Books and Activities for Infants/Toddlers

Books for Infants/Toddlers:

1. "Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes" by Mem Fox

2. "Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What do you see?" by Bill Martin Jr.

3. "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle 

I chose these books because it is important to chose books that have clear, colorful illustrations of familiar objects and events for the infant/toddler age group. These books have a patterned text which are enjoyed by their rhythmic language and becomes memorable to infants/toddlers. These books include simple plots or story lines that kids these ages enjoy. 

Activities for Infants/Toddlers:

1. Crib Toy/Crib Activity: Crib activities typically provide a variety of activities that stimulate visual, tactile, and auditory perception. Crib activity centers are designed to be manipulated safely by infants. When infants are interacting with an activity center, teachers may occasionally mediate infants' interactions. When labeling or talking about an item, a teacher should touch the item in question and check to be sure the child is also focusing on the item, engaging in shared reference. 

2. Balls and push-pull toys: Toys that move when touched or pulled encourage infants to move with or after the toys. These toys also encourage children to use their hands to move the toys. This helps children learn cause-and-effect relations and figure out how to repeat actions to create the same results. Teachers' verbal mapping and affective responses to children's actions stimulate conceptual development and encourage verbal (pre-word) interactions. 

3. Blocks and manipulatives: Blocks and other manipulatives provide unlimited opportunities for symbolic play. A teacher should be available to monitor this area and enhance children's social-verbal relationships through mediation and by participating in child-initiated dialogues. Because toddlers may simply want to explore how blocks are stacked and manipulated, it is important that teachers carefully observe the block play and determine when it is appropriate to engage the child in conversation about his "building" or to mediate his interaction with others. 

4. Book sharing: Book sharing with toddlers can enhance development of each of the aspects of language knowledge: phonological, semantic, syntactic, morphemic, and pragmatic. Two key factors in successfully engaging toddlers in book sharing are selecting appropriate books to share and using specific interaction strategies during book sharing. It is also important to remember that the focus of this activity is on exploring the book rather than reading the text in the book.