Learn more about:
DEVELOPING PLAY SKILLS
Social and Emotional Development:
You’ll see his personality take shape this year. Suddenly he has a sense of humor and cracks himself up using everyday objects in silly new ways. He’s also more aware of the people around him and will mimic what he hears and sees.
Language:
Around his second birthday, your toddler may begin to talk in sentences of two and three words. As the year goes on, most toddlers progress to five- and six-word sentences. “I” and “mine” are, of course, favorites! As he approaches 3, you’ll need to do less interpretation for Grandma and strangers will likely be able to understand his requests.
Fine Motor Skills:
He has more control over his fingers and wrist these days. And those fine motor skills are helped along by plenty of messy play, which strengthens finger muscles needed for future dexterity. With his surer grip, throwing a ball, painting and coloring, and building a tower of blocks will be activities he’s proud to show off. By 3, he may be able to unzip a zipper, pull off his shoes, and start pulling on his shirt. It’s great when they learn to dress themselves!
Gross Motor Skills:
Climbing, jumping and dancing are some of the ways your toddler is learning awareness of his body and building muscle strength. Whether he is running on the playground or climbing on the furniture, it’s usually for the sheer joy of doing it as opposed to getting somewhere. Running and chasing games begin at this age and are important to help him let off steam. Restricting him can lead to frustration and conflict. However, his understanding of potential danger is not nearly as advanced as his physical ability, so keep a watchful eye out for his safety.
Imagination:
Your 2-year-old loves to imitate what big people do, especially adults. He will turn a block into a telephone. He’ll tuck Teddy into bed at night. He’ll also dress up and experiment with all sorts of roles. Hats and bags allow him to become someone else. Cars and playhouses allow him to create new worlds.
Anticipation and Prediction:
Predicting what comes next is the beginning of learning about time and order. Routine is important to your 2-year-old. If he is used to putting his pants on first, then his shirt, don’t try to reverse the order, unless you are itching for a fight! It’s all about having some control over this big world of which they are a small part.
Creativity:
Put a crayon in that chubby hand and watch him go! Finger paints are another great way for 2-year-olds to explore the world of color. These first pieces of artwork can be the basis for his first stories, as well, as he tells you about the picture he has made. Keep his first efforts to marvel at with him when he’s older. Write his name and the date on the back.
Cognitive Skills:
Two becomes one of your child’s favorite numbers—and for good reason! His understanding of numbers is just beginning. Matching pairs of blocks, cars or leaves can be a great game. These are the beginnings of math and science development. Whenever possible, start counting things like the number of stairs you climb, the number of puzzle pieces in the box, or the number of people sitting at the table. The more you do this, the more he will begin to understand what a number is.
FAVORITE PLAYTHINGS
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Toys that help build gross motor skills: Ride-on toys, push toys, balls, ladders and slides, things to hang on
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Toys that stimulate creativity: Crayons; finger paints; PLAY-DOH compound; simple musical instruments such as tambourines and maracas; dress-up toys; cardboard boxes to make things and hide in; playhouses; blankets; furniture
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Toys that help build fine motor skills: Sorting blocks and interlocking blocks, simple wood puzzles, beads to string, messy play
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Toys that help build language skills: Books, puppets, crayons and paints, music and movement songs
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Toys that stimulate imagination: Dolls, stuffed animals, puppets, clothes for dress-up, child-size broom, dishes, pots and pans <
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Toys that help build social skills: Balls, clothing for dress-up play, dolls and stuffed animals
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Toys that help build cognitive skills: Water toys, simple puzzles and shape sorters
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Toys that help build anticipation and prediction skills: Simple puzzles, stacking blocks
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Toys that help build problem-solving skills: Simple puzzles, matching cards, shape sorters
WHAT EXPERTS SAY
“Developmentally, your toddler has a lot in common with ancient cave dwellers 150,000 years ago.… I call two-year-olds Clever Cave-Kids.… They’re still kind of primitive, but now more than ever before they’re starting to think and to get coordinated, organized. If your two-year-old had a motto, it would be ‘Faster, Stronger, Smarter.’”
—Harvey Karp, M.D., The Happiest Toddler on the Block
“By playing with your child you can teach her important skills, not only how to do things practically, but also about taking turns and sharing. However, she will also learn a great deal from amusing herself sometimes, knowing that you are around if she needs you. Playing on her own for short periods will make your toddler feel in control of what is happening around her and will boost her self-confidence.”
