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?
Let your toddler’s eye for detail run wild with this fun board book!
This sturdy book is a brilliant way to enjoy Axel Scheffler’s joyful illustrations in a whole new way, and mix up story time with a game that’s great for supporting your toddler’s visual development!
Now that your toddler is more interested in noticing similarities, they will start to understand – and feel achievement in – matching things. In My First Search and Find: On The Farm by Axel Scheffler, they can turn the pages using the big tabs (making it easy to find the pictures they like most).
Much more than capital cities – how you can help your toddler become a geographer
You might not have given much thought to your toddler's grasp of geography. But the experiences and conversations they have will give them skills and knowledge that provide a rich foundation for understanding people and places – which really is what geography is all about!
What is geography?
What’s that? It's moving, let me grab it!
Your toddler is now better able to pick up objects that move, thanks to their developing fine motor skills. Great when it comes to playtime, but what about when they see a spider or ladybird? Your toddler might use their developing fine motor and sensory skills to try and grab it.
It’s moving, I want to pick it up!
Motor planning and what it means when stacking blocks
You'll spot the term 'motor planning' a few times in the app. It involves making lots of different connections between the body and brain. Watching your toddler stacking blocks is a great way to see this complex process played out in a seemingly simple (but incredibly skillful) way.
Motor planning is a skill used in loads of everyday activities; it’s a combination of thought, sensory information and movement
More amazing things you can learn from your toddler
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: toddlers are inspirational. They have an intuitive way of thinking about things and their headspace isn’t as full as yours might be. It doesn’t harm to revisit ways of thinking that may be totally forgotten about.
Be in the moment
