As infants become toddlers, the call to help them to develop and grow assumes a much greater importance. This is the fundamental developmental stage of any child’s life, and making sure toddlers are involved with appropriate activities to cultivate their development is among the most essential responsibilities of any parent. By engaging our youngsters with the proper form of activities, we are able to make certain that their development is inspired and helped on the way. Keeping that in mind, let’s take a look at many of the most relevant activities which you can use to help your toddler’s development.

Language Building Activities

Although some toddlers can take a while before they start talking, their understanding of words is always growing. Talking to your child, even when they can’t word a response, is so important at this stage, as is reading age appropriate and tactile books that will keep your toddlers attention. Further to this, you can aid your toddler’s language development by engaging in simple word games. This could be through picture cards with printed names, or for a more DIY approach, you could consider putting labels on many of the items around the home. These word game activities are not only fun but are fantastic for speech and language development.

Mental Development

Promoting problem solving and independent thought reasoning in toddlers is a key element in their mental progression. Most games that a toddler plays with involve some sort of mental stimulation, but if you really want to give them a kick start, encourage your toddler to engage in games involving patterns, recognition or order. This can be sorting objects by colour or size, or perhaps moving objects in sequence. Cause and effect style play is also very helpful, and something as simple as a light switch can really help your child make mental connections.

Develop Motor Skills

Many teachers will attest to the fact that a surprising number of children can struggle to hold a crayon or pencil when first presented with one. This is down to under-developed motor skills which occur simply because the child has not been exposed to activities that require such skills. Scribbling, doodling and colouring are all very important developmental activities that every toddler should learn. It is only through scribbling that the child can grow comfortable holding the crayon or pencil. Introducing these activities at a young age can significantly aid your child when they have to go to school.