—American Academy of Pediatrics, Tanya Remer Altmann, M.D., F.A.A.P., The Wonder Years: Helping Your Baby and Young Child Successfully Negotiate the Major Developmental Milestones
“What you see as ‘destructive’ or ‘bad’ is actually her curiosity. She wonders constantly, ‘What would happen if I…throw this, squash it, tear it, stomp on it? Will it bounce? Can I knock it down? What’s inside it?’”
—Tracy Hogg, Secrets of the Baby Whisperer for Toddler
PLAY STARTERS
Read aloud:
It’s around this age when your child will have his favorite books, and know them by heart. No skipping pages—order rules the day, and he will make you go back and do it over again! Stories about going to bed, getting dressed, playing, and familiar situations, like going to Grandma’s house, are among his favorites.
- Short, rhyming stories help him learn new language in the right context.
- When you repeat familiar stories, he may predict what happens next, tell the story in his own words, or even talk about the characters.
- Use new words to describe the familiar.
Healthy play:
You can start to teach your child about health and nutrition now, all in a playful way.
- Explain to him why litter is bad for the plants and animals at the park. Then play a game where he spots the trash and you do the grown-up job of throwing it away or recycling.
- At the grocery store, he can help you find the most colorful (and healthy) fruits and veggies.
- Let him tear some greens as you prepare a nutritious salad together.
- Plant seeds for lettuce or an herb you may use when cooking together so he can watch it grow.
Get a grip:
He’s developing the skills that will allow him to write and dress himself. Activities that encourage the use of fingers and gripping will refine his skills.
- Threading thick yarn through large round (uncooked!) pasta is an easy start to building finger muscles, as well as developing eye-hand coordination.
- Sing songs with finger movements, such as “Itsy-Bitsy Spider.”
- Rescue used clothing with big zippers or buttons from the discard pile and put it in the dress-up bin.
- Play with snaps and other fasteners so he learns how to use them.
- (Note: Your 2-year-old is also developing a grip that can open a door and unscrew a jar lid, so it’s important to update your home’s childproofing!)
One foot in front of the other:
Walking up and down the stairs is a great game. So is walking backward. Your 2-year-old is learning what his body can do.
- Put circles of paper on the floor and help him jump from one to the next.
- Have your child draw a line with chalk, and then walk, one foot in front of the other, on the “balance beam.”
- Try jumping over the line, pretending it is a river.
- When it’s time for clean-up, have your child pull a wagon around the room to pick up his toys.
Great pretender:
Pretend play will become more complex as your child grows from 2 to 3. Role-playing helps him learn about social interaction and relationships. One minute he’s a kitty who wants to drink milk from a bowl, the next he’s a firefighter battling a blaze. Join in the fun to encourage pretend play.
- Old socks make great hand puppets. Draw a face on it, put it on, and make up a story or sing a song.
- Introduce your child to her new daycare by acting out the first day at home.
- Better than recycling: An empty shoe box could be a bed for a doll.
- Stir up “dinner” with pots made from old ice cream containers filled with twigs from the garden.
- Play “check out” at the supermarket. Use old cereal boxes for groceries and make money out of newspaper.
Put the pieces together:
Find activities where your child needs to make choices, whether it’s matching, sorting or fitting pieces together. Matching games, as well as puzzles, encourage him to perform mental trial-and-error tests that will help him develop decision-making skills.
- Putting silverware away can become a game of fitting the right utensils into the correct tray.
- Cause and effect in the bathtub: What happens to the floating boat when you fill it with water?
- Two-year-olds love to make piles of things. His collection of dinosaurs can be sorted by color, size, type, or pretty much anything else you, or he, can think of.
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Learn more about:
DEVELOPING PLAY SKILLS
Social and Emotional Development:
You may stand back and marvel as your little one has her very first friends, and a schedule packed with play dates. Her self-confidence and independence have likely blossomed, but her ability to cooperate is still catching up. You may find that your child wants to do things her way, and is pretty certain that she’s right.
Language:
Your child now has enough of a vocabulary that she can ask for what she wants. She can ask “why” and “how” and “when,” and she will, quite often. Silly rhymes are one way she will experiment with new words. When introducing larger words, try to use them in context, which introduces them to her and clarifies their meaning. This helps her grow her vocabulary every day.
