The programs at NYAD are varied and incorporate unlimited opportunities for the children and the staff to learn.

In NYAD we strive to offer the child, infant, toddler, preschool and school age, a wide range of basic activities to choose from throughout the day e.g. paint, water/sand, playdough, creative materials, blocks, dramatic play props, books etc. These do not remain stagnant, but are changed/expanded to provide exciting new experiences for the child. These basics, in addition to staff initiated activities, provide the child with opportunities for wonder, discovery and experience.

Art

No two people visualize a snowman, a tree, a house, or a dinosaur walking, exactly the same. Each one of us interprets the world in her/his own way. Therefore a child's art is her/his own statement, not a copy of the teacher's or classmates. Techniques and skills can be learned but creativity cannot. It is there from birth, ready to flourish, or to be destroyed by rigid expectations and restrictions.

Creativity and learning thrive within NYAD while there are rules to be followed and limits to be respected for the safety and well being of all those in the centre.

Drawing and Painting

Through art, a child clarifies his understanding of the physical and social world and is able to give tangible form to his feelings and responses while developing visual and sensory skills, originality, independence and self- confidence.
• The process of painting is more important than the product.

Collage and Sculpture

The messiest creative experience is often the most engrossing. A child needs freedom to create what s/he wants without anyone asking, “What is it?”

• encourages organization
  
• awareness of colour and texture
  
• promotes motor development
  
• gives manipulative satisfaction
  
• serves as a channel for exploration, assertion and expression
  

Children’s art is displayed throughout the centre. Periodically artwork is placed in the child’s cubby for parents to take home and proudly display.

Dramatic Play

Play is a child's job, a very serious activity that allows her/him to try on roles and emotions, experiment with objects in every conceivable manner and use materials in the most creative ways.

Play is the most dynamic childhood learning method. It is the means that children use to reduce the world to manageable proportions and find their place in it.

Dramatic play gives the child the opportunity to:

• imitate adults
• develop self-awareness
• release unacceptable impulses
• understand relationships
• develop language
• relive past experiences
• develop social skills
• explore and manipulate adult tools and materials
• enjoy the world of fantasy

Sand and Water Play

Sand and water tables give the child the means to:

• develop intellectual concepts
• soothes explosive feelings
• develops sensory and math skills
• stimulates language
• draws out the inhibited
• encourages longer attention span
• encourages co-operation, decision-making
• develops creative thought

Indoor and Outdoor Gross Motor Activities

Physical activities promote sound bodies and minds through running, hopping, catching, throwing, skipping and balancing. Skills needed in these activities relate to the child’s physical readiness for concentrating and controlling body movements -- hence the ability to read and write.

NYAD children have use of the school gym for part of the daily program.

Trips

Throughout the year, NYAD staff and children go for neighbourhood walks and field trips by bus (TTC and School). Walks in the neighbourhood allow the children to become familiar with their community, people and places. Parks, fields, ravines, puddles, playgrounds, fire halls, hospitals, stores, and banks are just a few of the highlights on walks.