First, learning goes beyond literacy and numeracy. It’s also about trying ideas and figuring out how things work. In other words, learning is about experiencing where toddlers get to explore and interact with other people, surrounding toys and objects and the immediate environment.
Good learning activities for toddlers
To know which learning activities are good for your child, it helps to focus on those that encourage exploration and learning cause and effect relationships. Some examples are:
- Making a collage (and also help your child learn more about colour and texture)
- Pegs and peg containers (your child will be busy getting the pegs in and out of the containers, also a good way to practice counting)
- Wheeling and moving different toys and objects (your child will try out how things work if they do something)
- Throwing and chasing balls (notice how your child observes how the ball moves and bounces)
- Playing with sand and small amounts of water (a good way to learn more about texture as well as the nature of water)
Notice that these are all common everyday activities. After all, toddlers are still trying to make sense of the world around them, which is why they are naturally drawn towards exploration activities. They’re always curious about what will happen if they do something to an object.
Notice also that it’s about gaining experiences through interaction with objects and their surroundings. With these experiences, a child’s brain will always be busy processing and consolidating all the knowledge and making sense of them. This is crucial in their rapid brain development as the core brain architecture is being built and key neural connections are being formed and reinforced.
The key here is variety and activity. In the children’s early years, they still lack experience about the real world, which is why they’re always busy figuring things out. As parents, what we can do is to give them the stimulation they require. It’s the same case at the early learning centre where the learning environment has to encourage play and exploration.
Here at Teddy Bear Early Learning Centre, we emphasise play- and science-based learning. Our approach helps promote physical activity, creativity and exploration. This is a great way to help children develop their independence and confidence and better prepare them for the future.