Emotional Development

• Helping children develop self-confidence.
• Developing independence and self-control.
• Helping the children to be in touch with their feelings and to express their feelings in appropriate ways.
• Developing problem solving skills.  The children learn that conflict is okay and that they need to learn to communicate and solve problems.  Ultimately, learning to handle problems builds self-esteem and develops important life skills.
• Fostering a positive attitude and outlook on life.

Language Development

• Encouraging children to share and talk about their ideas, thoughts, and work.
• Promoting literacy learning and increasing vocabulary by reading stories aloud, singing songs, nurse rhymes, finger plays, puppets and games.  Sharing literacy forms a basis for children's use and appreciation of language.  Children begin to associate printed words with action and dialogue, interpret pictures, make predictions, repeat familiar passages and enjoy the intimacy of warmth from the shared experience of listening, reading and responding.
• Developing skills to become more attentive listeners and to follow simple directions.
• Creating a classroom environment rich in print.
• Allowing children to express themselves through various media (paper, crayons, paint, markers, dough) and experiment with writing (at this age, usually scribble and pre-writing).  Writing and art blend naturally to help children reconstruct and communicate ideas.  Since pictures tell stories, ideas are expresses in art, as well as in writing, and in the combination of the two.

Motor Development

• Fine motor skills (small muscle coordination, control and strength) are developed through manipulative toys, painting, pasting, tracing, coloring, cutting, and by experimenting with dough.  
• Large motor skills are developed through outdoor play, tumbling, walking, jumping, hopping, exercising, throwing and catching, parachute play, and group games.
• Rhythmic movement skills are developed through dancing, pantomime, marching, clapping, repetitions and patterns, and songs. 

Intellectual Development    

• Integrated learning through projects and thematic units which expand children's knowledge and skills in various areas.  children learn what is meaningful to them.  our theme units revolve around the experiences, knowledge, skills, needs, and interests of our children. 
• Learning is focused through hands-on discovery activities, group discussions, stories, and flannel board aids.
• Learning through games such as sequencing, memory (concentration), matching lotto.
• Identifying colors, shapes, beginning number concepts, and beginning letter recognition and sound concepts through an integrated approach. 

Preparation for Kindergarten

•  Little Bunch is a place of social and joyful learning in and for itself.  additionally, it helps ready our children for kindergarten by:
  • Helping build self-esteem and confidence.
  • Helping the child become more comfortable in a group situation. 
  • Developing good listening skills and the ability to follow simple directions. 
  • Developing basic concept and problem solving skills. 
  • Help the child separate comfortably from parents.                  
  • Establishing friendships with other children who will be in kindergarten with them.

In short...
Naples Little Bunch makes a Real Difference!