2 Years (30–33 Months): Your Child Is Developing More Body Control
Your baby is becoming a child. They will be less fussy and easier to manage in the months to come. They will be tasting, smelling, touching and enjoying their growing world. They will control their body while walking and picking up toys. They will show more skill in doing daily chores like dressing and eating.
Safety First!
- Supervise the use of blunt-edged scissors during creative play.
- Supervise playtime with other children.
- Teach them to wash their hands after using the restroom and before eating meals or snacks. Be sure they use soap and warm water. Have them rub their fingers together to remove dirt between fingers.
- Teach them how to safely turn the faucets on and off when washing hands after using the toilet and before eating snacks.
- Provide positive role models. They will begin to recognize the differences between boys and girls.
- Show them how to treat others with respect.
- Spills will occur frequently, so supervise them and let them help in cleaning up.
- Playground areas must be supervised.
- They do not yet use logical thinking even though they are developing more mature thinking.
- Always buckle your child in a car seat when riding in a car.
Things Your Child May Do at This Age
- Jump about 8 inches from a standing position (broad jump)
- Open and close scissors (Use only blunt-edged type and, please, supervise!)
- Drink from a small cup or glass without help (They may still spill a lot.)
- Drink from a cup using a straw
- Use the toilet without help (Expect wetting accidents to continue for several months. This is normal, so AVOID SCOLDING!)
- Follow directions having no more than two steps, such as "Find your shoes and get your coat."
- Understand size concepts such as “big” and “tall”
- Begin to use many different parts of spoken language:
- Plurals: "cookies"
- Prepositions: "in the jar"
- Modifiers: "some,” “a lot"
- Possessives: "mine,” “his"
- Adjectives: "pretty"
- Adding "-ed" to verbs to show past tense
- Draw horizontal lines (—), vertical lines ( | ) and circles (o)
Things You Can Do Every Day to Help Your Child Grow
- Counting skills increase at this age. Help them practice counting. For instance, ask them to give you two objects, or give them three objects and ask them how many objects you gave them.
- Teach your child about air by blowing up balloons. (You should supervise them closely if you do this; balloons can be dangerous. If the child sucks in the balloon, it could choke them.)
- Whenever possible, let them do things on their own. Remember, the phrases "I can do it!" and "Let me do it!" are healthy signs of gaining independence.
- Let them spend time with other children so they can practice sharing and other social behaviors. If possible, enroll them in a preschool.
- Give them cooking utensils, plastic tools, telephones and small suitcases to play with, as well as clothes for pretending to be different people doing different jobs.
- Use positive statements such as "You can do it!" to encourage them to do things. When they do something well, tell them. Be specific—you could say, "I like the way you picked up your toys."
- READ!! READ!! READ!! to them every day. Reading is a good time to give positive attention and affection. Your child will love books that show traditional jobs: firefighter, teacher, hairdresser, doctor, nurse, police officer, mechanic, carpenter, store clerk—and many other careers.
- Bubbles are another way to teach your child about air and space. Bubble solutions may be purchased at a drugstore, or you can make your own by following the recipe provided below.
Homemade "Monster Bubble" Solution
- 2 cups water
- ⅔ cup dishwashing liquid
- ¼ cup light corn syrup
- Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl and stir gently. Makes big, long bubbles.