Our Infant Day Care Provides A Lot Of One-On-One Time

We have a low student-to-teacher ratio, meaning that your child will have quite a bit of one-on-one time.  Our teachers have many years of experience and they love their jobs.  Your child will learn and grow by hearing stories and songs from the teachers, helping to build language skills.  Your child will also develop motor skills by moving around the center, holding on to things, and grabbing others.  He or she will also develop social skills by learning in a group of children the same age.

Your Child Will Be Safe And Secure In Our Infant Day Care

Our infant day care provides care to children from 6 weeks old to 18 months.   We will give your child the care he or she needs so your child feels safe and secure every day.  We invite you to take a virtual tour of our facility so you can get a feel for the environment that your infant will be in.   Please contact us for any questions or to set up an appointment.

What Are The Good Daycare Centers In My Area?

We are happy to say that Building Blocks Early Learning Center is the best center in the area. We have two locations and both have teachers with years of experience in education and child care.  Many parents have given rave reviews and referred us to friends and family, stating that, “Building Blocks is one of the best daycare centers in my area!”

How Will I Choose Between Daycare Centers In My Area?

Choosing a daycare is a difficult decision. That’s why we recommend scheduling a visit so you can see for yourself the great environment that we have for children.  You can join the many happy families here at Building Blocks.

How Can I Choose Between Daycares In My Area?

A good daycare is difficult to find. You trust your child to someone else’s care every day so it’s important to place them at a great learning center.  That is why we here at Building Blocks Early Learning Center take pride in our teachers and their years of experience. Our teachers have educational degrees and the tools necessary to ensure that your child is safe and secure in a great learning environment.

What Should I Look For In Daycares In My Area?

You want your child to learn important skills and know that he or she is getting the safe and nurturing care in an environment full of professionals.  Building Blocks puts your child with other children in his or her age group, helping them to learn social skills by interacting with each other.  We also can provide one-on-one attention because we have a lower teacher-student ratio, so you won’t have to worry about your child not getting the special attention that he or she deserves.  We welcome you to schedule an appointment with us so you can ask us yourself, “Why should I choose Building Blocks from all of the daycares in my area?”

Our Teachers Have Experience In Infant Daycare

Our teachers have years of experience in education and childcare, so they know exactly what your child needs to learn and grow.  Your child will be safe and secure in our infant daycare with children in his or her own age group.  Children learn social skills from being around others their age, and also from the quality one-on-one time are teachers are able to provide.

Contact Us To Learn More About Our Infant Daycare

We would love getting to know you and your child.  If you have any questions, you can take the virtual tour on the website, or you can call to schedule an appointment. That way, you can see for yourself the type of environment that we can offer your child.

Our Day Care In Stamford CT Can Provide One-On-One Attention

Here at Building Blocks, we pride ourselves onin the fact that our teachers have years of experience and degrees in early childhood education.  Because of the lower child-per-teacher ratio, your child will have more one-on-one time with his teacher to help instill confidence in him so he can grow and learn at an accelerated pace. at his best.

Come Visit Our Stamford CT Day Care

You can take a virtual tour of our daycare in Stamford CT, or you can schedule an appointment to come and meet with us. We hope you come an You can see the facility where your child will play and have fun every day, and you can meet the teachers who will engage him and help him learn to the best of his ability.

Our new Wilton daycare, located at 59 Danbury Road, is set to welcome children through our doors on Monday, March 5th. To begin, we are licensed for 50 children and plan to expand over time.

Once school starts, families interested in enrolling their children in either our infant and toddler programs or our Wilton preschool program are invited to schedule a time to tour the facility. Interested parents may also set up a time to meet with our wonderful Wilton daycare director, Christine Bartell, who previously worked at our Stamford daycare as Assistant Director.

The Wilton daycare hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 7:30am-6pm. The new Wilton daycare will offer early drop off at 7am for those who need to get to work a little earlier. If you’re interested in enrolling your child at our new day care in Wilton CT, there’s still space available! Contact us today at (203) 517-0168.

We are so excited about this new chapter for our CT early learning center, and we hope you are too!

The end of 2011 saw very unfortunate circumstances involving the rare but dangerous bacteria known as Cronobacter sakazakii causing infections among infants in the US. These occurrences prompted several retailers to recall a few brands of formula, though it wasn’t determined that the formulas were the cause of the bacteria.

According to foodsafety.gov, those most at risk of contracting foodborne illnesses are babies and younger kids, women who are pregnant, those with illnesses affecting their immune systems and seniors.

