Practical Ways to Help Toddlers at Home

I’d like to share some tips and ideas on Practical Ways to Help Toddlers at Home.  The following are a few general examples to be implemented in the home.

Toddlers are now able to have more control with their fine motor skills and have more understanding and heightened curiosity about the world. Parents can pass on values with small activities and help the child increase their self-confidence in their daily lives.

• Read a bedtime story every night even if it is only a short one. Make it a routine as it will also help children settle down at night.
• Tell true stories at bedtime instead of reading for a variety of bedtime routines.
• Borrow children's books from your local library to add variety to the collection of books read.
• Avoid using the TV as a babysitter. Limit the amount of time spent watching TV and videos etc. Set limited times when your child is allowed to watch TV.
• Teach your child how to turn off the TV. Allow them to self-regulate as to when it is enough to be sitting in front of the TV.
• Turn the TV off when your family is having meals. This is setting a good example of when to watch TV and allows for dinner conversation.

Outdoors

• Take time to walk at your child's pace when outdoors/in public.
• When outdoors, spend time talking and looking at things along the way. Name things along the way to help your child's vocabulary. Use this time to share news regarding things that are related to family/friends, people, and things that are important to you and your child.
• Remind children to wear hats and sunscreen before going out to play.
• Help your child learn the meaning of the traffic light colors.
• Encourage your child to put each activity or toy away when completed or finished playing with them.
• Encourage your child to be physically active as it leads to a feeling of well-being and helps promote good muscle tone, a strong heart, and helps deal with stress. It also helps them sleep better.
• Encourage the family to exercise together: dancing to favorite music, swimming at the closest aquatic center or in your pool, kicking a ball at the park or in your backyard, etc.
• Encourage respect for the environment.
• Involve the child in caring for the garden. Allow them to plant a small herb garden. Use the herbs to add taste to foods. This can also encourage them to eat the foods since they were involved in the preparation of the food. (We have been harvesting lettuce and chives from our Cricket garden and are serving them as part of our vegetable during snack time).
• Children can do small tasks that help develop respect for the environment by carrying the household compost to the compost bin or carrying out the papers to the recycling bin.
• Discourage waste; for example, remind children to use one piece of paper for drawing and to use the other side as well. A chalkboard is less wasteful.

Forming good eating habits

• Encourage the child to eat using child-sized cutlery. This can help them eat independently and gain confidence.
• Encourage healthy eating habits to lessen the chance of diet-related diseases by offering sticks of carrots or celery. Offering a variety is good.
  • Plenty of wholegrain cereals such as bread, rice, pasta, and noodles.
  • Lean meat, poultry, and fish.
  • Offer milk, yogurt, and cheese.
  • Encourage children to drink water instead of juice or soft drinks which contain added sugar.
  • Choose foods low in salt.
  • Expect the child to try new food but don't insist that they eat it if they don't like it.
  • Introduce foods repeatedly and they might one day change their mind and give it a try or even like it.
  • When at the dinner table ask questions and show interest in your child's day.

One last thing:

• Provide children with a variety of simple toys, not an overwhelming number of elaborate expensive ones. Pack things away and rotate them so children can manage to tidy their toys away with very little help.

-Cricket Teacher
(references dailymontessori.com)