From your child’s first birthday to the time they turn four years old, there is a lot they will learn. They will be developing new skills, continue to improve upon the ones they already have, and taking in the world around them. Young children learn by observing the world around them and testing their skills. But parents can also help with their toddler’s development.
At Yellow Brick Road Early Childhood Development Center, we work hard to ensure that our programs help your child learn and develop as much as possible. We create stimulating environments and provide fun activities that allow your child to reach important developmental milestones. While our child care center is still open with more precautions put in place, we know that some families are choosing to stay home.
We wanted to provide some tips for helping your toddler with their learning and development. If you are choosing to keep your children home at this time, these tips can help you keep your little one learning and growing, while reaching those milestones. Even if your children are still coming into our classrooms to learn, you can use these tips at home to help improve their development and learning.
In this blog, we are going to talk about some ways you can help your toddler learn and develop. Read on to learn more!
Play
Toddlers can learn and develop a lot through different types of play. From games to imaginary play, there are many lessons that your little one can learn from simply playing. While you may think they are just having a tea party with the queen, their little brains are developing and they are learning new skills. Play with your toddler to help boost their learning and development. You can find age-appropriate learning games for even more help. Allowing them to play pretend can help stimulate their imagination.
Create
Allow your toddler to work on art projects, crafts, and build with blocks or LEGOs. When you give your little one the tools they need to create, you can help boost creativity and allow them to develop new skills as well. Arts and crafts are great activities for toddlers to help them develop their fine motor skills. Crafts can also help your child explore different ideas, develop problem-solving skills, and more! Plus, you will be able to hang their artwork on your fridge.
Read and Talk
As your little one begins to learn and develop their language skills, one of the best things parents can do is read and talk to them. Even talking to your infant as if they understand what you are saying can help them develop language skills. Your toddler will understand more of what you are saying and will be able to respond. Talk to them regularly throughout the day. Tell them about your day and ask them about theirs. You can teach them proper responses and help them learn more about language.
Reading is another great activity that can teach your children and develop their language skills. Reading to them daily can help them develop their vocabulary, teach them about conversation and communication, develop their social-emotional skills, and so much more. This is also a great way to help them learn how to read on their own!
Encourage Independence
As your child grows older, they will need to develop some independence at one point or another. Allowing your child to try things themselves helps them learn how to be more independent and gives them an opportunity to fail, which is important for a toddler’s development as well. If your little one wants to try getting dresses on without your help, let them. They will likely come out of their room wearing the craziest outfit possible, but this is a great way to help them develop a sense of independence and learn how to do things on their own.
Have them clean up their toys on their own, put their plate in the sink, and do other tasks. When you allow your child to do things without jumping in to help them when they are doing it wrong allows them to build confidence as well.
Encourage Experimentation
Toddlers learn a lot through trial and error and you can help them learn by encouraging this. Set up activities for your toddler that allows them to experiment and try different things for different outcomes. Get them toys that allow them to experiment and problem solve. These types of toys and activities can allow your child to begin to understand cause and effect.
Be Patient
It might be really hard allowing your child to do what they need to do to learn and develop sometimes. From continuously throwing their toys off their high chair to hear what sound it makes to trying to put their dish in the sink only to spill it everywhere, it can be easier to take the toy away or clean up yourself, but this doesn’t help their learning. Sometimes you just need to be a little patient and let them work things out on their own. Even allowing them to dress themselves can take longer than you had hoped, but it allows them to learn independence and helps them develop new skills.
These are a few of the many things you can do to help your toddler learn and develop. Whether you are choosing to stay home at this time or your little one is still attending our programs, doing these things can help your toddler as they grow.
Be sure to contact Yellow Brick Road Early Childhood Development Center to learn more about our programs. We have locations in Plymouth, Minnetonka, Maple Grove, and Eden Prairie.
