Nurturing Growth & Development Growing Up on Our Block curriculum begins at birth.

The earliest learners are the youngest infants. At birth, babies begin to learn to trust. This builds a foundation for them to learn other important skills. Infants need to know someone really cares about them. They will grasp this concept through the tone of voice and gentle touch a caregiver uses. Once they know that someone really cares about them, they will discover that they are an important but separate individual.

Growing Room Tallahassee offers individualized infant care through our Primary Caregiver Program. Each baby has a primary caregiver who is responsible for consistently providing care and working with infants and parents as they progress through infancy. The caregiver provides exciting activities appropriate for each child’s development.

We use the Active Learning for Infants curriculum in all of our infant classrooms. This program helps infants grow and develop throughout the first year of life. Our goal is to provide experiences to assist children in creating a picture of who they are, what they can do, and what they think and feel. We want to show them they are important, unique and competent. We strive to accomplish this through the following key experiences:

Our Approach

Language Development

  • Listening and Talking
  • Books and Pictures
  • Conversations and Sounds

Physical Development

  • Large Muscles: rolling over, sitting, crawling, standing, and walking
  • Small Muscles: grasping, picking up, dropping, and changing hands
  • Conversations and Sounds

Learning from the World Around Them

  • Nature: outdoor play and water play
  • Numbers
  • Five senses
  • Shapes, Sizes, and Colors
  • Tasting foods
  • Developing a sense of self: mirror play

Caregivers work with parents and infants to build partnerships through personal care plans, daily conversations about activities and foods babies enjoy, a sense of home being brought into the classroom (family pictures, etc.) and parents visiting and spending time in the classroom. These partnerships, along with consistent, individualized care are key to creating an environment of infants’ trust and development.

4