Did you know... children not only overextend words, but they underextend too?
When it comes to learning language, there's a lot to take in, beyond just the words themselves. Children will often overextend and underextend words – but both of these are signs that your toddler is thinking independently.
Overextending is when instead of relying on an adult to tell them a word, your toddler sorts the information they know and tries to find a word that best matches. For example, they will usually categorise objects according to their size, colour, shape, movement sound or texture.[1]
Oro-motor skills and why they’re important for your toddler’s speech and eating
When people talk about fine motor skills, they are often referring to developing control of hands and fingers, but it also involves small muscles in other parts of the body. Learning to control their lips and tongue is an important part of your toddler’s eating and learning to talk. Scientists describe movements of the lips, cheeks, jaw and tongue as oral-motor (or oro-motor) skills.
Development begins before birth
Fantastic finger rhymes – why wiggling fingers is great for development
Finger rhymes aren’t just fun to share, they are also a brilliant way to support lots of skills.
Froebel’s finger plays – songs and rhymes can help build relationships
Boxes, lids and tubs – fantastic toys for your toddler
It’s often the simplest things that keep toddlers interested the longest – and a selection of boxes, tubs and lids (maybe with a few items to put inside) can entertain for ages. What’s even better is that playing with them is a brilliant workout for your toddler’s hands.
Your toddler will probably master taking lids off containers before they can put them back on again; this is because placing a lid onto a box or tub involves positioning the lid and keeping the box still as they put the lid on.
Snip, snip – the skills your toddler needs and develops using scissors
If you have scissors around at home, or if your toddler has seen them at nursery, they might be starting to show some interest in using them. Mastering cutting accurately is hard, your toddler will need to have the control and strength to open and close the scissors with one hand as they move them, while also holding whatever they’re cutting.
So, what exactly is involved in learning to use scissors and what can help your toddler develop these skills?
Imaginative play encompasses learning from just about everywhere
For some time now, your child has been learning about themselves, other people and potentially beings from other worlds. It is becoming easier for them to take on the most amazing imaginative superhuman powers, transforming themselves smoothly into a completely new being in no time at all.
This all happens as they've mastered language, social and cognitive skills, which mean they can play imaginatively for longer stretches of time – sometimes maybe even playing the same game across a few days.
Why everyday chats are great for your toddler’s speech
Learning new words is complicated and involves social, sensory, cognitive, language (and sometimes even physical) skills coming together to support learning. You and other people who are important to your toddler have an important part to play in this learning and these are some of the things we know will help.
Joint attention – or both looking at and talking about the same thing
Moving from words to sentences – what does your toddler need to know (and how can you help)?
Your toddler is beginning to use short sentences when they talk; they might use three or four words – which probably makes understanding what they’re telling you a bit easier! But, as you’ll know if you’ve learnt a new language as an adult, there’s much more to talking than simply knowing the words. So, what does your toddler need to master as they move from words to sentences?
The basics of language terminology and grammar
Strong hands and fingers – how everyday activities support fine motor skills
The vast array of products and toys available for your toddler can be confusing – do they need new things to develop their fine motor skills? The ideas on your activities tab will give you suggestions that are perfect for your toddler – but we thought it might be helpful to highlight some of the simple, everyday things that help develop co-ordination and control.
When we talk about fine motor control, we are talking about being able to co-ordinate movements made with the smaller muscles in our body. But, like so much of development, this control depends on other aspects.
