TODDLERS MAY

• Explore cause-and-effect relationships by intentionally repeating an action and
  observing the reaction (rolling a car down a ramp repeatedly).
• Explore cause and effect by repeating an action and observing the reaction (rolling a car down a ramp repeatedly).
• Explore the properties of objects by grabbing, pushing, pulling, turning over, and throwing them.
• Make simple decisions, takes action, and observes the impact of their actions on others (pushing a toy truck toward an adult, watching it hit the adult, and observing how the adult reacts).
• Engage in pretend play and games requiring several sequential actions (playing kickball, which requires kicking a ball, running, and then stopping at a base).
• Treat objects differently as they begin to understand similarity and difference (squeezing stuffed animals and throwing balls).

YOU CAN

• Provide clear explanations for cause and effect (when child tries to touch something hot, say “HOT! Stop! Hands off.”).
• Play with and manipulates different materials so child can see changes (mixing flour and water makes dough).
• Provide opportunities for children to experiment with outcomes (turning lights on and off). Describes how objects react (“when you kick the ball it rolls;” “listen, when you bang the bell, it rings”).
• Show child how to compare objects’ size, shape, and other characteristics (explore how a flower is different from a tree).
• Ask child what he/she likes and does not like about experiences.
• Engage child in routine activities, explaining the “why’s” (“We vacuum the floor to clean up the dirt”).
• Help child make generalizations (“If it is sunny here it will probably be sunny at the park”.

TODDLERS MAY

• Make plans before attempting to solve a simple problem.
• Understand actions in sequence (saying “goodbye” and then leaving, or asking for music and then dancing).
• Put two actions together in sequence (grabbing a large ball and rolling it).
• Know where things are kept in familiar environments.
• Successfully follow two-step directions.

YOU CAN

• Provide opportunities for child to work out problems with and without assistance.
• Talk through a process out loud, or otherwise demonstrates possible solutions, while problem solving (“I can’t find my keys so I want to remember the last time I had them. Oh, they’re in this coat pocket!”).

TODDLERS MAY

• Find objects after they have been hidden nearby.
• Draw or scribble and explain the drawing.
• Experiment with new uses for familiar
  objects.
• Provide a simple description of a person or object that is not present (child barks when asked what noise the dog makes).
• React to mental images of objects or events (claps hands when told aunt/uncle is coming to visit).
• Identify symbols for familiar objects correctly (photo of dog).

YOU CAN

• Engage child in exploration, supporting imaginative play (“Did you make me some coffee in that cup?“).

TODDLERS MAY

• Play make-believe with props (dolls, stuffed animals, blocks).
• Create an imaginary friend.
• React to people in costume as if they are the characters they portray.
• React to puppets as if they are real.

YOU CAN

• Play make-believe with child (“Let’s pretend that we are cooking dinner.”).
• Understand that the line between fantasy and reality is unclear at this age, and a child may become frightened by this confusion.
• Discuss child’s dreams, ideas, and imagination with him/her.
• Allow child to have imaginary friends.
• Read fiction and non-fiction books and share family and traditional oral stories with child, discussing how they are different.

TODDLERS MAY

• Understand that putting two sets of objects together makes more and taking sets of objects apart will make less.
• Add and subtract with sets of objects smaller than three.
• Begin to say or gesture the number two when asked how old they are.
• Put objects in accurate, one-to-one correspondence (placing one plastic egg into each indentation of an egg carton).
• Name their first number word, typically “two” (or holds up two fingers).
• Count up to five objects.
• Name and identify some written numerals.
• Identify numerals as being different from letters.
• Bring two treats when asked to get treats for two people.
• Count to ten (or in some way indicates a knowledge of words for the numbers from one to ten in sequence) with occasional errors.

YOU CAN

• Use numbers in everyday routines (ask child if he/she would like one or two more pieces of something.
• Pair objects during daily activities (“One child gets one snack.”).
• Provide child with math-related toys and objects from own and other cultural backgrounds.
• Talk about using math and writing numerals in daily activities in front of child (cooking).

