The Heart of Play

Goal #1

As this is my first time working with infants, I want to improve my understanding of infant developmental milestones and behaviours through intentional observations during daily routines. I want to document a focused observation weekly and engage in reflective discussions with my supervising educator. I will use this learning to plan and implement developmentally responsive interactions, like sensory play and tummy-time engagement, and track how these practices support each infant’s emerging skills. Progress will be reviewed and discussed with my mentors to ensure my growing knowledge is directly informing and improving my practice with infants.

Reflection:

          Working with infants has been a learning curve for me. I was not prepared for but surprised by the amount of repetitive play infants engage in. One of the preferred activities was playing with balls, whether it be pulling them off the wall, pushing them down ball track, or kicking it or throwing it around. Seeing their interest in playing with balls repeatedly, elicited discussion with my cooperating educator to plan how we can build on this schema further. We introduced other ball based toys that piqued their interest in action/re-action play and built their understanding of movement.          

Goal #2

Over the next three months, I will support the children in the infant room with developing their language skills by employing the serve and response approach. When greeting them at drop-off time, engaging in play, during feeding time, and when seeing them off, I will ensure to make eye contact and engage in relevant conversations to establish responsive language practice. Progress can be observed through gauging responsive behaviour of changing facial expressions, cooing, babbling and echoing words.

Reflection:

          I actively engaged in responsive language with infants at every opportunity. I would greet them with exaggerated facial expressions, using their names, making eye contact and asking about their wellness. I would engage in relevant conversations during play, snack time, while conducting activities, and at pick-up times as well. I would take a pause, as one would engaging in conversations, allowing time for reactions or responses. The infants would often imitate me, repeating things like “uh-oh” or “wow”, or respond with facial expressions such as smiling, laughing or hand movements, showing pleasure and engagement.

Goal #3

During my tenure at placement this term, I will strengthen my self-regulation skills in order to more effectively co-regulate with the children I work with. I hope to achieve this by intentionally practicing calming techniques, such as paced breathing, grounding strategies, and brief reflective pauses, during daily routines. I will implement these strategies as needed throughout the day, document them in weekly reflections and seek feedback from my supervising educator. My progress will be measured through increased consistency in staying calm during challenging moments and my ability to model steady, responsive regulation that supports children’s emotional safety and well-being.

Reflection:
          I did not really get a chance to work on this goal on a personal level. I think the regulation techniques set in the goal were more helpful in helping the infants regulate. Those infants who exhibited separation anxiety needed more affection and physical comfort. Taking them from the parent, offering them comfort, a walk around the room, and trying to distract them with something that they would enjoy helped to calm them. Sometimes offering them a drink of water or snack, knowing that perhaps mornings were rushed and they did not have a chance to eat breakfast, helped to better their mood. Keeping their personalities in mind, I often had to play referee during free play time, making sure the children did not get physical with each other. Often, I would make sure that there were multiple means to distract the children, especially when they tussled over the same toy.