Amherst Community Church Child Care Center

Two-Year Olds

Our Two-Year Old Room has a teacher-to-child ratio of 1 to 4. The two-year olds are still toddlers, but they have gained some self control and independence. They typically have a firm understanding that words have meaning for items, actions, and emotions. They have begun to understand cause and effect, but still struggle to understand personal space and challenge this often.

Two-year olds are beginning to understand routines and transitions, yet still need their teachers to give them direction. Our children are beginning to feel comfortable playing with friends, waiting turns, and not always being the center of attention. The teachers still need to be on the floor interacting with the children, but can give the children some space to work out situations on their own. Our teachers look at each child individually, and apply that same individualistic approach to each situation that is presented. The teachers learn the temperaments of the children as well as what kind of learning style they prefer.

Social development is the primary skill to be mastered in the two year old classroom. The children are still learning social skills such as taking turns, using words to get their desires and needs across, the idea of personal space, and employing some self control. ACCCCC's teachers know that they need to model all of these skills, give direction to the children, and most importantly, encourage them to use their words, from simple words such as "mine," "no," "please," and so on, to emotional words such as "sad," "happy," "excited," and "angry."

The classroom has a schedule and routines for the day. This is kept as consistent as possible so that the children know what and when to expect things to happen in their day. Play becomes less parallel, and interactions begin to take place with increasing frequency. It is a joy to watch them bloom!

Emotional development is strongly tied into the social development. The teachers help the children understand their feelings and the feelings of others. The children will begin to understand that their actions affect others (taking a toy away from my friend makes him sad, but I can make him feel better by giving it back or giving a hug). The children are gaining self-control.

Physical development is becoming mastered. The two-year olds have muscle control and want to challenge their muscles. This means that the children will climb higher than ever before, run faster, jump up and down stairs, and, in general, test their strength. Teachers will challenge the children to gain control by encouraging physical challenges such as longer walks in the neighborhood, kicking balls, climbing ladders to the slide, and walking up and down the steps by placing one foot per step. The two-year olds also spend plenty of time in the Small Muscle Room, working on developing these physical skills through play.

Fine motor skills are emerging. We encourage them by giving the children opportunities to paint with smaller brushes, use utensils at meal times, and encouraging the use of a writing grip with crayons.

Cognitive skills are growing strong with the two-year olds. They pick up on things so quickly that it can make your head spin! The children are curious and want an explanation for everything. They want to share everything that they have learned. The children question everything and demand answers. The teachers develop activities to cover a wide variety of concepts from numbers, shapes, colors, and sounds. The teachers expose the children to many areas from animals, insects, and community helpers to opposites and real versus make-believe.

Some children will master some of these areas, and others will benefit from the exposure to them. In the two-year old room, we help the children gain a firm understanding of the numbers 1-5, colors, and basic shapes such as circle, square, and triangle. The teachers expose all of these areas and concepts through hands-on activities, play, stories, and songs.

Amherst Community Church Child Care Center
77 Washington Highway, Amherst, New York 14226

Telephone: 716.834.9701 ~ Email: info@accccc.org