Nido

Infants

Our infants are in the Nido, meaning "nest" in Italian. Our Nido professionals are provided with professional development opportunities that continuously educate them to know that infants especially require more than feeding, changing diapers, and helping them to go to sleep. These routine activities are part of our everyday schedule, but greater challenges lie in what we do during those daily routines to help the circuits and connections in children’s brains to grow stronger. Early interactions between infants and adults and infants to infants are intended to facilitate appropriate development. We talk to the infants and encourage play throughout each day. Our Reggio Emilia-inspired multi-sensory infant classroom is a friendly and safe atmosphere. It is warm and stimulating. We use mirrors and textures to promote self-knowledge and self-understanding. We explore with light and shadows to develop a sense of movement and recognition of patterns. We are constantly providing interesting play materials and putting some away or trading with another group so “new” play materials can be brought out from time to time for infants to explore and discover. Our Nido professionals also prepare memory books for each child, to trace the experience of learning through the infant years. Our policy is that all teachers create portfolios for each child in the center, and pass that portfolio (memory book) on with the child as they move to an older group.