by S D Rios

Created on: March 21, 2007   Last Updated: April 25, 2007

Parents don't actually need to "teach" their toddlers anything! Most child education experts agree that very young children learn amazingly quickly through simple play and social interactions. As we and our toddlers play, work, and interact with our environment, the very basic concepts of shapes, color, and even numbers and letters occur very naturally.

So how do we "teach" a toddler?

1. Talk! Narrate everything you do. As you get your toddler dressed, or better yet, help them to dress themselves, say, "One arm, two arms", "one shoe, two shoes" and so on. This is a basic introduction to counting in a very natural way! Count the buttons on the shirt as you button. Talk about colors - "Do you want to wear yellow socks or white socks today?" Take a walk and talk about nature. "Look how blue the sky is today! Look! Two orange butterflies! Look! A yellow flower!" Read the signs as you take a walk - "S T O P stop!"

2. Play! Buy a nice set of wooden blocks that have a variety of shapes and colors. As you build towers together, ask for the rectangle, ask for a red block, ask for a yellow triangle, and so on. The act of playing will engage your toddler far more than a formal lesson on shapes or even a coloring book activity with shapes. Even playing cars or trains is educational. "Put the green train behind the red train!" "The blue car is faster than the red car!"

3. Create! Children who scribble and pretend to write are learning essential pen strokes and are actually determining the very basics of language and writing. My little toddler's endless tiny circles are her way of writing like her big brother. She is learning that symbols have meaning, that letters form words that communicate something. What better way to learn colors than to smear big paper or canvas with great paint colors! Want to teach red - make a big red painting together! Eat some red food and wear red clothes! We teach and learn best by doing and experiencing!

4. Work! In the Montessori tradition, which researchers have often cited as one of the best for toddlers, children learn by doing for themselves and working. Count the shirts as you fold them together, have your toddler match socks. "Can you find two blue socks?" "Can you give me the bread that looks like a square? I want to make a sandwich for you!"

Toddlers are remarkable little learning machines. By being present and interacting with your child as much as possible, you are teaching them more than you could ever imagine!

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