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When a
child starts to walk he/she is called
a toddler. This is a stage in the growth of a child and not a specific age
(in order to select appropriate developmental toys for toddlers
Ape to Zebra used an age range of 1 years to 3 years - please
refer to the suggested age range on the detailed product
description for more information).
The three major skills your toddler will acquire in his second year of life is Walking, Talking and Thinking.
Your toddler's mobile development will progress from insecure baby steps to walking with confidence to running and climbing in only one year. He seems to have wheels on his feet and is investigating everything he can lay his hands on.
Your toddler is trying out everything - learning something
from everything he lay his hands on. Your child is
programmed to explore, experiment and learn and it is very
important that you provide him with enough space and
opportunities to do so.
During toddlerhood your baby is developing the important ability to express himself - talking and signing being the most prominent methods used.
The need to explore and inability to express himself clearly
enough to be understood may lead to a lot of tears and
frustration - please try and view situations from your little
one's immature point of view when deciding on hw to react to a
tantrum or unwanted behavior.
Your toddler is enjoying
independent play more and more and get so engrossed in their play that they just don't want to stop.
Please remember to give them time to "change gears" by warning them that they will need to stop play in a few minutes because it is dinner time, bed time or time to go. This gives them
time to close out their play and prepare them for the change that is about to happen.
WALKING
Your toddler will progress from insecure baby steps to walking with confidence to running and climbing in
the next two years.
He seems to have wheels on his feet and is investigating
everything he can lay his hands on. Your toddler is
experimenting with different methods of moving around including
walking, dancing, jumping, rolling etc. It is important to
encourage them to try different types of movement and show them
how to do it.
Your child is focused on developing balance and large motor
skills (walk backwards, sideways and in circles).
If your baby is only starting to walk a traditional baby walker
may be a good toy to buy. These walkers usually have a
wide base so that it doesn't tip over. Some walkers also
do double duty featuring activities for baby or a place to store
some building blocks that your child can play with.
 Toddler
push and
pull toys are at the top of the list of favorite
toddler toys. A toddler's ability to balance and move makes
ride-on toys
a toddler favorite as well. These riding toys usually
become horses, race cars or whatever the theme of the moment is
when they engage in pretend play. You will start to notice your child engaging in
pretend play around 15 - 18 months of age.
As soon as your toddler understands how to follow instructions and has developed a sense of balance (around 2 - 2.5 years)
you can introduce
your child to exercise
(yoga).
Yoga develops muscle strength, balance and muscle control - it
also teaches children how to calm themselves and
relax - very
important skills in order to promote concentration and crucial
in order for a child to live a healthy life.
Your toddlers still likes
music and with their newfound control over their large muscles
they make great little dancers. Toddlers still have the
need to develop and refine their gross motor control further and love playing
musical instruments
while dancing on the beat of music
with different rhythms.
DEXTERITY & FINE MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
Dressing and Grooming:
 Your child is
becoming more independent and wants to do things himself,
imitating grown-ups and older children. Help your child by
showing him the right way to use 'tools' - hairbrush,
toothbrush, telephone etc. Also make sure that you go into
detail when dressing your child, tell him what you are going to
do i.e. "Now let's put on your shoes, give me your left foot -
can you fasten your shoe". Choose clothes that are easy to
put on and fasten like shoes with Velcro fasteners and pants
with elastic as opposed to buttons and zippers. This way
you can show your young toddler how to put on the clothes and
get them to do some of the things like fastening their shoes or
pulling up their pants.
 Toys that help teach
dressing sequence
and develop fine motor skills
are very appropriate for toddlers
18 months and up. Introduce your toddler to lacing/threading toys and activities.
They are great fun and are very good for fine motor skill development.
You will notice during dinner
time that your little one are much more interested in using
spoons, forks, plates and moving food around (serving dish to
his plate) than he is in actually eating the food. This is
a result of their need to explore and develop their hand
control. Along the same lines you will also find that your
toddler enjoy hauling the contents out of your kitchen cabinets, putting objects into small containers, opening and closing containers (help me find the right lid to put on each container) and play all kinds of sorting games.
