In a previous blog, we talked about ways to help your baby learn by playing games, singing songs, and talking to them. In this post, we’ll jump ahead by a year or two and discuss ways in which you can help your toddler learn, including activities with textures, measuring, and organization. At our learning center, we want children of every age to love learning and experiencing the world in new and exciting ways. With a traditional education, along with playtime and quiet time, your child can enjoy the time they spend with us.
Play With Texture
Play time is a combination of learning and experiencing the world. Toddlers enjoy being able to touch, smell, and taste the things around them. Learning the alphabet can be challenging and frustrating when it is simply reciting letters, but when making an art project out of it, it can be turned into a game. Draw big, bubble letters on poster paper and let your toddler fill in the letters with sandpaper, beans, cotton balls, pasta, and pipe cleaners. Say the name of the letter as they are working on it. Even though it might be too early to begin writing letters with a pencil, with this activity they can use their fingers as the writing utensil. Take this activity a step further and write out their name so they can begin to discover the sounds as well.
Sneak in Some Math
Children love to see how tall they are next to other items. Instead of using a ruler to measure, find other objects to measure themselves, or things around the house to make the activity fun and interesting. Use their favorite set of blocks to measure how long the couch is, or lay on the ground outside and measure how many apples tall they are. They will have fun interacting with the items and will also be able to practice counting.
Label Household Items
Being able to associate letters and words with the objects themselves will help further their understanding. Choose a few objects around the house like the table, chairs, lamps or books and create a label for them, rotating the labels periodically. Use a simple font and tape the labels onto objects. Either asking with which letter “lamp” begins, or pointing out different letters will help your toddler understand letters, words, and objects.
Scavenger Hunts
Designing a scavenger hunt doesn’t need to be very in-depth for your toddler to have fun searching for and exploring the area they are in. Even a trip to the grocery store can turn into an adventure. You can ask your child to find items that are orange, red, or yellow (this works great in the produce department). When you are at home, you can place items around the house for them to seek out or find all of the “Y”s in the bookcase.
Children of all ages enjoy playing and all parents will enjoy the playing when some learning is mixed in too! At The Pillars Christian Learning Center, we want your children to experience early childhood development in a way that is engaging and exciting. Through playing and creating, letters and words will become a natural part of their days. Schedule a visit to our learning center today!