Entertaining but inaccurate
This post is in reference to the play scene in the Caterpillar Room. I will say that it was extremely well-animated and certainly effective in the context of the movie. (It is perfectly clear why the toys want to be transferred to the Butterfly Room.) But as a daycare teacher, I had several questions/concerns about the scene:
1. Why were those teachers not showing the children the proper way to treat toys? I know from personal experience that toddlers are perfectly capable of gentle play IF they are given appropriate guidance. For example, they love to pretend to feed baby dolls bottles and cuddle them and sing to them. By the way, I've also seen some pretty rough play from preschool "Butterfly-age" children in the past.
2. I suppose you need to suspend disbelief b/c it's a movie, but many of those items seen - such as the Mr. Potato Head, macaroni, and glitter - would never be permitted in a toddler room due to the potential for choking, eye irritation, etc.
3. IIRC the classroom clock read 1:00 PM when the children came in from outdoors. In most daycare centers I've worked in, that is naptime/quiet time. Maybe the children were acting so crazy b/c they were sleep-deprived.
4. This may be a personal preference, but when toddlers come inside from play, I often have them sit down for a drink on hot days, or at least sit down to "regroup" until we move on to the next activity.
I still enjoyed Toy Story 3 as much as its two predecessors, but I have to admit that that one scene was a bit unnerving to me, and it doesn't necessarily reflect reality.