Encourage your toddler to do so safely by giving him his own
cabinet with toys, containers and objects of interest that he
can play with when he wants to (remember to rotate the items
in the cabinet regularly to keep your child's interest).
This will give him a place to explore safely and do what
he is programmed to do at this stage and also provide you some
opportunity to lay down boundaries (you can haul out the
contents from your cabinet but it is not safe to do the same
with Mommy's cabinet).
Starting with Shape
Sorters and Color Sorting Toys:
12 Months to 18 Months
 Around 1 year of age you can introduce toys that allow for
shape sorting
and color sorting.
(shape and color sorting toys). There are lots of resources in the form of
toys, DVDs, books and games available to assist you with teaching toddlers the basics of shapes and colors.
Please note that at this age you should only teach one
new concept at a time. Teach only shapes or only
colors and not both at the same time.
Teaching Shapes
 Start with the round
shape - it is most probably also the one your toddler is the
most interested in in the beginning and it is the easiest one to
fit through the shape sorter. Only when your baby is
comfortable picking up the round shape and fitting it through
the correct hole should you proceed to the next shape.
The
next shape is usually the square and it will require your
toddler to orient the shape's corners with that of the hole in
the shape sorter to be able to fit it. Show your child how to do
this and repeat explaining and showing (by taking their hand and
guide his hand).
Advanced Shape Sorting Activities and
Stacking / Assembling Toys
18 Months to
3 Years
Your baby has developed into a curious toddler that is always looking for something
new to learn. Providing toddlers with age appropriate toys that
stimulate cognitive development is a definite winner at this age.
Graduated cylinders
and shapes that fit into each other and toys that can be assembled different ways are great toys. Your toddler is not just banging toys together anymore but is
actually thinking ahead on how a toy should be put together and then attempt to assemble it.
Games that involve thinking: 3 - 5 Years | 2 - 3 Years as well as
toys that can be constructed different ways address multiple developmental
skills at the same time. Your toddler will spend a lot of time
stacking, nesting and aligning cups and blocks
An 18 month old child may:
- Make a tower of four cube blocks
A 24 month old child may:
- Build a six to seven cube block tower
- Align two or more blocks to form a train
A 36 month old child may:
- Build a tower of 9 to 10 cube blocks
- Copy bridges with blocks
From about 24 to 30 months of age your toddler will enter the amazing and magical world
of pretend play [View toys that stimulate imaginary play]. You'll watch as your toddler
start making connections between
an actual stove on which mommy cooks and an empty box turned upside down
serving the same purpose. Their ability to make these connections
(cognitive development [View toys that stimulate memory, thinking and brain development])
accompanied by the newly acquired language skills, allow them to live
out their fantasy and communicating it to you or their friends setting
the stage for hours of play. Supplying your toddler with the tools
that allow for pretend play doesn't need to be expensive. Although
a miniature stove imported from Europe complete with miniature pots and
pans will be much sought after by any girl, making a stove from
cardboard box, paint and a few other creative objects not only serve the
same purpose, but it will also get some creative juices flowing, assist
in cognitive development and provide for some additional 'together time'
with your little one.
Puzzle
Play!
Apart from the obvious fun of building puzzles this activity is sure to develop several functions of the brain simultaneously.
Most notably developed in this process are the abilities to reason, deduce, analyze, sequence and the
development of logical thought and problem solving skills.
You can
introduce your toddler to the fun of puzzle
play around one year of age.
Guidelines for selecting age appropriate Puzzles for your child
 Every child develops at his/her own pace -
these are just guidelines and you are ultimately the judge of how difficult a puzzle is suitable for your child.
