10 activities to help boost your toddler’s development
We spoke with our friends over at Babbu to find out more about boosting your toddler’s development, here’s what they shared with us!
Personal and Social
What am I like? Talk to your little one and ask them about the things that make them so
unique and special. This might be the colour of their hair, their eyes, how much they love
being outside, or how high they can jump. This is a fantastic and easy way to help your little one understand and develop their own sense of self.
Emotional
Funny faces. Let your little one know how you feel. It is good to share the emotions that you
are feeling and how your facial expressions display may show that feeling too. Play a game and let them copy or guess the emotion e.g. frown for a sad face, or yawn for a tired face.
Physical
Let’s move. Are you in the mood for dancing, or maybe your little one is? Getting your little
one to move around, whether they are jumping from sofa to sofa or attempting knee slides
across the kitchen floor, any type of movement is beneficial! The skills that they use to do
these types of movements are called ‘gross motor’, which are big movements which are
responsible for developing whole body strength.
Communication and Language
Make up a story. Ask your little one to gather some of thie favourite toys. Make up a story
with them, let them choose the characters, scenarios or the weather. This is a great way to
support the development of their imagination and creativity, whilst also understanding the
concept of a story having a beginning, middle and end.
Literacy
Play I-spy. This is a great activity with requires no materials at all. This activity supports your
little one’s communication and language development through developing listening skills
through hearing letter sounds, and enhancing their phonic skills. This also helps your little
one begin to relate letter sounds to objects. For example, “I-spy something beginning with h, h, h”, and pronouncing ‘h’ as ‘huh’ instead of ‘haitch’.
Maths
Build something. Depending on the resources around, encourage your little one to create
something by stacking or lining up some materials. Try to remember to ask them open
ended questions such as ‘Can you tell me what you’ve made?’, instead of ‘I love the castle
you have built’.
Understanding the World
Go for a walk. Not only is going for a walk with you little one good for yours and their mental
health and well-being, it also is great to help them with their physical development. You
could talk about the different sounds that you can hear in the environment. By doing this, you can help your little one begin to make connections between the sounds they hear and the associated name.
Expressive Arts and Design
Imagine this... If the weather is nice (not too sunny) and you have the space to do so, lay on your back with your little one on a comfortable surface on their back too. Talk about the
shapes, faces, animals, or numbers that you might see in the clouds. Encourage your little
one to look up and tell you or point to something that they are interested in.
Practical Life (Montessori-style)
Encourage independence. Let your little one try to put their socks on or hand you their
nappy. All of this is part of their development of self-care as they begin to learn that they can do thing by themselves. It doesn’t matter if their t-shirt is on back to front, they tried! Maybe ask them if is comfortable, or if it is a printed shirt, ask ‘Shall we try and see if we can put the dinosaur that is on your back, on your tummy instead?’
Sensorial (Montessori-style)
Messy play! This doesn’t necessarily mean getting out a tuff-tray and making a mess. This
could simply be them exploring the food in front of them when its time to eat.
| Babbu is the UK’s first online nursery™ designed to support, reassure and
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