Fine Motor Skills:
Her fine motor skills have improved to the point that she may confidently (and quickly) pop puzzle pieces in place and skillfully manipulate clay. Also, her block towers are getting higher and more elaborate now.
P.S. You’ll start to see a strong preference for left- or right-handedness beginning to show at this time. Whatever you see emerge, just let it be. Pediatricians and lefties alike will tell you that you can’t change nature.
Gross Motor Skills:
This is the age of the tricycle! She has mastered the idea of pushing one foot and then the other to propel herself, and there’s no stopping her. Climbing, running and dancing are all a source of great joy. Make sure you visit jungle gyms and play structures where she can hang by her hands and swing around (so she’ll be less tempted to swing from towel bars and tables at home). Children are also beginning to develop more complex movements like galloping, hopping and skipping now. At first, her coordination will seem hit or miss, but over time and with practice it will improve.
Imagination:
In her pretend world, he is now often somebody else. Visiting and then acting out an upcoming visit to his new preschool or to the doctor is one way to work through new or scary situations. Be prepared to meet an imaginary friend or two.
Creativity:
Now that she can confidently grasp a crayon, her drawings are more complex. She may be attempting to draw shapes, including circles, crosses and rectangles. Stick figures gain bodies and facial features. (Interestingly children’s self portraits often have a lot of detail at the top of the body and less further down, which mirrors how their own muscles develop.) By 4, she may draw people with hair on their heads and shoes on their feet. When she shows you her finished masterpiece, ask her to tell you about it; point out specific features, and you’ll get a good idea of what’s on her mind.
Cognitive Skills:
Your preschooler is laying the foundation for future learning—from counting to learning symbols and letters and figuring out how to solve problems on her own.
P.S. Be gentle in correcting her now. She’ll be in a classroom soon enough. Kindergarten readiness is more about having good social skills than reading and counting.
Problem-solving:
The wagon is stuck in the mud, but what might have been a frustration at age 2 is now, at 3 or 4, a challenging game. Let her push, pull and rock it. When she finally gets it out, she can boast about what a good thinker she is!
P.S. At this stage she may be able to think of more than two things at one time, which is key to “trial and error” problem-solving. As she tests different solutions to her problem, resist the sudden urge to help. She can endure some frustration now. Let her do it herself and see what happens.
FAVORITE PLAYTHINGS
- Toys that help build gross motor skills: Tricycles, jungle gyms and play structures, bats and balls, games involving physical exertion, safe water toys
- Toys that stimulate creativity: Markers, paints and clay, glue and safety scissors, PLAY-DOH compound, masks, dress-up clothes, magic wands, action-hero characters
- Toys that help build fine motor skills: Puzzles, crayons, small blocks, interactive games , oversized beads and string, dolls with clothes for dressing, toys with parts that can be rearranged or turned into something else, small toy cars and trucks with parts that open and close
- Toys that help build cognitive skills: Interlocking blocks, interactive games
- Toys that stimulate emotional development: Dolls, stuffed animals
- Toys that help build sharing and social skills: Balls and bats, musical instruments, board games, cooperative games
- Toys that help build language: Picture books, puppets, interactive games, role-play toys
- Toys that stimulate imagination: Play sets, such as pretend kitchens or stores; action figures; role-play toys that model real life
- Toys that help build problem-solving skills: Interlocking puzzles, playing cards, board games
- Toys that let kids express their silly side: Story and poetry books with rhymes, talking toys, musical toys
WHAT EXPERTS SAY
“If adults provide space, equipment, time and companionship for play, young children see to the development of their thinking for themselves. Your child is a scientist and inventor; too much teaching robs him of that role. Your job is only to make sure he has laboratories, research facilities and an assistant when he needs one.”
—Penelope Leach, Your Baby and Child: From Birth to Age Five
“The playground is often a child’s first venture into the wide, wide world. Here, children learn from and about other children, about each other’s individuality.… The chance to play with and to model on the peer’s reactions and styles of learning offers the opportunity for learning about oneself.”
—T. Berry Brazelton, M.D., and Joshua D. Sparrow, M.D., Touchpoints Three to Six
“For the most part, children are now more interested in each other than in any particular activity. A group working around the clay table may watch each other with interest…. Or, a child calls the attention of others to what he has made, instead of merely showing it to an adult, as earlier.”
