Most toddlers are excited about learning which is just as well because there is a lot that they need to master as they transition from baby to child. If you’ve ever trailed around behind a one year old then you know that they are naturally inquisitive and eager to explore. Their lack of awareness of their own personal safety can make this a particularly challenging stage – all the more reason to provide lots of stimulating activities for them to get involved with.
What sort of things aid their development?
In terms of gross motor skills or big movements, they need toys that encourage them to move around. This is because moving helps them learn about their body – how it works, what it will do and what it won’t do. Moving also helps develop their ability to visually judge a situation. I remember watching a video some time ago about the human body and they explained how the brain processes used by a two year old child to assess a hole in the path they were walking on was so complex that it couldn’t be replicated in any man made robot. Cushioned play mats are great for doing somersaults or rolling along. Things that they can ride on are good tools to teach them about space and distance, as are push and pull toys – they quickly learn that things get stuck and that they need to be able to manoeuvre them to fit through doorways or openings.
For developing your toddlers fine motor skills, they need learning toys that encourage them to behave in a controlled manner and toys that allow them to be creative. They will increase their ability to concentrate and control their environment through things like building small tower blocks, pouring and measuring, pushing a train along a track, simple puzzles. Don’t be discouraged if your child seems to enjoy knocking things over or emptying things out long before they actively start playing with the toys they have displaced. In both activities they are learning useful skills – when they knock things over they are learning about balance and by emptying out a container they are learning about depth and space. It is a bit like the ‘drop the toy from the stroller’ game which many babies perfect – they do it to see what happens and it is just as important to their development to know what will happen when they knock things over as it will to learn how to build them up.
Books become an increasingly important part of your child’s development resources as they enter their second year. Regularly reading to your child not only helps them to foster a love of books and words but it is a great activity to strengthen your relationship during what can be a stressful time. For the very active toddler it is often the only time that they will patiently sit with you, their attention captivated by the drawings on the pages in front of them.
Make sure that you pick books are bright, sturdy and relatively simple. Books that are interactive usually appeal to toddlers and encourage their inquisitiveness in a fun way – they could be hide and seek style books or those that ask the child to make sounds or sing or touch different surfaces.
Sometimes no matter how careful you are, you make a wrong choice.
Toys child: what to do if you get it wrong…
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