TWO-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN • Encourage toddlers to run, jump, and climb outside. • Sing simple songs with them. • Sing and act out songs with simple movements. • Play pat-a-cake. • Teach them simple finger plays. • Tell them simple, short stories (especially those about themselves or other two-year-old children). • Let them pound a toy workbench. • Let them play in a sandbox. Give them water to measure and pour. • Let them stack blocks and other objects. • Provide things that can be taken apart and put back together (such as pop beads). • Ask children to name things in the pictures of picture books. Give them the correct word if they cannot think of it. • Give them simple directions to follow. • Play matching games and use simple puzzles with them. • Encourage pretending by providing dolls, housekeeping toys, dress-up clothes, and toy telephones. • Introduce art activities such as scribbling and/or painting with crayons, chalk, and paint. • Provide play dough and finger paint. • Begin toilet training when the toddler is ready. Also, begin teaching hand washing and tooth brushing. • Encourage the development of routines.

Much of these things can, and should, be taken in earlier.