the toddler room will show indicators of progress in book awareness when they

hold the book properly and turn pages, sometimes several at a time. The twenty-four to thirty-
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month-old children will show indicators of progress in print and alphabet awareness by

recognizing that print and numerals are symbols that convey meaning. Lastly, within emergent

literacy, the oldest toddlers of 33 months will indicate progress in interest in and emergent

writing by using their increased fine motor control to control the size and shape of their

scribbles (Wheatley, Cantor & Carver, 2014).

Like stated before in the physical development and health domain, toddlers are almost

always playing, and they can be supported with play in each strand of emergent literacy and

language development by having a story read to them, coloring during free time or by singing

songs during group time. Play supports each domain within early literacy. Children do enjoy

being read to, and to them, that is playing. With adult guidance and constant narration of play,

toddlers will gain literacy skills and begin to distinguish sounds that are being used around

them.

Cognitive development

Cognitive development is the next domain within the New Hampshire Early Learning

Standards. Cognitive development refers primarily to intellectual development, which is the

ability for young children to grow in their capacity to make sense of the world around them.

Toddlers learn with the ability and complexity which helps to develop how they think, reason

and problem solve (Copple, Bredekamp, Koralek & Charner, 2013). Cognitive development,

although a domain with several sub-domains, is an important piece of Jean Piaget’s theories

Mooney, 2013). Jean Piaget created the theory of cognitive development with the four stages

of cognitive development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal

operational. With the oldest toddlers in the toddler room being almost three years old, Piaget’s
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theory will only cover sensorimotor and possibly the beginning of preoperational. The

sensorimotor stage of the theory is from ages zero to two. Sensorimotor stage is when children

are building the coordination of senses with their motor response, and sensory curiosity of the

world. At this stage, toddlers are using language for demands and cataloguing. At this point,

object permanence has been developed (Mooney, 2013).

Early Numeracy

Early numeracy is the discovery of mathematical concepts through toddler’s daily

routines and play interactions. Children gain a deeper understanding of mathematics in their

world by engaging in “math talk” such as making comparisons and using position words. Early

numeracy in the New Hampshire Early Learning Standards covers the strands of number and

operations, geometry and spatial sense, measurement, patterns and relationships, data

collections and analysis and time and sequence.

The number and operations strand hold the constructs of concept of number, quantity,

ways to represent numbers, one-to-one correspondence, and counting. Within this strand,

children are beginning to understand the concepts of things like more and all gone. As they get

older, they use number words in songs without understanding that numbers represent

quantity. The children will develop an understanding of the relationship between spoken

numbers and quantity and will start to initiate one to one matching (Wheatley, Cantor &

Carver, 2014). The geometry and spatial sense strand include the indicators of progress when

the children demonstrate awareness of distance between their own bodies and others, they

will demonstrate the understanding of simple position words, and will begin to use comparison

and position words correctly (Wheatley, Cantor & Carver, 2014). The toddlers will develop an
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understanding of measurements when they show some awareness of the relative size of

objects in their environment, explore using concept of volume, show awareness of measurable

quantities and recognize that objects and people can be measured (Wheatley, Cantor & Carver,

2014). Toddlers begin to understand patterns and relationships when they explore similarities

and differences among objects in their environment, show awareness of objects and pictures

that are the same, show interest in patterns, and start to recognize simple patterns (Wheatley,

Cantor & Carver, 2014). The toddlers will show progress in data collection and analysis when

they focus on details in people and objects in their environment, can sort objects that are the

same and different on one attribute, can find people and objects that the same on one

attribute, and the children will begin to notice that objects can be classified in different ways

based on different attributes (Wheatley, Cantor & Carver, 2014). Within the last strand, time

and sequence, the toddlers will demonstrate some understanding of when things happen in

relation to routines, as they grow older, they can recall information about the immediate past,

show increased knowledge and memory of daily routines and will begin to anticipate what will

happen next in daily routines (Wheatley Cantor & Carver, 2014). Early numeracy is a sub-

section of the cognitive development domain that is relevant throughout each day in the

toddler room. Early numeracy is evident through play and activities with blocks, manipulatives

and slot activities. Toddlers are constantly learning early numeracy even through language.

Science & Social Studies

Science and social studies in a toddler classroom are when children observe the world.

They wonder about what they see and experience, and they ask questions about physical and

social aspects of their environment. Toddlers begin to understand how the world affects them,
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and how they themselves affect the world. Science and social studies in the New Hampshire

Early Learning Standards covers the strands of key concepts, exploring the physical world and

exploring the social world.

