Understanding Toddlers

Who is a toddler?

• A child between the ages of 1 and 3 years old. • Before the age of one they are considered an

infant.• When they hit 3 years old they are considered Preschool age.

Physical Development

• After infancy, growth in height and weight slows.

• Appetites decrease• Gain lots of teeth!• Body proportions gradually change. Infants have large heads in

proportion to their bodies---this becomes more of a natural proportion.

Physical Development

• Gross motor skills: skills that use large muscles (back , legs, shoulders, arms, etc)

• Climbing and walking is mastered

• Begin to push themselves on wheeled toys then pedal by end of their second year.

Physical Development

• Fine motor skills: skills that require use of small muscles (fingers, wrists, ankles, etc.)

• Improved hand eye coordination• Stack blocks, string beads, simple puzzles, turn

pages of a book, scribble with crayons, turn doorknobs, feed themselves.

Physical Development

• Toilet Training– Children around the age of

two are physically and intellectually ready to begin toilet training.

– Girls tend to master the skill earlier than boys.

Intellectual Development

• Ask “Why”• Discover their world by

satisfying their curiosity.• Use trial and error,

repetition, and imitation• Increased attention span• Increased memory

Intellectual Development

• Remember Piaget’s first period of intellectual development was the sensorimotor period (ages birth-2)

• Piaget’s second period of intellectual development– Preoperational Period– Covers ages 2-7– A period when children start to think symbolically

and imaginatively. They rely less on motor abilities and more on thinking to direct behavior.• Examples: Make believe play, inventing and creating

Intellectual Development

• Language– Start by answering yes

and no, pointing, and following simple commands.

– By two years old they have a growing vocabulary of 50 to 300 words. Can name familiar objects.

Intellectual Development

Children try to understand new information 2 ways:

Assimilation: children take in new information and try to make it fit with what they currently know and understand. (example: thinking a black and white spotted dog is a cow)

Accommodation: children change their thinking to make new information fit. (learning the difference between a dog and a cow)

Emotional Development

• Still learning control• Prone to impulsiveness and

quick mood swings• Develop a sense of

independence • Develop fears (spiders, water,

etc.)• Sense of security continues as a

primary emotional need for toddlers.

Social Development• PLAY is how they are learn.

Solitary Play: Playing alone (1-2 years old)

Parallel Play: Playing alone but next to another child. (2-3 years old)

• Begin to learn social rules