Best Infant And Toddler development in Dayton

Infant

The infant program at Inspire Center for Learning introduces children age 6 weeks to 18 months to the world around them.

  • Infants thrive in the context of secure, trusting relationships with their teachers in an environment that is predictable, calm, responsive to their individual rhythms, and stimulating to all the senses.
  • Young infants respond to what they can see, hear, taste, touch and smell, so teachers intentionally plan experiences with grasping and mouthing toys that young infants can shake, drop, mouth, and explore. Cuddly toys help children learn concepts like hard-soft, light-dark, big-little.
  • Mobile infants continue to enjoy toys that they can explore with all their senses and teachers support the rapid development during this phase with balls, toys that can be pulled apart and fit back together, dumped and filled, stacked and knocked down. Large soft blocks, push and pull toys, and activity boxes with knobs, buttons to push, and dials to turn all support optimal small and large muscle development.
  • A language-rich environment with joyful music, singing, rhymes, and book reading supports language, cognitive, and social-emotional development.

Toddler

Toddlers age 18 months to 3 years learn through hands-on activities and collaborative and creative learning experiences.


  • Teachers encourage large muscle development by setting up an obstacle course inside or outside to promote crawling, climbing, and running.
  • Taking turns with classmates to scoop and mix ingredients to make playdough. Squeezing, pulling, pounding, poking, and rolling the playdough develops the strength in little hands that is important for emergent writing skills.
  • Puzzles, matching games, shape sorters, transportation toys, simple props, as well as large and small blocks support cognitive and social-emotional development.
  • A language-rich environment with joyful music, singing, rhymes, and book reading supports language, cognitive, and social-emotional development.

Preschool

Preschoolers ages 3 years to Kindergarten entry develop the academic and social-emotional foundational skills needed to be successful in school and life.

  • Use a recipe to make 5-layer dip to learn how to compare and measure ingredients.
  • Stretch rubber bands over pegs in a geoboard to make a variety of shapes and describe spatial relationships.
  • Tie-dye paper towels by squeezing colored water up into an eye-dropper and releasing it onto the paper towel to develop fine-motor strength and coordination.
  • Playing outside and making their bodies into different shapes and sizes to demonstrate balancing skills and explore dance and movement concepts.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the alphabet and emergent writing skills by writing and drawing with their fingers in shaving cream.

After
School

Children ages 5 years to 12 years received individualized homework assistance and participate in activities designed to support their character development as an important member of a school community.

  • Participate in outdoor and indoor team games and challenges to build a respectful and fun classroom community.
  • Students create a timeline of important events that they remember in their lives and present it to the group to develop historical thinking skills and an awareness of their heritage.
  • Students brainstorm a list of rules for their classroom, discuss the fairness of each rule, and the consequences for not following the rule to develop civic responsibility as a valuable community member.
  • Complete homework with teacher and peer assistance.
  • Participate in a variety of thoughtfully-rotated board and card games to develop mathematics, literacy, and speaking and listening skills