There are many factors to consider when selecting
materials and child care equipment Australia for young children in an early childhood
environment.
Some of those considerations are the
following:
·
Selection of materials should be based on
developmental practices of supporting social, emotional, physical, and
cognitive growth of children.
·
Select materials and equipment that are high
quality — you will save on replacement and repair costs.
·
Selection of furniture and equipment should
be based on the multiple uses of children on a daily basis.
·
Materials should be open-ended and allow for
a wide range of manipulative and creative uses by children.
·
Cultural representation of the program's
enrollment should be integrated throughout the classroom with appropriate
materials and props.
·
Creative and expressive materials that
stimulate thinking, problem solving, and emergent literacy should be selected
for all play areas in the classroom.
·
Purchase the following for each child:
cot/crib, chair, and cubby for personal belongings.
Keep in mind that these are the important
things need in a child care equipment Australia:
Reading
Materials
Provide board books and bathtub books for toddlers to
explore on their own. Offer comfortable places to sit, such as beanbags, in the
library area. This is also a good place to put stuffed animals and a few sturdy
pillows.
Dramatic
Skills
Toddlers enjoy imitating adult behaviors. Dramatic play
equipment should be basic and include pretend telephones, dishes, sturdy baby
dolls, simple dress up clothes that toddlers can put on and off by themselves,
and play food.
Manipulatives
A large part of a toddler's day includes filling and
dumping and transporting toys. For this reason, fine motor manipulatives should
be put in baskets or easily transportable buckets. Large Duplo blocks, stacking
rings, and three-piece knob puzzles are perfect for this age.
Building
Blocks
A simple block center should contain soft foam blocks,
large cars and trucks, plastic animals and people. Heavy unit blocks are not
appropriate for toddlers yet because of their weight and size, but large foam
blocks or cardboard blocks are perfect for this age group.
For Sensory
Development
Sensory play is extremely important for toddlers.
Toddlers in the sensorimotor stage of development learn by touching, tasting,
and smelling. A sensory table, which can be easily cleaned and filled with
things such as sand, rice, or water, is appropriate for a toddler classroom if
it can be closely monitored. Teachers can also make sensory buckets. Some ideas
for sensory buckets include soft scarves, material scraps in a variety of
textures such as fake fur, leather, cotton, and corduroy. Sensory buckets can
also contain simple musical instruments such as bells and cymbals.
For Gross
Motor Development
Toddlers need plenty of room to push, pull, ride and run.
Child-sized shopping carts, ride on toys without pedals, and other push toys
are all important items to include in your toddler environment.
Play gives children the opportunity to develop physical
competence and enjoyment of the outdoors, understand and make sense of their
world, interact with others, express and control emotions, develop their
symbolic and problem-solving abilities and practice emergent skills. Without
proper child care equipment, the children may not maximize their learning
potentials.
