Infant Programs in Waterbury, Connecticut
INFANTS (BIRTH-12 MONTHS)
From birth, infants are marvelous learners and immediately investigate the sights, sounds and flavors of the world. Our teachers have been trained to respond quickly and appropriately to your baby’s needs and provide stimulating activities to spur their development. Each activity assists your child in achieving developmental milestones while having fun at the same time.
MiniVentures knows the importance of nurturing when it comes to babies. Providing plenty of hugs, love, and personal attention is something we include throughout our Infant-Toddler Program. Your baby will enjoy singing, giggling, reading, cuddling, and of course, Tummy Time in our safe, secure state-of-the-art facility.
COGNITIVE SKILLS
- Can differentiate responses to familiar and unfamiliar people, events and objects
- Can mirror simple actions
- Can anticipate next steps in simple familiar routines and games
- Can explore real objects, people and actions
- Can actively use body to find out about the world
- Can explore properties of objects
- Can use simple actions to make things happen
- Can examine objects with mouth, hands and tongue
LANGUAGE & LITERACY SKILLS
- Can respond to language and sound
- Can express wants, needs and feelings with intentional sound inflection and gestures
- Can show an interest in books, pictures, songs and rhymes
- Can respond when familiar books are read aloud
- Can vocalize sounds
- Can transfer and manipulate an object with hands
YOUNG EXPLORER READINESS SKILLS
- Can explore the use of a sippy cup
- Can explore soft TLC foods (with parent approval)
- Can crawl
- Can pull to standing with or without help
- Can find a toy that is hidden
- Can respond to his name
YOUNG EXPLORERS (13MONTHS-18 MONTHS)
In our young explorers room, we help them strive for independence. We believe that letting children discover on their own helps build social/emotional skills. This is the prime age for the “no I will do it” phase. We stand close and let the children help themselves. We have a wonderful staff that gives children the support they need to be successful.
When your child first enters the classroom, it will take time to adjust to a more structured schedule. Fortunately, our teachers are well trained in helping each child succeed in the transition. We give you a copy of the schedule so your child can start getting used to the routine.
COGNITIVE SKILLS
- Can mirror and repeat something seen at an earlier time
- Can anticipate the beginning and ending of activities, songs and stories
- Can use one or two simple actions or objects to represent another in pretend play
- Can model (with support) the use of simple strategies to solve problems
- Can pay attention to quantities when interacting with objects
- Can notice changes in quantities of objects
- Can match two objects that are the same
- Can participate in adult-initiated movement patterns
- Can show awareness of the size of objects
- Can explore how things fit and move in space
LANGUAGE & LITERACY SKILLS
- Can show understanding of simple requests and statements
- Can use single words and conventional gestures to communicate with others
- Can participate in basic communication with familiar people
- Can participate in book reading, story-telling and singing
- Can point to familiar pictures in books when labeled by an adult
- Can demonstrate an interest in exploring books
- Can recognize familiar sounds (animal, family, teachers, etc.)
- Can use a full-hand grasp to hold writing tools to make marks or scribbles
TODDLER READINESS SKILLS
- Can feed himself using utensils
- Can drink from a sippy cup
- Can self soothe without using a pacifier
