As parents I think we all struggle to find the right balance of play and learning for our toddlers.  The drive seems to be towards having the best, brightest and most gifted toddler so you can brag to all the other moms at the park.  It drives me crazy when parents compare their children, especially when they hype up what their child can do, like saying their child can say the entire alphabet at the age of 18 months when really all their child can do is repeat the letters after them.  Parents who don’t see through this think their child is behind and start stressing about it, not a combination for parent or child.

For toddlers the best approach to “teaching” them things is through their play and their interactions with you and others throughout the day.  Toddlers learn by watching what others do, hearing what others are saying and repeating those behaviors.  The more you talk to your child throughout the day be it by reading books, narrating your day or having a mini conversation with them the more your toddler will learn about language and how to use it.

Here are some great ways to use your every day interactions and playtime with your toddlers into teaching tools:

  • As you are out running errands point out things of different colors and have your child tell you what color it is.  Like point at a yellow bus and ask your child what color it is.  If they don’t get it right tell them the color and keep doing that.  Eventually as your child learns their colors more they will be able to identify them better in the real world.
  • Another great errand game is asking your child if they see something that you have spotted, say a picture of a dog.  Ask your child if they see and dog and to point it out.  My daughter loves this game, she will play with me now by saying she sees a bear and then I have to look around to see if I can find it.
  • You can practice number recognition as you are putting the dishes away.  Ask your child to pass you two (or whatever number) spoons from the dishwasher.
  • As you are folding laundry practice colors with your child by seeing if they can find and pass you the red shirt, or the blue socks, etc.
  • Shapes are every where and as you are out and about or in the kitchen working on dinner or out in the yard playing point out shapes, as your child begins to recognize certain shapes like squares and circles ask your child to point out certain shapes.  For example, ask your child to show you where the square window is, or the circle cup, etc.
  • Sing with your child while you are going about your day, songs like the ABCs, twinkle twinkle, and the wheels on the bus at great.
  • Just talk to your child and tell them what you are doing as you go about your day, they will learn so many new words just by listening to you.

My daughter is big into identifying shapes, naming colors and pointing out objects as we are walking around a store.  She loves to “help” with household chores as well and has learned so many new words just be listening to me tell her what something is.  Toddlers are little sponges and love to learn.  Their learning doesn’t have to come from structured lessons at this age, they learn so much more just by interacting with you and others and watching what is going on in the world around them.

What games do you play with your children to help them learn new things?

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