How did kibbutz preschool homes organize care for infants and toddlers?

In the context of kibbutzim in Palestine, collective preschool education was established to allow mothers to participate in the commune's workforce. The care for infants and toddlers was organized into specialized homes:

• Infant House: Children from birth to one year of age were housed here. Care was provided by a metapelet (upbringer), with each individual responsible for four or five babies. During the nursing stage, mothers visited the infant house to feed their children.
• Toddler House: This facility typically accommodated about eight children between the ages of one and three or four. The primary focus of this stage was socialization.

Throughout these early years, children maintained a connection to their families by visiting their parents' homes daily for a few hours. As the system evolved, children moved into a kindergarten stage (ages three or four to seven) under the care of a teacher and three assistants to prepare for primary education.1