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Ready, Set, Go!
A Roaring Start To Your Toddler’s
Exciting Learning Adventures
Ready, Set, Go!
A Roaring Start To Your Toddler’s Exciting Learning Adventures ​
Ready, Set, Go!
A Roaring Start To Your Toddler’s
Exciting Learning Adventures

Toddlers | 12 - 24 Months | Serving Albuquerque, Tijeras, & All East Mountain Communities

Early Head Start is available!

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Conscious Discipline® Guides Social-Emotional Development

The turbulent toddler years can be a difficult time for everyone. Your child seeks independence and pushes boundaries, which sometimes ends in tantrums. Teachers guide your child in self-regulation and decision-making, setting the foundation for their social-emotional development.

Your Child’s Safety Is Always Priority # 1

Your Child’s Safety Is Always Priority # 1

Rest easy knowing your child is safe and secure at school. Restricted access controls at the main entrance and classrooms, internal-use-only security cameras, fenced outdoor play areas, and CPR-trained teachers add an extra layer of security.

Low Teacher-Student Ratios For Quality Care & Support Services

In the toddler class, 1 teacher to 4 children is the norm – better than the state standards! If your child needs additional developmental or behavioral support, onsite speech and behavior therapists are available every day to see referred children.

Low Teacher-Student Ratios For Quality Care & Support Services
HighScope® Curriculum Teaches Active Discovery

Play-Based Curriculum Teaches Active Discovery

Play is your child’s work, and in the toddler class, our curriculum emphasizes active learning and discovery. Hands-on activities stimulate curiosity and teach the basics of scientific inquiry, while open-ended play in structured learning areas lets children direct their own learning.

American Sign Language Supports Emerging Communication Skills

Teachers use American Sign Language (not baby sign language) to promote language acquisition and development. ASL, used in conjunction with speech, helps non-verbal children communicate wants and needs and hastens language acquisition.

Classroom Setup Allows For Active Play & Exploration

Classroom Setup Allows For Active Play & Exploration

Your toddler’s large classroom encourages active discovery! Individual learning centers beckon with blocks, manipulatives, books, and dramatic play, while a dedicated gross motor area includes indoor play structures for climbing and exploring.

Outdoor Play Gives Your Child A Daily Dose Of Nature

Toddlers love exploring their own turfed playground area, away from the big kids, where they can toddle, wobble, and walk their way around just-their-size play structures. They also get introduced to veggie gardens, which they tend as they grow.

Onsite Chef Prepares Healthy Breakfast, Lunch, & 2 Snacks

A chef prepares delicious and healthy daily breakfasts, lunches, and snacks in an onsite commercial kitchen. Meals incorporate food the children help grow in the garden and cater to your child’s food allergies, sensitivities, and dietary needs.

ProCare® Connect For Peace Of Mind

You’ll love the ProCare® Connect app, which puts parent-teacher communication at your fingertips! Message and chat with your child’s teachers, view schedules and progress reports, ask questions, and even see photos and videos from your child’s day.

Developmental Milestones For Toddlers

From age 1 to 2, toddlers experience huge development as they learn to recognize the world, and begin exploring it. Their physical, linguistic, cognitive and emotional growth may include these milestones:

Gross Motor Skills

Toddlers develop the strength to: stands and walk without support, run, stoop and squat, jump in place, kick a ball.

Fine Motor Skills

Toddlers work on feeding and undressing themselves, turning pages of books, and scribbling with a crayon.

Language & Communication

From 1 to 2 years, children go from saying single words to connecting simple phrases or sentences. They can understand and follow simple commands like “stop” and “go”, and can point to body parts.

Cognitive

They start to sort objects, work simple puzzles, and recognize similarities and differences.

Social-emotional

They may show anger or frustration, can recognize themselves in a mirror and play alongside other children.

Your Checklist For Choosing Quality Toddler Care In New Mexico

When choosing childcare for your 1-to-2-year-old, look out for these markers of quality:
  • State or national accreditation or quality rating
  • Low child-to-caregiver ratios and constant, caring supervision
  • Teachers or carers with CPR certifications
  • A clean environment that’s specifically equipped for toddlers and their developmental milestones
  • Experienced, nurturing staff who love their work and answer your questions
  • A balance of quiet and active play, social-emotional development, and opportunities for motor skills building
  • A healthy meal plan included in the cost of tuition
  • Daily feedback for parents on their child’s activities, naps, and food

Toddler FAQs

New Mexico Early Learning Academy is open from Monday to Friday, 7:00 am to 6:00 pm at four locations in and around Albuquerque (Central, Eubank, Tijeras, and Edgewood). The toddler program is available at all four locations.
NMELA holds a NECPA National Accreditation. NECPA stands for the National Early Childhood Program Accreditation; it’s a quality assurance system for early childhood programs. We also maintain a 5-STAR rating from New Mexico’s FOCUS Quality Rating System. Star ratings and national accreditations are a great way to ensure high quality when you’re looking for a preschool or childcare.
Learning centers in toddler classrooms help lay a foundation for social skills, cognitive development, and physical skills. Each topic-focused station invites hands-on, playful exploration that builds independence, confidence, and self-regulation by allowing them to make choices and navigate activities at their own pace.
Our teacher-to-child ratios exceed state standards at 1:4 for toddlers (the state requires 1:6). The benefit of low teacher-to-child ratios is more interaction and personalized attention for each child, so they can learn at their own pace and in their preferred style.
A healthy balanced diet is important for healthy growth and development in early learners. NMELA provides nutritious, allergy-conscious breakfasts, lunches, and snacks for our students every day. Meals and snacks are prepared by our chef with fresh ingredients, including veggies from the garden.
We have dual-restricted entrances and secure external fences to make sure no one can enter the premises without authorization. Our security cameras cover classrooms and public areas, and all staff are CPR-trained. Strict security measures are in place across all four of NMELA’s locations: Eubank, Central, Tijeras, and Edgwood.
Enrollment at New Mexico Early Learning Center is easy and customized to you. If you want to tour one of our locations, click Book A Tour and choose your location. After your tour, you can sign up on site. If you’re ready to enroll online, click Contact Us, complete the form with your information, and we’ll get you on board. If you have any questions, you can call or email us.

To enroll your child, we need your child’s birth certificate or proof of date of birth, your proof of residency, your photo identification, and your child’s up-to-date immunization records. We will also ask for any relevant health and medical information, such as details on any allergies or conditions, and we will take your emergency contact information.

We proudly partner with Early Head Start to offer early education for under 3s, and FREE New Mexico Pre-K for 4-to-5-year-olds. Early Head Start is a free, federally-funded support program focusing on early learning, health, and family well-being. NM Pre-K is a free, state-funded education program that prepares children for kindergarten.
New Mexico Early Learning Center stands out for its play-based, literacy-focused, bilingual curriculum, low student-to-teacher ratios, high-quality facilities designed for active learning indoors and outside, above-average standards for cleanliness and sanitization, strict safety and security measures, and nutritious food program.

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Our New Mexico NECPA National
Accreditation 5-Star Rating Means You Get The Very Best Care!

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