Where to find books for free
We often make book recommendations that are related to your child's development, skills they're learning or times of year. If you don't want to be buying more books, we thought you'd find this useful: it's a list of how and where you might find them for FREE!
Your local library – libraries are jam-packed full of wonderful books; you’ll probably end up leaving with way more than you planned.
How to support your toddler with solving problems
We all face problems on a daily basis, no matter our ages, and your toddler will face them too. Thinking about a problem takes time, resilience, critical thinking, experience, reflection and decision-making. Being able to do all this is VERY complicated and these skills all need nurturing. Let's take a for instance and explore this skill from there:
Your toddler carries a bag with a zip open and everything falls out. They are surprised by the fact they have an empty bag and don’t understand why.
Learning on the job – matching cognitive and physical skills
Toddlers are curious and their brains are continually developing. You may have noticed your toddler thinks a little more about how they play and that they have a plan in mind. Are they trying to place people in particular places, intentionally building towers or carefully putting a train on its track? This is because their cognitive skills are growing, and they’re starting to think, plan and carry out what they intend to do.
Your toddler uses a few thought processes when they are playing
How your toddler learns through their mistakes
Your toddler's gained lots of knowledge about their world and is trying to interpret and apply what they have learned to new things and situations. Sometimes, making a mistake is the first step to learning something new – find out why!
We, as humans, learn from our mistakes[1,2]
Not just a ‘well done!’ – positive parenting is more than praise
Researchers have found that positive parenting practices support young children to develop self-regulation and social skills – but what are exactly are they?
You might have read articles, or heard people talking, about self-regulation (noticing and regulating our emotions, thoughts and responses). This is often something that comes up in relation to emotions. But developing self-regulation is also linked to cognitive and behaviour skills.
Playing with other children – have you noticed these themes?
Should your toddler be making friends? While their friendships might not look quite like yours, your toddler’s play with others helps them develop their social skills and is an important step on their journey to building future friendships.
Psychologists Edward Mueller and Jeffrey Brenner studied young children’s social play. In what is described as a classic study, they watched children playing together. They found that even very young children sometimes shared meaning in their play, in that they played using ideas that both children understood, which really is the first step to making friends.
I want the big bowl – there’s more in it. Or is there? Your toddler and 'centration'
Your toddler has been learning about all sorts of things while playing and forming many beliefs about the world, attempting to make sense of as much as they can. Now they are starting to use their knowledge to make decisions and assumptions based on what they believe to be true – but really, they will find out that not everything is as they first thought.
Here we look at the idea of centration, a theory devised by psychologist, Jean Piaget, who studied the development of children in the 1900s. Much of his research informs our understanding now.
Are you hurt, teddy? I know how you feel. Why your toddler's toys have feelings
Do you ever talk to your computer when it’s playing up? Does your car have a name, and do you tell it what you think when it won’t start? Don’t worry, you are not alone! For thousands of years the human race has been attributing living qualities to inanimate objects.
They are usually things which carry great significance in our lives. We express our feelings and emotions through them; it is imaginative and creative and the basis of many stories and films.
Three ways that helping with chores supports your toddler’s development
Getting your toddler involved with everyday tasks can mean getting things done takes a bit longer – but there’s evidence that doing chores is a great way to develop lots of skills... read on to find out more and see our ideas for easy ways to start getting toddlers involved.
Doing chores supports your toddler to develop social skills
Why wriggling their fingers might help your toddler with maths
We all instinctively use our fingers to represent quantity – you might hold your fingers up when ordering several drinks in a noisy café or when asking for a table for two in a restaurant. As well as using their fingers to count, young children often use them when they first do calculations. So, we know moving our fingers and counting are linked, but is this more than just our fingers being readily available – or does using their fingers help your toddler understand numbers?
Some studies have found that basic numerical abilities are associated with skills linked to moving fingers (fine motor skills), and awareness of fingers (sensory skills) – known in the research papers as ‘finger gnosis’.[1]
