Your child can transform from a young toddler to a teenager in the blink of an eye. This is why it is important to treasure the times when your child is going through the toddler developmental stages. Between 18 and 36 months, your child develops so rapidly that some parents might not be ready for it or keep up. In general, toddlers learn the best when they are playing. However, there are benefits to combining both structured and free play to repeat their actions and learn new skills. It is crucial to understand that the acquisition of every new skill will help your child to move on to the next stage before entering pre-school.
What Can Parents Do?
Parents obviously have the most important part to play in their children’s development from stage to stage. If you are a parent and are finding it hard to navigate the toddler developmental stages, fret not because it is not that complicated. What you can do on your part is to provide your child with different toys that are fun, tactile, and engaging. These toys should come in a range of varying textures, shades, functions, sizes and sounds. If your child is too young to play with these toys on their own, it would be wise to guide them through how each toy works. However, it is also good to let your child do their own exploration to develop their analytical and critical thinking skills.
Imitative Play
Within the ages of 21 to 24 months, toddlers usually start engaging in imitative play. What this means is that they will tend to observe you and other children, and copy their mannerisms, actions, and their way of playing. However, this is an integral part of their development because it helps them to figure out the true functions of the objects which they interact with. Usually around this period, your child will start to engage in cooperative play. This kind of play consists of interacting with you or another family member. An example of this would be throwing a rubber ball back and forth. Although your child will show subtle signs of wanting to join in cooperative play, these periods of play tend to get longer as they grow older.
Types of Development
Toddlers go through a few different types of development as they grow up. This includes development in areas such as social, physical and cognitive. Social development consists of becoming aware of the existence of other people, as well as wanting to interact with them. Physical development refers to how well your child can develop skills such as walking, running and jumping for example. Cognitive development on the other hand can be more complex than the other two. An example of it would be your child’s ability to solve problems, such as, at a fundamental level, figuring out different shapes and colors while sorting them correctly.
Language Learning
Most parents know that toddlers pick up new words like a sponge. Despite their ability to retain new information and learn, parents sometimes might find it hard to understand their toddlers’ speech, especially if they have just learnt the words. However, they will typically be able to find meaning in these words and piece them together, all while seeing improvement in their grasp on pronunciation.