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Eighteen to Twenty Four Months
Your toddler now has an ever increasing ability to move -
walking, jumping, running, climbing, crawling. In order to develop a strong
brain connection between language and its meaning, toddlers need to experience
what the word means. You can't see your baby's brain, but it's growing like
you've seen her body grow and it's changing every day. The toddler's brain is
quickly becoming the most active it will ever be in his/her entire life!
Movement
| Facts: |
What you can do: |
Activities: |
 Toddlers need extended conversations with you and time to respond.
The age at which children begin new motor skills has nothing to do with
their intelligence or athletic abilities.
Your toddler needs to practice all of the things she has learned: dumping,
carrying, filling.
Your toddler is capable of doing more complex activities.
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Encourage a lot of scribbling to learn eye-hand control.
Squeeze toys help to strengthen fingers.
Let baby eat small tidbits of cereal, cheese cubes and raisins.
Help her, but remember
it's more important for her to learn by herself.
Provide chances to learn balance, control, how his body works. |
Water "paint" with large brush and bucket of water almost
anything she chooses inside and outside.
Let your toddler learn how to handle equipment by turning off lights, turn
on faucet, flush the toilet.
Make a game of asking her to get a toy or other object for you or to put a
specific object away.
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Language
| Facts: |
What you can do: |
Activities: |
 Your toddler's ability to learn and use language is growing rapidly.
With the discovery that everything and every action has a name, your child
will ask constantly, "What's that?"
Your child uses you as a resource for new words.
Your toddler's ability to name a lot of objects gives him a feeling of
control over objects and encourages him to keep learning. |
Help him to learn by answering as many questions as you can and letting
him touch or point to objects as you name them.
Reading to your child is important, but make sure he enjoys the story even
if he doesn't understand every word.
Listen to what your child has to say. This encourages talking.
Use
good manners as a role model for her. |
Help your child to ask for things by placing 2 or 3 things out of reach.
Tell him their names, using a complete sentence. Encourage him to say the
name, without teasing or frustrating him.
Naming words in connection with activities you do with her (washing hands
with water, water is wet) helps her to understand ideas and learn to
think.
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Intellectual Development
| Facts: |
What you can do: |
Activities: |
 By giving your love, support and experience in lots of things, you can
help your toddler to reach his own maximum potential.
Your toddler experiences his artwork the same way he does everything -
with all of his senses and for the sheer feel of it.
Your child's thinking is changing to allow for "pretend" play.
Toddlers need praise. |
Keep trying to involve your toddler in your chores by naming an object she
can hand you or put away.
Play simple games that show children actions. "Sit down, Jane"
or "Wave goodbye, Billy."
Using the child's name, describe objects that belong to him, for example:
"John, let's get your red jacket. Now, let's put on your red
jacket."
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Place a favorite toy just out of reach and near a stick. Show how you can
pull the toy with the stick.
Show her how to match things by grouping toys (all the trucks together,
the dishes in one box).
Give him things to fill and dump and talk about the objects that are
"in" or "out" and things being "empty" or
"full" and tops being "open" or "closed."
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Social/Emotional
| Facts: |
What you can do: |
Activities: |
 Your child can express many different emotions.
Her control may just be getting started, and may not be connected to her
feelings.
He
will like to pretend he is grown up and doing grownup things.
Giving a child something new means that he will have to explore and play
with it to figure out how it's to be used. Patience! |
Help him to recognize these feelings by naming and talking about them. Let
him know it's alright to feel that way. Help him to avoid letting his
feelings get out of control.
Keep a supply of old clothes to dress as an adult and other items to play
"store", talking on the "phone", etc.
Have a variety of toys that can be used together (blocks, trucks, dolls).
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Hang up pictures of people showing different feelings. Talk about the
feelings.
Have a variety of toys and other items to encourage her to play on her
own, using her own ideas.
Asking him which foot he wants his shoe on first gives him a choice and
shows him he can decide some things on his own. Limit choices, reduce the
"no's."
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Brought to you by "First
Impressions," a project funded by the Anne Arundel County Department of
Social Services and co-sponsored by Anne Arundel Child Care Resource and
Referral, Anne Arundel Community College and the Anne Arundel Public Library.
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