Key concepts include object permanence. Exploring the physical world covers physical

science, life science, earth and space science, and environmental science. Lastly, exploring the

social world covers social conventions, and self, family and community (Wheatley, Cantor &

Carver, 2014). Object permanence is an important part of the young toddlers’ early

development. When indicating progress with object permanence, young toddlers will show

understanding that people and objects no longer in sight still exist. As the toddlers grow older,

they can find objects that are not in sight, ask for people or things that are no longer in sight

and eventually the oldest toddlers will begin to enjoy hiding games. The physical world of

science and social studies is an important basis for learning science in later life. Toddlers will

show progress in exploring the physical world by beginning to develop an understanding of

some basic physical science concepts like gravity, force and motion. As the toddlers get older,

they will indicate progress through repeated observation, experimentation and exploration,

developing further understanding of basic physical science concepts and the natural world. The

children will eventually show interest in observing, experimenting and exploring physical

science and the natural world, and begin to focus on small detains within indoor and outdoor

environments (Wheatley, Cantor & Carver, 2014). The construct of social conventions is

important for culturally appropriate social cues. 16-month-old toddlers will use culturally

appropriate labels for people and relationships in their families. As the toddlers get older, they

will recognize that there are routines and they may test the expectations. Eventually the
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toddlers will participate in expected behavior including greetings and goodbyes and will begin

to understand that certain rules and customs apply in some situations and not in others

(Wheatley, Cantor & Carver, 2014). The last construct within the science and social studies sub

section is self, family and community. Toddlers will show progress in this construct by, at a

young age, interacting with members of their household and their classroom. As the toddlers

get older, they will identify family members of other children in their class. The children will

continue to develop and grow and may sort items or toys into “families” and label with

different roles in their own terms. Eventually, the oldest toddlers will begin to explore various

roles in their home and classroom (Wheatley, Cantor & Carver, 2014).

Approaches to Learning

The last sub-section in the cognitive development domain is approaches to learning.

Throughout their lives, toddlers ill encounter problems, find solutions and develop skills they

will need in order to be effective learners. Children are curious and interested in their

environments. Through play, children will expand on their experiences and try out new things

during challenging situations.

Approaches to learning includes the six strands of inquiry and exploration, reasoning

and problem solving, play, executive function, symbolic representation and cooperative

learning. As approaches to learning is a large sub-domain, this section will go into small detail of

each indicator. Inquiry and exploration include the constructs of curiosity and exploration, and

cause and effect. Through this strand, toddlers are beginning to explore using sensed while

investigating people and objects. Children will seek information by observing and exploring and

asking questions. The toddlers may do things to get a response from familiar adults and
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experiment with cause and effect through their environment. The toddlers will experiment with

cause and effect with different actions to see the differences as well as begin to anticipate and

prevent another’s actions that will create undesirable effects (Wheatley, Cantor & Carver,

2014). The next strand, reasoning and problem solving includes the construct of theories about

the world and how things work. Children will act out ideas about how things work by repeating

and changing their actions. As the toddlers grow, they will process and assimilate new

information by comparing them to previous information and experiences to understand the

world. The children will use multiple strategies to solve problems and will begin to solve

problems without having to physically try out the possible solutions (Wheatley, Cantor &

Carver, 2014). The strand of play includes the constructs of imitation, risk taking and

experimentation, creativity, imagination and inventiveness, and sense of delight and humor.

Toddlers will enjoy using their whole bodies in play, play with toys in ways of their own

invention and take delight in repetitive games and interactions (Wheatley, Cantor & Carver,

2014). The strand of executive function includes the constructs of adaptability of thought

processes, planning, and intentionality, working memory and focus and attention, and

motivation, initiative and persistence. Toddlers will plan and implement a two-step dramatic

play, stay focused on simple stories or book for brief periods of time and initiate simple plans

(Wheatley, Cantor & Carver, 2014). The last strand in approaches to learning is symbolic

representation which includes the construct of representational process. Within this strand,

children will draw comfort from objects that represent family, use an object to represent

something else and use a variety of materials, media and other forms of self-expression to
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represent their thinking (Wheatley Canter & Carver, 2014). This sub-section is very much based

on play, so play is based within each of the pieces of approaches to learning.

Social and Emotional Development

Social and emotional development is relative to relationships. Relationships are

essential for learning. For toddlers, a nurturing and safe environment fosters a healthy sense of

self and the ability to trust others in order to build relationships. Social and emotional

development can be supported by adults providing guidance to help children experience

positive interactions. When toddlers develop healthy social and emotional development, they

will be enabled to build and enjoy friendships. Social and emotional development is directly

linked to Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (Swick & Williams, 2006).

Bronfenbrenner’s theory explained how each system (individual, microsystem, mesosystem,

exosystem, and macrosystem) have an impact on the child (Swick & Williams, 2006). The family,

peers, school and activities have a direct link to the individual child, as well as the

neighborhood, media, industry and social services which is linked eventually to the attitudes

and ideologies of the culture that the child is influenced by. Everything in a child’s life has an

impact. The home culture, family, peers, school that is attended and the activities that the child

participates have an impact on the child’s emotional development and social competence

(Swick & Williams, 2006).

