Toddlers18-36 Month Development

Social

Emotional

PhysicalCognitive

Language

Typical and abnormal development

Activities and strategies to support development

Teacher and adult roles in supporting development

Cultural, ethnic, socioeconomic and environmental factors

What to Expect

Social Development

Normal Development

• Copies others

• Plays close to and sometimes with other children

• Shows interest in pretend play (example… playing with a doll)

• Points to show others things

• Notices emotions of other people

• Usually does not like to share

• Excited to see familiar people

• Begins to make friends or favor people

Abnormal Development

• Doesn’t point to show someone something

• Doesn’t make eye contact with others

• Doesn’t play pretend

• Doesn’t copy others actions

• Doesn’t show interest in playing with others

Activities and Strategiesto Support Social Development

• Dramatic Play Area • Children learn about themselves and what

they like by trying new activities.

• For example, children can try on new roles and perspective of other people in their lives

or in their community.

• Turn taking activities • Pushing cars back & forth, putting shapes into

a shape sorter or blowing bubbles.

• Eating/Pretend to eat

• Classroom Chores

• Teaches team work

• Encourage and model conversation to help them accomplish their task

Teacher and Adult Rolesin Supporting Social Development

• Teachers help children explore how we are alike and different and honor all families.

• Encourage child to play pretend and be creative.

• Give child props and dress-up clothes.

• Help your child resolve conflicts or problems in a healthy way.

• Provide guidance and initiate sharing and turn taking.

• Be understanding that toddlers are less willing to be complaint when they are tired or not feeling well.

• Model positive social and sharing behaviors in your everyday interactions with children and parents.

Emotional Development

Normal Development

• Has temper tantrums or shows defiant behavior

• Shows fear or is nervous around strangers

• Shows affection towards others

• Shows concern for others

• Understands the idea of “mine” and “no”

• Begins to show signs of guilt or remorse

Abnormal Development

• Shows little to no emotion (example… happy, sad, excited or anger)

• Does not realize when unknown people are present

• Fails to make eye contact or frequently look at the primary caregiver

• Does not show any signs of affection toward others (example… another child crying)

• Lacks emotion when a toys is taken by another child

Activities and Strategiesto Support Emotional Development

• Looking at pictures of emotions

• Read/look books about feelings and emotions

• Have pictures of different emotions and what they are around the classroom where the children can see.

• Have a quite place in your room where a child can go to if they are feeling angry, sad, or upset and just need a moment to calm down.

Teacher and Adult Rolesin Supporting Emotional Development

• Help your child understand and name feelings.

• Just being there and listening to them.

• Show interest, empathy and understanding of how they are feeling.

• Respond to child’s emotional and physical needs.

• Express feelings and emotions in a safe and appropriate ways.

• Allow them to show their anger in a way that is okay and what is not okay.

Physical Development

Normal Development

• Walk and run

• Change speed and direction

• Climb onto a steady chair

• Throw and kick balls

• Dances to music

• Begin to climb stairs

• Able to balance with minimal effort

Abnormal Development

• Doesn’t walk steadily

Activities and Strategiesto Support Physical Development

• Play ball/bean bags

• Roll the ball, kick, throw, etc…

• Dance/Freeze dance

• Learns to control body & movements

• Climbing up & down stairs

• Set up obstacle course

• Riding toys with peddles

• Helps them learn to use to push their feet

• Painting with fingers/brushes

• Playing with play dough

• Stringing beads onto a string

Teacher and Adult Rolesin Supporting Physical Development

• Have activities that promote balance within your classroom.

• Give child opportunities to run, throw, jump, climb, walk

• Provide your child with push and pull toys.

• Encourage your children to be active inside and outside daily.

• Give child opportunities to use crayons, markers, paintbrushes.

• Give child opportunities to use toys with parts to take apart and put together.

• Provide opportunities to use fingers to pick up small items, and do finger plays.

• Dance and sing songs with actions, and play movement games together.

• Provide opportunities to move in variety of spaces such as under, through, between; use furniture or playground equipment.

Cognitive Development

Normal Development

• Uses common items appropriately (example… spoon, phone, toy hammer)

• Line up and stack blocks

• Shows eye-hand coordination

• Grasps items with pointer finger and thumb

• Asks for help when needed

• Begins counting and Identifying shapes

• Begins solving problems (example… blows on hot food)

Abnormal Development

• Doesn’t know how to use common items

• Doesn’t frequently gain new words

Activities and Strategiesto Support Cognitive Development• Reading books

• Encourage vocabulary building and verbal development.

• Playing with blocks

• Learn balancing concepts

• Puzzles & shape sorters

• Allows them to problem-solve, increases memorization, understand the relationship between objects as they match shapes and figure out how things fit.

• Sensory table

• Sense of touch to learn

• Identify noise

• Give them choices to choose from

• Sing/practice the ABC’s

• Counting everything/anything

• Point out shapes & colors

Teacher and Adult Rolesin Supporting Cognitive Development

• Allow them to try & figure out problems and suggest possible solutions to them.

• Provide different shapes, colors or sizes, of blocks.

• Help them sort from smallest to largest, or longest to shortest, or by color.

• Describe what your child is doing during this process.

• Explore outdoors with your child, and look for patterns, size, number and shapes in nature and in the community.

• Use numerical concepts in everyday routines.

Language Development

Normal Development

• Incorporate plurals on simple words

• Recognizes things or pictures when they are named

• Repeats words

• Can say first name and age

• Follows instructions

• Shows interest in reading and writing

• Creates sounds while playing with toys (example… animal noises)

Abnormal Development

• Doesn’t copy others words

• Does not speak in sentences

• Produces an unusual amount of drool

• Speech is unclear

• Doesn’t understand simple instructions

• Does not communicate feelings

Activities and Strategiesto Support Language Development

• Listening to music, doing things with music, singing songs, playing with instruments

• Learning about rhymes

• Going to the grocery store/library/field trip…

• Talking about food/outside/what you are doing

• Learning how to use a book

• Discovery print

• Learning my name

Teacher and Adult Rolesin Supporting Language Development

• Encourage your child to use sounds and actions to communicate with you.

• Talk together

• Pay attention when your child talks

• Make stories & books part of your everyday routine

• Adapt schedules and activities to meet needs of a certain child

• Labels & objects with print and pictures

• Speak in complete sentences

• respond with the correct pronunciation when your child mispronounces something.

• Use props, such as puppets or dolls, with the stories.

• Give your child the chance to communicate with other children.

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Cultural, Ethnic, Socioeconomic and Environmental Factors

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Resources• Center for Disease Control and Prevention Learn the Signs Act Early

•http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/

• Washington State Early Learning and Development Guidelines

•http://www.del.wa.gov/publications/development/docs/guidelines.pdf

• Washington State Department of Early Learning Growth and Development

•http://www.del.wa.gov/publications/esit/docs/PrescreenChart_English.pdf

• National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families Behavior and Development

•http://www.zerotothree.org/child-development/

•http://www.zerotothree.org/about-us/areas-of-expertise/free-parent-brochures-and-guides/age-based-handouts.html