Deepening Practices with Infant and Toddlers

This conference brings together early learning professionals to deepen their understanding of responsive, relationship-based practice with infants and toddlers. Through a focus on inclusive practices, secure attachment, free movement, and outdoor experiences, participants will explore approaches that honour children's rights, agency, and holistic development. Grounded in current research and reflective practice, the conference will offer opportunities to strengthen pedagogical knowledge and create environments where all babies and toddlers can thrive. This conference offers an opportunity to continue thinking together about responsive, thoughtful, and relationship-based care for babies and toddlers. Throughout the day, participants will engage in workshops, conversations, and shared learning focused on supporting infants, toddlers, their families, and the educators who work alongside them.

Conference Details

Date: Saturday, November 21, 2026

Registration: Begins at 8:30 a.m- 4:00 pm

Location: 3100 Foul Bay rd. Sherri Bell Hall, Wilma Thomas Building, Camosun College – Lansdowne Campus

Workshop registration will take place at the conference registration table on the morning of the event. Participants will have the opportunity to select one workshop in the morning and one workshop in the afternoon.

Lunch, along with morning coffee and muffins, will be provided.

If your plans change and you are no longer able to attend, we kindly ask that you cancel your registration as soon as possible. This allows us to offer your space to someone on the waitlist and helps us plan appropriately for the day. refunds are available up to 1 week before the event.

We are grateful for the continued support of the ECE Professional Development Bursary Fund, whose funding helps keep the conference affordable and accessible to educators across the province. We are also thankful for the generosity and support Camosun College and Victoria Child Care Resource and Referral.

We look forward to welcoming you to Victoria and sharing this meaningful day of learning together.

If you live rural and have postal codes with V0 or V1 or identify as First Nation, Metis or Inuit and are living anywhere in B.C. and would like your travel and/or conference fee subsidized please contact Erin Van Stone [email protected]. Limited funds are available.

Keynote: Active from the very beginning: Playing freely under adult eyes
Presenter: Sylvie Melsbech

For many years, the Regroupement des centres de la petite enfance de la Montérégie (RCPEM) has been promoting free movement daily for babies in daycare centers. This approach is based on the view of the child as a competent being—capable of initiative, relationships, and emotions—who is autonomous and active from the very beginning.

Encouraging physical activity in young children does not necessarily mean getting them to participate in fun activities and games but rather supporting them so they can engage in activity spontaneously and fully immerse themselves in it, through a process of “self-induction” that reinforces positive outcomes.

How can we support an infant’s psychomotor development? Inspired by the work of Emmi Pikler, this opening address will highlight the importance of motor freedom, which allows children—under adult supervision—to achieve their own motor milestones at their own pace, through the free exercise of their movements at any time, in any situation, and in any place.

Through various filmed scenes, the images and commentary will demonstrate how children who are completely free to move—supported by the watchful, caring eyes of adults and by rich environments adapted to their needs—become skilled and cautious individuals who have acquired fundamental motor skills on their own.

Workshops: (Please note workshop registration will take place at conference sign in)

Workshop A: Freely Moving and Making Choices
Faciliator: Enid Elliott, PhD
Workshop Description: This workshop will suppoort a conversaion about fostering spaces where babies can move freely and make choices for themselves. As we move through life we make choices, we take risks, we learn to trust ourselves and our bodies. Babies are learning to move. They make choices as they explore the capabilities of their bodies. Allowed to make choices, to move easily and freely, and to learn to take risks babies and toddlers develop confidence in themselves as learners and as movers. In this workshop we will explore how we can support this journey with them.

Workshop B: Educational settings play an important role in shaping a caring society: Examining our practices through the lens of Dr. Emmi Pikler.
Faciliator: Debbie Lauren, PhD
Workshop Description: Paying attention to how we respond to toddler motor activity offers valuable insights about a child's social and emotional wellbeing. Myriam David stated, "If I were to observe babies today, I would pay attention to motor activity." A child needs time and space to respond to a caregiver's words and gestures. What do we see unfolding between the adult and child when a caregiver practices slowing down and pausing for a child to respond to requests in their shared situation?

Debbie shares video footage from a study introducing a Pikler dressing/change table in an BC interior infant and toddler childcare setting. Debbie talks about how the experience reshaped caregivers perceptions and practices with toddlers.

Workshop C: Nurturing inclusive practice with infants and toddlers: As a community, what do we need to consider?
Workshop Faciliator: Anastasia Butcher and Morgan Myers
Workshop Description: In this workshop, our hope is to have a collective conversation with community about meaningful inclusive practice with infants and toddlers. Together, we will consider physical and sensory accessibility, respectful communication, responsive guidance and the role of the environment to help reduce stress, foster co-regulation and create a sense of community and belonging for all children. Our examples and strategies are rooted in ethical and neurodiversity-affirming practice. We will share photos from local child care centres, resources and ideas to help meet infants and toddlers’ needs.

Workshop D: Site Visit to Artemis Place Young Parents Program
Faciliator: Kim Paulo and Shirley Lee-Doucette
Workshop Description: Artemis Place is a young parents program a 10 minute walk from the conference location. Tour the center and enjoy conversation with the Educators about the carefully curated infant and toddler enviroment at Artemis.

Workshop E: Outdoor Spaces for Infants and Toddlers
Faciliator: Slyvie Melsbech
Workshop Description: To ensure that infants and toddlers in daycare center enjoy spending time outdoors and have their own learning experiences there, a project funded by the Lawson Foundation enabled the entire staff of three early childhood centers—including educators, educational coordinators, and managers—to deepen their commitment to outdoor life, strengthen their educational practices in this specific context, and make outdoor activities more accessible on a daily basis.

Throughout the development of these pilot project sites, a filmmaker documented the daily lives of these teams, highlighting the challenges and efforts of these daycare centers as they strive to provide a suitable, high-quality environment for young children in all seasons and at any time of day—whether for naps, care, meals, or free, independent play.

There were many challenges to overcome: sometimes small plots of land, a layout requiring significant financial investment, and the complex organization of daily routines to transition from indoors to outdoors. But these early childhood centers, members of our association, rose to this challenge for the well-being of the children they care for every day, all year round.

This documentary, subtitled in English, will be screened during this workshop, followed by a Q&A session to learn more about the use of new care and play equipment in these outdoor spaces, as well as the challenges that educational staff faced in adapting to the Pikler philosophy in these environments.

Info: Attachment is at the heart of how infants and toddlers experience the world. In this panel, educators and practitioners will explore why secure, responsive relationships are foundational to young children’s emotional well-being, sense of belonging, learning, and development.

Panelists will share perspectives and experiences on building trusting relationships with infants and toddlers, responding sensitively to children’s cues, supporting continuity and consistency in care, and creating environments where children feel safe enough to explore, play, and develop their growing sense of self. Together, we will consider what attachment looks like in everyday practice—from arrivals and separations to caregiving routines, play, and moments of big emotion.

The conversation will also invite us to think critically about how our practices, policies, environments, and relationships with families can either support or challenge secure attachment.

Event venue & nearby stays

Camosun College Lansdowne Campus, 3100 Foul Bay Road, Victoria, Canada

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