Today Tile Triggered Content

Do you look at your feet as you walk upstairs or at your arm as you push it into your sleeves? You might if the steps are uneven or if there is a bit of twisting involved in getting your arms in the right position. The reason you don’t need to look every time is that you have developed a good proprioception – the sense that enables you to be aware of your body’s position and movement. Your toddler is still mastering these skills and they are particularly tricky for them as they are growing all the time, which means their body awareness constantly needs to change.  

Proprioception is the sense that enables us to be aware of our body’s position and movement.  

When your toddler is mixing with a spoon, they may make quite a bit of mess! It’s such a great feeling to stir different ingredients in a bowl and while their handling skills are developing you might find the spoon, bowl and all the ingredients go flying! Thankfully, the outdoors can provide children with a better space, and less constrained way, to practise these developing skills. 

The outdoor world offers rich and diverse experiences that change throughout the year.  

You may have seen your toddler showing a preference for certain types of toy and styles of play. This is an exciting stage for them, as they are becoming more tuned into the world and noticing things around them. However, as we all know, play hasn't always been offered equally to girls and boys, raising the question of whether they are innately drawn towards particular toys and types of play, or are encouraged to choose what's 'set out' for them by society and tradition. 

For centuries, gender-based ideals^[1] for how children should play have been set and met, with a typical play scene depicting girls engaged in role-play looking after a baby, and boys playing with big trucks and cars.  

Learning to write is a complex process that requires a combination of skills. Your toddler is in a fabulous stage of their development right now and we would encourage you to embrace and enjoy it because it will benefit them tremendously when they begin to learn handwriting. To understand more about how what they are doing now will serve them well later, we need to look at the wider picture. 

Writing relies on skills in a variety of development areas. 

We know what you are thinking about now – even though we told you not to. Are you wondering what toy monkeys have to do with your toddler’s development? Thinking about how you respond to a negative statement can be helpful when thinking about supporting your toddler’s understanding and behaviour.  

The way children learn to understand and speak is fascinating to scientists and parents alike. How does your toddler learn the vocabulary and grammar of the language or languages you speak? Do you need to spend time teaching them and getting them to practise new words? You might be pleased to hear the short answer is no, just chat with them.  

In 2019, educational psychologists and professors at Harvard Graduate School of Education, Meridith Rowe and Catherine Snow, reviewed research about language development,particularly which of the things that parents and other caregivers do to support children’s language learning during the first five years.^[1] 

Toddlers love to clean. We know this might not quite feel true – as toddlers can also be the messiest people in the house by far – but while they might not yet have the skills to keep everything neat and tidy, when given the opportunity toddlers often enjoy the act of cleaning itself. Putting away dishes, wiping a table, mopping a spill, using a dustpan or sweeping with a broom, the act of cleaning itself is something toddlers are often drawn to, and with good reason. 

Toddlers’ bodies are growing and changing, they’re getting taller, stronger and more coordinated, all of which means they can be successful in a wider variety of tasks. They are also looking for opportunities to challenge and build on the physical skills they’re learning.  

You might not remember how you made friends when you were little, we kind of just know we had them. Becoming friends is a long, steady process, with ups and downs along the way. Your toddler won’t know what a friend is just yet, or what it means to be friends, but they are beginning to show interest in others who enjoy doing the same things as they do. What a great start for them! 

Having the same interests helps your toddler create connections with others 

Lots of children love counting, they might enjoy the excited responses of people around them, or the rhythm and music of chanting numbers – and researchers found even young toddlers preferred a correct counting sequence to an incorrect one.^[1] But there’s more to understanding numbers and quantity than saying the numbers in order. 

There are several skills involved in understanding numbers and counting, and some your toddler will have had since they were born. Researchers have found that babies have an awareness of quantity from birth – this seems to be quite accurate for small amounts (up to two or three items), and more approximate for larger ones.^[1] 

Sometimes it’s hard to understand the world from your toddler’s point of view, but a bit of knowledge about child development can help to make sense of what they do! 

Does your toddler seem shocked when the flower they took off a plant can’t simply be placed back on? They might be devastated when they can’t put a bit of a broken toy in position and see it magically fixed.  

One of the ways we all learn about the world is through cause and effect, and one thing your toddler has learnt is that somethings can be changed – then changed back again.