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- Make every day a reading day. Read stories, poems, books or articles to your child. Read labels and signs. Show your child how you read from left to right, top to bottom and front to back.
- Point out individual letters within words as you read to toddlers. Help them begin to understand the concepts of letters and words. Young children especially like to pick out the letters in their names.
- Keep a box of old clothes, including hats, scarves and shoes so toddlers can play "dress up." Provide a full-length mirror so children can see themselves pretending. Dress up with your child and play pretend with him.
- Provide plenty of opportunities for your toddler to make choices. Green or blue socks? Orange juice or milk? Sing or read?
- Make reading more interactive by stopping to ask your toddler questions as you read. "What do you think the puppy will do next?" "I wonder what happens next?" This will help him start thinking in order – what happens before, during and after.
- Play a game of "freeze!" Put on music and let your child dance around. Turn off the music and say "freeze!" See if she can freeze in place. She’ll have fun with the game and learn she is able to control herself.
- Allow toddlers to safely experience the sounds, textures and sights of nature. Roll in the cool grass, make mudpies, describe the colors and smells of flowers, listen to running water.
- Sort and fold laundry with your toddler. Let him help to sort light colors from dark colors. Or sort by color, size, shape or article. Ask him to put all the socks in one pile, all the shirts in another pile. This helps to develop classification skills.
- Make a mystery box for your child. Take an old shoe box, or cardboard box and cut a hole large enough for your child’s hand at one end. Put familiar objects inside, such as a sponge, baby cup, a block and a ball. Let your baby feel objects and guess what it is inside. With your child, decorate the outside of the box with colored paper and pictures.
- Make a scrapbook of your child’s favorite things. Ask her to find pictures of her favorite food, color, toy, animal or place. When she does, attach the picture to a sheet of paper then write words that best describe the picture. Have her save the picture pages together in a special scrapbook.
- Encourage your child to use his imagination. Ask him to think of a piece of wood as a boat or airplane, or imagine a stick as a person. You can imagine with him and help make up stories. This kind of play helps children be creative and be story tellers.
- Play all kinds of music for your child. Take her to live musical performances to listen to different musical instruments. Let her enjoy gently playing a piano and describe the differences in high and low notes. Children’s performances will introduce her to the names of other instruments such as violin, guitar, trumpet and saxophone.
- When your child misbehaves, or is upset or angry, help him calm down by staying calm yourself. Make rules that are simple and clear and stick to them. Talk to your child about his feelings; "It’s okay to be angry, but it’s not okay to hit because someone could get hurt."
- Make a musical "flute" or "clarinet" from paper towel cardboard rolls. Cut holes in it and encourage your child to toot and play music.
- Play "Alphabet I Spy" when you are reading a story or out for a walk. Have your child look for letters of the alphabet. Work your way through the alphabet depending on the letters she knows so far.
- Let your child help to unload and sort groceries. Ask him to sort the cans from the boxes. He will learn about groups and sorting.
- Bath tub toys can help teach your toddler. Stock the tub with plastic margarine tubs. With some tubs, cut small and large holes in the bottom. Encourage your baby to pour water back and forth from the tubs. Talk about what is "empty" and what is "full" and how quickly or slowly the water drains from the holes. Keep an assortment of sponges and other safe toys. Encourage your child to imagine the tubs as boats.
- Finger paint with your child. Paint on paper and on your arms. Describe the colors to your child, and what the paint feels like. Add food coloring to shaving cream for a homemade paint that smells good, too. Make sure your paints are washable and nontoxic.
- Use gardening time as a teaching time. Let your child dig in the dirt. Let her help to plant flowers and teach her about plants’ needs for water, sun, weeding and feeding. Help them learn differences between grass, flowers and shrubs. Help them observe as plants grow and produce flowers or vegetables.
- Let your child see that writing is important. Point out words and letters to him. If he tries to "write" and it looks like scribbles, ask him to tell you what the "words" say. Over time, he will learn how to write real words but in the meantime it’s okay for toddlers to do "pretend writing."
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