At Big and Tiny, we prioritize nurturing the social, developmental, and cognitive growth of your baby. Infants begin to develop essential interpersonal skills, including listening, sharing, and expressing emotions—building a strong foundation for healthier social interactions in the years to come. Through a variety of play-based activities and hands-on exploration, we offer countless opportunities for children to engage with and deepen their understanding of new concepts.
Program Objectives
Exploring the world through our senses
We put love, safety, and communication at the core of our infant program. At Big and Tiny, infants may nap and feed at any time. We have dedicated cribs with organic cotton sheets to maximize their comfort and our educators work closely with parents to ensure that every infant’s personal schedule and preferences are being accounted for. Parents are sent constant updates, photos, and daily reports on their feeding, napping, and classroom activities.
Our Infant Program focuses and on the following objectives:
In this critical stage in your infant’s development, our teachers provide a safe environment where children respond to, adapt to, and learn about their surroundings using all of their senses. Through a myriad of activities, children stay engaged all day while learning how to make associations between sounds and sights and develop an awareness of themselves and their environment.
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Awareness of themselves
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Understanding object permanence
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Exploring textures and sounds
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Color and shape recognition
Cognitive Development
Language & Communication
Infants at Big and Tiny are exposed to a variety of auditory cues to help them make sense of sounds and speech patterns. Teachers are constantly communicating with your child and keep them engaged in activities to help them express and understand both speech and nonverbal body language.
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Making associations between words and colors
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Learning words in sign language and words
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Responding to and imitating sounds
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Identifying facial expressions and sounds
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Showing comprehension of simple questions
Social & Emotional
Growth
With teachers coming from diverse backgrounds, we create a safe and secure environment for your infant where your child will see many different, yet consistent and familiar faces. By providing warm, nurturing, and personalized care, your infant engages in activities that encourage cooperation and imaginative play.
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Learning how to interact with familiar adults
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Developing familiarity with infants and teachers
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Imitating social gestures and body language
Cognitive Development
Fine & Gross Motor
Skill Development
We bring your child closer to nature by providing wooden toys and play structures that assist your infant's physical development. Our teachers use these sustainably-sourced materials to improve the coordination, balance, and accuracy of your child. At Big and Tiny, your infant receives encouragement and positive reinforcement every step of the way.
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Learning to support themselves
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Developing leg muscles
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Learning to feed themselves
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Engaging in sensory play
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Exploring the outdoors
A day in the Infant Room
Developing fundamental life skills
Arrival
When families first arrive at Big and Tiny, they store all their belongings (diapers, milk, clothes) and say goodbye to their little ones for the day. Practicing this transition from home to school everyday helps your little one discover the excitement of healthy independence.
Circle Time
Circle time allows children to connect with each other and their teachers. Circle time encourages listening, talking, and sharing among the children and modeling opportunities for the teacher. It also encourages the development of social skills and enhances their language and gross motor skills while they move along their favorite rhythms and songs.
Music & Sensory Art
Art is one of the many ways children express themselves and strengthen skills like problem-solving and critical thinking. Every day children experiment with different safe materials such as foam, finger paint, water, . We provide open-ended art activities that help children explore and use their creativity while developing fine and gross motor skills.
Music and movement classes are offered weekly for children to develop forging connections between their brain and their mind, body, and emotions and allows them to learn sounds and meaning of words.
Life Skills
Many practical life activities are incorporated throughout the day to allow the children to understand the world around them. They learn a routine and procedure that is consistent and can be followed at home, too.
Early Literacy
Interactive story time takes place at different times of the day. These books are selected according to the topics that the children are working on. Children will become familiar with books and rhymes, repeating words and phrases from different stories, helping them grow their vocabulary and sentences. Infants visit the local library regularly where they listen to new adventures.
Gross Motor
Children develop large motor functions through group games, gym activities, outdoor play and movement.
Nature & Neighborhood Rides
Children engage in outdoor activities on a daily basis. Community stroller rides around the neighborhood and Rockefeller Park provide students an opportunity to connect with nature in a deeper level and learn more about their surroundings.
Lunch & Snack
We provide healthy and organic transition meals and snacks courtesy of Little Spoon.
Nap and Rest
Learning and playing can be exhausting! Big and Tiny knows how important sleeping is for an infant's growth, and development. Individual cots with organic cotton sheets are provided.