—Louise Bates Ames, Ph.D., and Frances L. Ilg, M.D., Your Three-Year-Old
PLAY STARTERS
Read aloud:
Your child may now sit for longer periods of time listening to a story. Enhance the experience by stopping from time to time to ask him questions about the story, like “What do you think will happen next?” or “Wouldn’t it be funny if…?” Let her ask questions as well. At this age, interruptions aren’t rude. There is real curiosity, and your answers can lead you both to amazing conversations!
- Your child can become a storyteller now. Take turns telling one together.
- As she is exposed to letters and words, she will begin to learn about the alphabet. Try not to push her to learn words, which can make it feel like a chore. There is plenty of time for that to happen.
- Take turns filling in any phrase repeated in the story.
What time is it?
Your preschooler is beginning to learn about time by grasping the difference between “morning,” “afternoon” and “night.” The more experience your preschooler gets hearing and using these words, the more easily this understanding will develop.
- Put the timer on when baking cookies together so she can begin to feel the passage of time.
- Create a chart of your child’s daily routine (playgroup, library, nap, visit with Grandma and Grandpa) so your child can “see” how her day progresses.
- Start a scrapbook for the year. As you add to the book with your child, you can discuss timely events such as holidays and seasons.
- At dinner time or bedtime, review your day with her. Talking about a sequence of events helps reinforce what came before and after.
- Show her an analog clock and watch the hands turn, or make one together and show her how time changes throughout the day. (Breakfast time, nap time, dinner time, etc.)
- Count the “bedtimes” until important events happen. Activities like this will help her learn that everything does not happen in the present.
Make a collage:
Grab a stack of magazines, some safety scissors and a glue stick. Pick a subject (animals, flowers, food) and let her cut out pictures to make her own artwork. Messiness is part of the learning process! The act of dabbing on glue and placing images in a collage will help improve her newly acquired fine motor skills.
- Collages can be made with other materials, such as scraps of felt and yarn, or stickers and glitter.
- You could also try working with items of the same color, shape or size.
- Give your child a chance to express her emotions by creating a mood collage. Find pictures of faces together that convey a particular mood.
- Make a hanging collage by attaching string to shapes and draping them from a hanger.
Hop, skip, jump:
This is a great time to help your increasingly coordinated kiddo become surer on her feet. Of course, her motor skills are way ahead of her judgment, so keep a sharp eye wherever you go.
- Set up a “Preschool Triathlon” course that allows your child and friends to try out activities such as hopping on one foot, kicking a ball and jumping.
- Make a circuit in your yard with things she can run and skip around, swing on and climb.
- Play games that have simple instructions, such as “Mother, May I?” and “Red Light, Green Light.”
- Let her push your grocery cart, and ask her to choose items—unbreakable!—to put in the cart.
Let’s put on a show:
As children grow, their imaginary play becomes less rooted in real life and more about fantasy. A piece of cloth can be a superhero’s cape or a dark cave. Preschoolers are great storytellers; let yours act out a story for you!
- A box of old hats, gloves, scrap fabrics and shoes will spark your preschooler’s imagination.
- Even a walk in the park is an opportunity to pretend: She can be a jungle explorer looking for rare plants or animals.
Keep it moving:
Kids are natural bundles of energy, but sometimes they need encouragement to get outside and move around. The emphasis at this age should be on playfulness and exploration, not skill development or competition. Join in, whatever the activity and the weather, to encourage family fitness.
- Keep basic play equipment such as balls and jump ropes in a place where the kids will see them. Easier access means they will be more likely to use them.
- Have a push, pull, pedal parade! Let the kids plan the route, and decorate their bikes, wagons and toy cars. Encourage them to go around a few times.
- Sign up your little one for a dance class, gymnastics, or a sports activity that encourages parental participation. Tackle new physical challenges together and have a blast.
- Suggest that your preschooler act out her favorite TV character or show while she’s watching. She’ll keep moving, and will have fun feeling like she’s really part of the action.
- Have a rain coat and boots handy. Kids need to let off steam whatever the weather. Jumping in rain puddles, dropping an autumn leaf in some flowing water and following where it goes are fun ways to spend time outdoors together on a rainy day.
- Kids don’t need flashy equipment. If there is a hill in your neighborhood, your child may enjoy spending hours rolling down a hill. Rolling is one of the best movements to help her develop balance.
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