AUGUSTA – Patty-cake, patty-cake, baker’s man … .

Grown-ups know it’s fun to play silly games with babies and young children. In addition, researchers tell us this kind of word play and the finger games that go with it have a meaningful role in a child’s language development and physical coordination.

But, alas, babies don’t come with user guides or instruction manuals, and not all parents or professional care providers understand that there are important developmental reasons to play with them. They may not know that certain kinds of games are more appropriate at one age than another, or that children naturally differ in their interest or ability in learning new playtime skills. Adults may feel puzzled and discouraged when a 1-year-old won’t share a favorite toy, or when a 3-year-old gets bored with an activity that captivated her just a few weeks before.

That’s why babies and toddlers throughout Maine should be tickled pink with the work of the state’s Infant and Toddler Initiative Team, a group dedicated to enhancing the well-being of Maine’s youngest residents. The team has been in existence for about four years, funded each year with $325,000 from the federal government and dedicated to improving the quality of care provided to infants and children up to age 3.

Carolyn Drugge, who administers federal funding for child care centers and home-based day care providers, says the demand for high-quality care for young children is high.

Drugge said in a phone interview Sunday that 70 percent of Maine’s infants and toddlers age 3 and under spend 30 hours a week or more in day care, compared with just 55 percent of 4-and 5-year-old preschoolers. And infants – babies under 1 year old – are the most likely age group to spend more than 30 hours a week in professional care, she said.

But, despite the demand, many providers are reluctant to care for babies and toddlers, preferring to specialize in caring for preschoolers. Not only is the younger set more labor-intensive to care for – needing one-on-one feeding, frequent diaper changes, and near-constant carrying, jiggling and rocking – but, because of this, the law requires providers to have more staff when they care for the very young.

Day care centers must provide one staff member for every four infants they care for. Toddlers 3 years old and under require a staffing ratio of one provider to every seven children. For preschoolers age 4 and 5, the ratio is 1-to-10. So providers tend to favor toddlers, who are generally lower-maintenance and lower-cost, Drugge explained. And while almost everyone acknowledges that day care staff should be well-prepared and well-compensated, “there’s only so much young parents can afford to pay,” she noted.

The work of the Infant-Toddler Initiative Team is focused on ways to encourage providers to enroll more very young children. Drugge’s office administers a number of subsidies available to parents who must entrust their infants and toddlers to professional care providers. In addition, the team supports providers by offering the “Infant-Toddler Institute” each summer. The weeklong college-credit course is free to 30 providers each year and includes a $1,000 stipend to each participant to be used for purchasing age-appropriate play equipment or teaching tools. About 175 providers have taken advantage of the program during the five years of its operation; the sixth institute will be held this summer at the University of Maine at Farmington.

The team also has just released a useful 50-page booklet, “Supporting Maine’s Infants and Toddlers: Guidelines for Learning and Development.” While the free publication is targeted primarily at day care providers and teachers, it is also appropriate for parents who want to know more about their children’s developmental stages. Divided into three sections – Younger Infants, Older Infants and Toddlers – the book offers guidance and activities in three developmental areas: social interactions, physical health and coordination, communication and intellectual growth.

Drugge said the new guidelines will help professional providers support young parents who may need guidance in caring for their children. And, she said, the guidelines also will be an important tool for measuring the quality of care provided at individual child care centers.

The state is in the process of drawing up a rating system, similar to ones in use in some other states, that will allow parents to compare child care providers. Drugge said the consumer-friendly comparison tool, which will be available on her office Web site, will be another incentive for providers to implement the new infant-toddler guidelines in designing their curriculums and policies.

To view the new infant-toddler guidelines on line, visit www.maine.gov/dhhs/occhs/publications.htm. To request a free copy, or for more information about the Infant-Toddler Initiative Team or the Infant-Toddler Institute, phone Barbara Sousa at the Early Care and Education office of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services at (207) 287-5099.