TODDLERS MAY

• Find and point to small objects (the tiny mouse on the pages of Goodnight Moon).
• Use words such as “big,” “small,” and “more.”
• Understand and use general measurement words, such as “big” and “hot.”
• Recognize when their food bowl is empty and gesture to indicate that, or say “more” or “all gone.”
• Notice when another child has more of something and gestures or verbalizes “want more”.
• Put groups of objects together and begins to subtract (share) objects by offering one or more to a friend or adult.
• Have a general understanding of the passing of time and the meaning of phrases like “not now” and “after lunch.”

YOU CAN

• Use size words, such as “many,” “big,” and “little” when talking to children.
• Provide sand and water play, giving child opportunities to pour, fill, scoop, weigh, and dump.
• Help child measure (during cooking, art projects, grocery shopping).
• Help child to arrange blocks, toys, or objects from smallest to largest or shortest to longest.
• Chart child’s changes in height and weight.

TODDLERS MAY

• Separate objects by a single feature (“all the red blocks go here”).
• Match simple geometric forms (circle, square, triangle).
• Notice when two things share similar attributes (cars and buses have wheels).
• Recognize and extend a simple repeating pattern (stomp/clap, stomp/clap).
• Match small and large objects (counting bears to make “Mommy and Baby” pairs).
• Copy an adult’s made-up verbal pattern (“me, me, moo”).
• Recognize patterns within stories and songs.

YOU CAN

• Show simple patterns using children, objects, or a flannel board (tallest to shortest, same color on boots).
• Engage child in comparing and putting in order objects (blocks, crayons).
• Help children see patterns in nature (types of leaves).
• Play matching games with familiar sights (artwork, murals, clothing, utensils).
• Provide play and art materials that have different shapes (circles, squares, triangles).

TODDLERS MAY

• Use all five senses to examine different objects with attention to detail.
• Identify similarities or difference in objects.
• Systematically explore the world (notice different types of insects).

YOU CAN

• Explore the environment with child and show interest in objects found and observed.
• Provide materials for a variety of sensory experiences (rice, sand, playdough).
• Provide opportunities for child to examine things in detail by asking open-ended questions (“Why do you think spruce needles are so sharp?”).

TODDLERS MAY

• Ask simple questions about the natural world (“Where did the rainbow go?”).
• Observe and/or manipulate objects and events to answer simple questions about the natural world.
• Make guesses about what might happen based on past experience.

YOU CAN

• Engage child in discussions about thinking ahead by asking “what if” questions about the natural world.
• Help child notice patterns in behaviors and discusses what comes next. (“After we read a bedtime story, we turn out the lights.”)

TODDLERS MAY

• Show understanding of how things grow and change.
• Comment on what it takes to make things grow (“The plant needs water.”).
• Ask questions about the earth.
• Identify weather (sun, rain, snow).
• Identify or labels earth’s materials (water, rocks, dirt, and leaves).
• Demonstrate curiosity about the natural environment by asking “Why” questions (Why is the flower red?”).

YOU CAN

• Provide opportunities for child to play safely with water.
• Play with child outside and talks about safety (stay in yard, wear warm clothes).
• Safely introduce child to pictures of natural phenomena (sea, caves, waterfalls, forests).
• Help show child how to take care of the environment.

TODDLERS MAY

• Remember and communicate what happened earlier in the day.
• Recall basics of recent events (are able to follow a daily routine).
• Anticipate recurring events in typical routines (“After I eat lunch, I will hear a story.”).
• Connect new experiences to past experiences. Experiment with general terms related to the elements of time (“Today we are going to Grandma’s”).
• Make predictions about what might happen in the future.

YOU CAN

• Use pictures to talk with child about what will happen in the future and what has happened in the past.
• Tell stories from the past, indicating awareness of time by beginning, “A long time ago...” .
• Talk with the child to recall what happened yesterday or last night.
• Show the child pictures and tell stories about the way something or someone looked in the past compared to now.