The number of pieces or complexity of the puzzle picture your child can handle is not just determined by your child's age
but also by how often your child has been exposed to puzzle play. If your 3 year old has never played with a puzzle before
then giving the child a 6 or 9 piece puzzle is only going to lead to a lot of tears and frustration. Give your child a
chance to establish the basics of puzzle building by starting off with an easy puzzle with a simple picture and allow your
child to set the pace for introducing puzzles with more pieces or more complex pictures. And
remember - the key is to have fun!
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Puzzles for Age: 1 to 1.5 years
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Simple
wooden lift-out puzzles with big knobs that little fingers can grasp
and manipulate with ease and matching pictures on the wooden base and puzzle piece are a great for introducing puzzles to babies and toddlers.
Try choosing a puzzle that features pictures on a topic that interests your child - this not
only helps them to match the puzzle piece to the correct space on the board but also provide
something for the two of you to discuss while playing puzzle.
Some wooden puzzles also comes
with different textures on the puzzle pieces that enhances
tactile stimulation.
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Puzzles for Age: 1.5 to 2 years
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Your toddler's
first jigsaw puzzle should consist of 2
chunky puzzle pieces that have clear pictures and are easy for little hands to grasp and
manipulate.
When your toddler start building 2 piece puzzles with ease - start introducing
puzzles with 3 and 4 piece puzzles.
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Age: 2 to 3 years
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 Your 2 to 3 year old will most
probably be able to manipulate puzzles from 3 or 4 pieces (2 year old) to 9 pieces (3 year old).
Try and get progressive puzzles that are sold in a box set - usually the box contains one or more
3 piece, 4 piece,
6 piece and 9 piece puzzle. You can also introduce wooden puzzles without knobs and without pictures on the
puzzle board so that they can start to match puzzle pieces based on shape and size (wooden puzzles) as opposed to pictures.
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Age: 3 to 4 years
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At around 3 years of age you can
start introducing cube puzzles.
Remember that every cube has 6 pictures on them - 6 possible matches. If you are just introducing cube puzzles start with a
simple two cube puzzle that features clear easy to match pictures before progressing to something more complex. Your 3 year
old will most probably be ready for a 9 piece puzzle and by the time your little one is 4 he/she can most probably handle a 20
piece puzzle with an easy uncluttered picture.
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Read more about selecting puzzles for older children...
At the start of a baby's second year their
understanding of words and their meaning (understanding of speech) is
months ahead of what they can express. Your baby/toddler will most probably not
spend too much time trying to figure out the "how to talk" if they haven't mastered the skills to walk yet. Once they figured out how to walk the development of their
expressive language skills take off. By 15 months the average baby may only speak
4 to 6 intelligible words. At this point your toddler will most probably
not utter the whole word and will most probably miss the starting and or ending consonants
(sounds) - this is normal. Make sure you repeat the word clearly
and in time - as your child's speech is developing, he/she will
start adding the start and end sounds to their words.
Play word and sound games with your child to help develop
their speech. If your toddler has difficulty saying
's' then sing the wheels of the bus and let the snake on the bus
say 's s s' and so on.
Make sure that you respond to your toddler's cues and communication. If he wants to listen to music and brings you the CD - be responsive and respect his request. He is
watching you and is learning from you how to behave.
If he is ignored and forced to voice his frustration and you
wait for this to happen before you react, he learns that whining
helps (it gets you what you want) and that he doesn't have to
listen the first time (because you don't).
Sign language
[DVDs that teach ASL]) has proven to be a very effective tool to help children communicate while they are still working on
developing their speech.
Reading with your
child and encouraging him/her to point out pictures/objects,
imitating the sound of different animals while reading/singing
and recognizing different body parts are all great activities
that will not only encourage development but promise to be a lot
of fun. Since only you may understand the first few words -
encouraging your toddler to talk will help you understand your
child's first words better - meaning less tantrums and
frustration because no one understands what your child is trying
to say.
Remember - the most important toy your
child can have during these critical developmental phases is
you. Toys can not replace the human interaction your child
receives from a caregiver that is sensitive to his/her needs. .
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Music for
Toddlers
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