Description

Nido, which means “nest” in Italian, perfectly describes the environment of our setting for BBI’s youngest age group. Our curriculum for this age grouping, Natural Dialogues, was developed cooperatively by the D.O.C. authors and Bellesini CSC of Trentino, Italy, and is specifically designed for children between the ages of 18 to 36 months. In Natural Dialogues small children are seen as explorers and scientists. The multi-sensory navigations of their environment, the spontaneity of observing, the desire to experience life with and through their body and the pleasure of enjoying human development in a natural way are the focus of this curriculum. An early education center should be a community of practices where children can socially build learning and expertise naturally because the carefully prepared environment by the educators has afforded this. In the educational context, the experiences provided will build reasoning through specific activities designed to provoke thoughtful contemplation by the children. In a social context, the modeling and guiding of the teacher/caregiver and older peers will furnish the children with the examples of accepted practices in their culture.