Elements and Performance Criteria
- Create opportunities for infants and toddlers to develop a wide range of aquatic skills
- Provide opportunities for infants and toddlers to interact and play within the aquatic environment
- Select and make available aquatic equipment and toys which will develop a wide range of developmentally appropriate skills
- Create appropriate opportunities to participant's stage of development and capabilities
- Identify factors affecting the provision of an appropriate learning environment
- Provide aquatic experiences for infants' and toddlers' motor development
- Provide aquatic experiences to foster motor development
- Select aquatic experiences which encourage infants and toddlers to practise both fine and gross motor skills
- Select aquatic experiences that are developmentally relevant
- Arrange aquatic equipment and toys to provide challenge, choice and encourage independence
- Provide aquatic experiences for infants' and toddlers' cognitive development
- Provide opportunities and resources which are varied and relevant to the infants' and toddlers' stage of cognitive development
- Provide challenges to the infants and toddlers to extend their thinking
- Provide opportunities to make limited choices and see/experience the consequences of choices
- Provide infants and toddlers with experiences to develop their attention span
- Introduce new ideas/activities that may build on existing knowledge, skills and interests
- Develop infants' and toddlers' abilities to observe what is happening around them by questioning and non-verbal communication
- Facilitate infants' and toddlers' personal development
- Identify infants' and toddlers' temperament and personality characteristics
- Instructor encourages caregivers to become actively involved in introducing new aquatic experiences to infants and toddlers
- Provide opportunities for infants and toddlers to separate from caregivers
- Give infants and toddlers positive guidance towards socially acceptable behaviour