Guide
Meeting Infants’ and Toddlers’ Needs: Developmentally Appropriate Materials
Young Infant
What Children Do
- Roll
- Explore people
- Listen, explore sounds
- Look, explore color and form
- Touch, explore texture and form
- Smell
- Explore water
- Mouth, ingest
- Reach, hold, drop
- Kick
What Children Need
(Bronson, 1997)
Materials that:
- Provide a range of interesting things to see, hear and touch
- 支持infant’s developing self-awareness
- Allow infant to produce effects
- Are safe
Appropriate Materials
(Bronson, 1997)
- Mirrors
- Dolls
- Stuffed animals
- Puppets
- Mobiles (out of reach)
- Grasping toys
- Musical instruments (rattles, wrist and ankle bells)
- Large-movement materials (balls, play gyms)
Mobile Infant
What Children Do
- Sit alone
- Crawl, creep
- Crawl over, under, through
- Pull up and stand
- Pincer grasp
- Stack objects
- Bang, twist, squeeze, drop, shake and drag objects
- Kick and splash
- Search for hidden object
- Play peekaboo
- Babble
- Open, shut, push, pull
What Children Need
(Bronson, 1997)
Materials that:
- Provide a range of interesting things to explore and manipulate
- Allow infant to produce interesting effects
- Reward early attempts at mastery
- 支持development of perceptual, fine-motor and gross-motor skills
- 支持developing self-awareness, social awareness, and social responsiveness
- Are safe and within a safe play environment
Appropriate Materials
(Bronson, 1997)
- Mirrors
- Dolls, stuffed toys
- Puppets
- Transportation toys (i.e., one-piece vehicles that can be pushed)
- Grasping toys
- Sand and water play materials
- Construction materials (lightweight, stackable, large)
- Puzzles (simple, two or three pieces, used as grasping toys)
- Skill-development materials like pop-up boxes, texture pads, nesting cups, containers to empty/refill
- Books
- Arts and crafts material (large crayons, paper taped to surface)
- Musical instruments (rattles, shakers, banging materials)
- Push and pull toys
- Balls and sports equipment
- Outdoor and gym equipment (swings, low soft climbing equipment)
Young Toddler
What Children Do
- Explore with each sense
- Watch
- Look for
- Inspect
- Go in and out
- Walk up and down
- Go over, under, around
- Climb in, up, over, on top
- Slide
- Swing and hang
- Jump off and tumble
- Take apart and put together
- Stack, pile, knock over
- Collect, gather
- Fill, dump
- Sort, match
- Carry
- Put in, take out
- Hide, discover
- Imitate adult behavior
- Engage in doll play
- Mix, separate
- Pour, sift
- Splash
- Paint, smear
- Draw
- Explore each other
- Carry materials from place to place
- Like multiple small objects
- Enjoy sand and water
- Imitate
- Show affection
- Point to objects
- Play simple games like tag
What Children Need
(Bronson, 1997)
Materials that:
- Expanding fine- and gross-motor capacities
- Increased interest in active exploration and mastery
- Interest in order and predicting events
- Desire for independence
- Growing awareness and imitation of others
- Beginning pretend play
Appropriate Materials
(Bronson, 1997)
- Mirrors
- Dolls and accessories like blankets and bottles
- Role-play materials (play phone, housekeeping toys)
- Puppets
- Stuffed toys
- 玩scenes (small people, animals, barns, cars)
- Transportation toys (simple toy cars, trains)
- Grasping toys
- Sand and water materials (funnels, colanders, tools)
- Construction materials (unit blocks, plastic bricks)
- Puzzles (three to five pieces)
- Dressing, lacing, stringing materials
- Skill-development materials (pop-up boxes, nesting cups, stacking materials, lock boxes, pegboards)
- Books
- Arts and craft materials
- Musical instruments (cymbals, drums)
- Audiovisual materials (music to dance to)
- Push and pull toys (walkers, doll carriages)
- Balls
- Ride-on equipment
- Outdoor and gym equipment (low, soft climbing equipment, tunnels, swings, stairs)