Powdered Baby Formula: What Do I Need to Know?

The formulas recalled by major retailers after the outbreak of Cronobacter were powdered formulas, prompting many parents to question whether this type of formula is safe for their babies. Unfortunately, based on information obtained from cdc.gov, it is possible for these formulas to become contaminated with germ-causing bacteria while being manufactured; while safety measures are taken in the manufacturing plants, it is nearly impossible to keep all germs at bay. It is also possible for the powdered formula to become tainted after it is brought into the home and opened. One of the major risk factors of powdered baby formula is that it’s not sterile.

There are, however, a few options for parents who wish to continue feeding their infant’s formula while also protecting them from possible illness.

Protecting Your Infant: Formula Safety Measures

If your baby is fed formula, you have the option of switching to liquid formula which, unlike powdered formula, is sterile.

If liquid formula is not an option, you can continue to feed your child the powdered form and follow a few basic safety measures, as outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Be sure to pass these measures along to your CT infant child care center as well.

• Keep hands sanitized prior to preparing the meal (or any meal for that matter!)
• Clean baby’s bottles with hot water and soap
• Keep formula containers closed and make sure lids and spoons are clean (when putting lids or scoops down, make sure they are on a sterile surface)
• Use formula immediately after preparing and throw away what your baby doesn’t finish (or store in refrigerator for less than 24 hours)

If your infant is fed while at their CT daycare center, be sure to supply the CT infant child care center staff with an unopened container of formula as well as a sterilized bottle from home. Be sure to take this bottle home each day and return a clean bottle to your CT daycare center at your next visit.

Staying Informed: Helpful Resources

For information on best food safety practices and the latest news and guidelines, bookmark these helpful resources.

• Foodsafety.gov
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

At our Stamford daycare, we understand that many parents have a lot of questions regarding naps, so we thought we would post some helpful responses on the topic.

How much sleep should my child be getting?

On average, your young child should be getting 12 hours of sleep per day. This doesn’t have to come all at once. For example, if your child sleeps 10 hours per night, they should take either a 2 hour nap during the day or two 1 hour naps. As your child gets into their grade school years and beyond, they won’t require quite as much sleep, but for children between the ages of 2-4, they should be averaging about 12 hours. To help determine the appropriate amount of sleep for your child, please visit the sleep chart at babycenter.com.

What should I do if my child won’t nap?

Now those of you with 3 & 4 year olds may have noticed that as your child has gotten older, they have begun to fight nap time. And why wouldn’t they? Your little one is so inquisitive about the world around them that they don’t want to miss a minute of it! If you’re encountering difficulty getting your child to take a nap, try having a regularly scheduled “quiet time.” Your child can look at books or color quietly. This won’t rejuvenate them in the same way that a nap would, but it does help to take some time out and relax. And who knows? Your child may not think that they are tired, but once they slow down and rest for a minute, don’t be surprised if they end up drifting off to sleep after all.

What time of day should my child be napping?

Often times you’ll notice that if a child’s regularly scheduled nap is off by even a half an hour, they’ll quickly turn into pumpkins! Children value routine, particularly when it comes to something so vital as sleep. If your child attends a CT early learning center such as our Stamford daycare or soon our new Wilton daycare, Connecticut state requirements indicate that if your child is in attendance for at least 5 hours the CT early learning center is required to provide the child with a nap. Talk with your CT early learning center to find out what time your child gets their nap while they are there, and try to stick to this same timeframe when your child is home with you on the weekends and holidays.

Remember, all children are special and unique – this is the case when it comes to their sleep patterns, too. If you’re child’s sleep requirements are not exactly the same as other children at their CT early learning center, this is not necessarily something to be alarmed about. If you have more questions about healthy sleeping patterns for your child, schedule an appointment with their pediatrician.

At both our Stamford daycare and our soon-to-open Wilton daycare, we offer a program called Generation Healthy which teaches your young ones proper fitness and healthy eating & hygiene habits. The foundation for a healthy lifestyle is being built at their early childhood learning center in CT, but here are a few ways to reinforce these CT early learning programs at home to get everyone you love involved!

Family Game Night
While video games are not always the best educational tool for young children, the variety of sports and fitness games offered on the motion detecting gaming systems such as the Wii and Xbox Kinect provide a super fun and very exciting way to get every member of your family moving. Mondays may be bowling night while Wednesdays are volleyball and Fridays are tennis. Even the games centered on improving your dance swag can get you working up a sweat while busting a move. The best part is that these games are not too challenging for little ones yet still provide a great work out for the adults. It’s family game night taken to a whole new level!