The social and emotional development domain includes four strands: self-concept and

social identity, attachment, social competence, and emotional competence. Self-concept and

social identity include the three constructs of self-esteem, self-confidence, and social identity.

Within these constructs, the children will show progress in development when they show likes
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and dislikes that are culturally appropriate, show delight in their abilities, show more awareness

in their abilities and perform tasks requested of them and they may initiate tasks on their own.

Children will show a preference for their family members and primary caregivers and develop

to point out or comment on differences in gender and physical characteristics using social labels

(Wheatley, Cantor & Carver, 2014). The next strand is attachment. Attachment includes the two

constructs of relationships with primary caregivers and relationships with less familiar adults.

The children will rely on trusted adults to feel secure while developing to eventually imitate and

attempt to please familiar adults. Toddlers will show strong preference for familiar adults and

may demonstrate fear or rejection which will develop into the children (dependent on

experience) showing more interest in unfamiliar adults (Wheatley, Cantor & Carver, 2014). The

social competence strand includes the constructs of relationships and social skills with peers,

recognition of others’ feelings, and behavior regulation. Through this strand and each

construct, the children will show interest, and eventually play alongside children until they

engage in momentary interactions with other children and develop to begin playing

cooperatively. The children will show awareness of others' emotions and may show interest

and try to comfort them. The children will need adult support to regulate physical expressions

of emotions and with guidance, the children will demonstrate that they can use some

classroom materials appropriately (Wheatley, Cantor & Carver, 2014). The last strand of social

and emotional development is emotional competence. Emotional competence is linked to the

constructs of emotional expression and emotional regulation. Within these constructs, children

will express their feelings strongly and may not be easily distracted from extended episodes.

The children will often use comforting objects or certain behaviors to calm themselves
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(Wheatley, Cantor & Carver, 2014). Social and emotional development is related to play in

many ways. The children will need to interact, play or just be around their peers in order to

build social skills and play is the most important part of social and emotional development.

Creative Expression and Aesthetic Appreciation

Creative expression and aesthetic appreciation is the final domain within the New

Hampshire Early Learning Standards. Toddlers respond emotionally, cognitively and with their

entire bodies to the arts in the natural world. Children create and appreciate beauty in all its

forms. The arts help children to develop their imagination, solve problems and express

powerful emotions (Wheatley, Cantor & Carver, 2014).

Creative expression and aesthetic appreciation follow two strands: exploration and

creation of artistic works and appreciation of and response to the creations of others and the

natural world. Within the exploration and creation of artistic works, the strand covers three

constructs: invention and imagination, curiosity and interest, and confidence. Toddlers use

tools to create sounds and music with different objects and will use tools with more

intentionality. They will explore sounds that different objects from the environment make while

eventually showing an increasing range of curiosity about their environment, object and

people. Children may request adult attention and approval for their artistic, dance and musical

efforts and continue on in their development to select and use artistic tools more purposefully.

The second strand covers the constructs of awareness and attention and sense of joy and

wonder. The children will indicate progress when they show awareness of and preference for

specific sensory experiences, they will begin to focus on details within the indoor and outdoor

environments. Children will respond with delight to some experiences and express joy in
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aesthetic experiences. Play is involved in each of these strands and constructs. Children will play

however they would like with art, dancing and singing which will bring out their exciting

aesthetic experiences.

Conclusion

This paper has described the importance of each of the Reggio Emilia elements within

the Toddler classroom, as well as each of the domains and their strands within the New

Hampshire Early Learning Standards. The five domains that are evident in the toddler classroom

are: physical development and health along with the theorists Emmi Pikler and Magda Gerber’s

theories about the domain, cognitive development and each of the subsections with a

connection to the theorist Jean Piaget, social and emotional development and a connection to

theorist Urie Bronfenbrenner, and lastly, creative expression and aesthetic appreciation. The

strands and constructs along with each of the indicators show what the children are learning,

how they are learning and what they will be working on developmentally within their age

range. Alongside the importance of the New Hampshire Early Learning Standards, the paper has

described the importance of play in learning and development in all that the children do

throughout their day.

References

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practice: Focus on infants and toddlers. Washington, DC. National Association for the

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Gonzalez-Mena, J., Eyer, D.W. (2018). Infants, toddlers and caregivers, (11th ed.). New York, NY.

McGraw-Hill Education.

Mooney, C.G. (2013). Theories of childhood: An introduction to Dewey, Montessori, Erickson,

Piaget & Vygotsky. St. Paul, MN. Redleaf Press.

Swick, K. J., Williams, R. D. (2006). An analysis of Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological perspective for

early childhood educators: Implications for working with families experiencing stress.

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