TODDLERS MAY

• Match familiar shapes (circle, square, triangle) that have the same size and the same orientation.
• Attempt to stack blocks as high or higher than themselves.
• Match simple shapes (placing a shape on a shape board).
• Explore gravity (push toy cars down an incline, such as a slanted board).
• Respond to spatial directions, such as “come here,” “go over there,” and “get down on the floor,” especially if the words are accompanied by pointing.

YOU CAN

• Use position words in a conscious way (suggest child puts magazine under the book that is on the table).
• Play “travel” with child, (takes “trips” on a bus or plane, use road maps and pictures of different places he/she has been).

TODDLERS MAY

• Know different environments (sees pictures of fish and says “They live in water.”).
• Recognize familiar buildings (home, school, post office, library, community building).

YOU CAN

• Read aloud books and tell family and traditional stories about children living in different climates and discuss how their food, clothing, and houses are different.
• Take child to geographical locations that may be unfamiliar (parks, mountains, ocean, new neighborhoods.)
• Take child for walks and points out signs and landmarks that indicate locations.

TODDLERS MAY

• Recognize relationship between supply and demand (understand that he/she cannot have another cracker because they are all gone).
• Recognize and use objects for barter or trade during play (with assistance).

YOU CAN

• Provide child with play materials that have economic uses (cash registers, wallets, purses, checkbooks, credit cards, receipts, for dramatic play).
• Use the names of coins and currency, demonstrating and explain both their real and relative value (“buy” groceries from child).
• Read books to child about jobs in different parts of the world.

TODDLERS MAY

• Help with home and class routines that keep the house/classroom clean.
• Discard trash in trash can.
• Recognize and responds to characteristics of the environment (exclaims out loud when he/she sees bird or a very tall tree).
• Use natural objects for play (makes mud pies, makes a house out of sticks, uses leaves for a pillow).

YOU CAN

• Make taking care of the indoor and outdoor environment a normal part of the daily routine.
• Use recycled materials to create props for play (empty oatmeal box, wrapping paper tube).
• Carry a bag on walks with child to pick up litter.
• Collect and uses natural materials for play (leaves, sticks, shells).

TODDLERS MAY

• Play with battery-operated toys and learning objects, with assistance.
• Make mechanical toys work, if labeled safe for children under three years.
• Change their behavior in response to their environment by using the “tools” around them (If a toy is on a towel, pulling the towel to bring the toy closer, rather than just going over to the toy). Adapt “tools” (using a stick to reach something under a chair).
• Use objects in new ways to solve a problem or meet a goal (propping up a track with a block so a toy train can pass underneath).

YOU CAN

• Teach child basic phone skills (“Hello,” “Goodbye,” words instead of gestures).
• Limit child’s screen time to no more than one hour a day of quality time when more than two years old.
• Engage in listening to stories and music from own and other cultural backgrounds.
• Ensure that child is exposed to diverse cultures, languages and ethnic heritages.
• Eliminate resources that contain violence, including cartoons.
• Talk with child about how assistive technology helps people (motorized wheelchairs, communication devices.)

TODDLERS MAY

• Squeeze soft clay and dough into abstract shapes.
• Repeat the same song over and over.
• Dance alone or with others.
• “Play” musical instruments (attempts to blow into a whistle or harmonica).
• Explore roles through imaginative play, such as saying “Boo” to them.
• Demonstrate preferences for favorite colors.
• Move their body with increasing skill to express emotions and rhythms.
• March with musical instruments with support from adults.
• Imitate simple songs and finger-play movements.
• Watch and copy other children’s play
  activities.

YOU CAN

• Introduce child to a variety of art materials and allows open-ended exploration.
• Engage child in the use of simple musical instruments (rhythm sticks, drums,
  tambourine).
• Expose child to a variety of live and recorded music.

TODDLERS MAY

• Talk or sing to themselves for comfort or enjoyment.
• Stop, turn their head to listen, and watch when hearing music or other rhythmic sounds.

YOU CAN

• Express a sense of awe and appreciation of works of art, those that the child creates and those that others create.
• Exhibit child’s artwork in places that can be viewed and admired easily.
• View art materials as meaningful and provides a space for their use.
• Display local and classic art forms from child’s cultural background.