After Dinner Stroll
You may not think that a simple walk after dinner can do that much to strengthen your fitness regime, but it really can, and it also promotes full body wellness.

Here are just a few benefits of regular post-dinner walks:

• Aids in digestion
• Reduces the risk of diabetes
• Lowers blood pressure

In addition to the health benefits mentioned above, a nice family stroll is also quality time spent with your loved ones. You can discuss how everybody’s day was, ask your child what they did at their early childhood learning center in CT, plan fun activities for the weekend and basically just take some time out of your hectic schedule to do something relaxing together as a family.

Fast, Healthy Meals
A lot of people are under the impression that healthy meals take longer and are more involved. Additionally, most parents believe that getting their children to eat healthy meals will be a struggle. Believe it or not, there IS such a thing as fast, nutritious meals that taste good and are kid-friendly!

If you don’t believe me – sometimes you just have to try it first hand – here are a few excellent resources that can help you plan quick, healthy meals that the whole family will enjoy.

• Meal Makeover Moms
• Eating Well
• The American Heart Association
• Healthy Child, Healthy World

Continue the healthy eating habits by packing nutritious lunches for your child to take with them to their early childhood learning center in CT. While you’re at it, pack yourself a healthy lunch to take to work!

If you have other recipes or fun fitness activities that have worked with your family, please share them in the comments!

As many of our CT early learning center parents with 2 and 3 year olds are aware, your tiny one’s tantrums usually begin in the toddler stage. Often times, aggressive behaviors continue among preschool aged tots and can take a slightly different tone than when they were toddlers. These behaviors may be frustrating for parents and CT early learning center caregivers, but most of the time they are nothing to be alarmed about. That being said, however, there are a few ways to tackle these issues to help to minimize your child’s aggressive behaviors and teach them healthy problem solving skills that will aid them as they continue to grow and develop, both intellectually and emotionally.

Preschool Aggression: Is it Normal?

At this stage in your child’s early development, your preschooler’s aggression may take the form of sharing disputes with other little ones, throwing tantrums and rough housing with other kids. This display of aggressive behavior may be because it is their first time in a CT early learning center environment, and they just aren’t used to being surrounded by so many other children. Usually the biting and hitting that is common among toddlers begins to subside at this age. A lot of the time, this is due to your child’s increased ability to express their feelings using their words. At your CT early learning center, they should regularly be helping your child to learn positive expression, aiding your child in discovering their identity on an interpersonal level.

Here are a few techniques that you can employ to help combat aggressive behaviors among preschoolers.

Practice Problem Solving

Continue to reinforce positive communication when dealing with conflict. Teach your child to use an “I” message. When something or someone has upset them, they can address their unhappiness by filling in this message: “I feel BLANK when you do BLANK. Next time, please BLANK.” You can practice these problem solving skills by playing out different scenarios with your preschooler and asking them to name the emotion that it makes them feel. For example, “Cindy, how would you feel if I took your toy away from you without asking nicely first?” or “How does it make you feel when I make your favorite food for dinner?” You can draw corresponding emoticon faces for each scenario and ask them to point out which face most closely resembles how they would feel. This is a great practice for learning how to connect words with emotions as well as understanding facial expressions. If you find that this is something you would like your child to work on outside of home as well, share the activities that have been effective with your CT early learning center.

Avoid Aggressive TV Programs

There are a few decent educational programs on television for children today. A lot of what’s directed at children, however, can be violent and inappropriate. Use the parental controls on your television to set limits to the programs that your child is exposed to. Because you can’t control the advertisements that are played during commercial breaks, you should limit the amount of television your child watches as a whole. Parent-child interaction is always preferable over television, so after watching an educational program, talk about it with your child just as you would discuss a book you just read. If the program involved a conflict among two characters, ask your child how they would have felt and reacted in the same situation.

Make Sure All Caregivers are on the Same Page

All children appreciate consistency. Your little ones will have an easier time learning the rules if everybody who takes care of them is on the same page regarding how to handle these situations and sticks to the plan each and every time. There are quite a few effective strategies for handling discipline situations – together as a family and with your CT early learning center, you can choose a strategy that best fits your parenting style and the needs of your child. One example of an effective strategy is a redirection approach. When a child becomes overwhelmed in a particular situation, our CT early learning center caregivers will carefully shift the child’s focus from the current situation to a different activity, allowing them time to cool down.

There are certainly further tips and strategies for combatting aggressive behaviors among toddlers and preschoolers. If you have questions or concerns, discuss them with your child’s CT early learning center.