Northern Illinois University

Child Development Lab

Philosophy

Our program follows a developmentally appropriate philosophy to:

  • Provide a supportive and nurturant environment
  • Enhance positive self-feeling in children by providing a balance of challenging and success-oriented materials
  • Develop children's attention spans while maintaining flexible daily scheduling
  • Facilitate problem solving through open-ended activities, which allow the child to creatively formulate his/her own ideas and explanations
  • Recognize the value of and foster the growth of the individual
  • Provide children with choices in order to develop autonomy and a sense of initiative