Young children develop incredibly quickly, and every parent has looked up one day and realized that the bouncing baby they brought home from the hospital is now a walking, talking toddler in the making. The physical changes as a child grows are undeniable, but what’s even more impressive is the transformation taking place on the inside.
The journey through toddlerhood is an awakening of a child’s senses and abilities to the world they’re going to be interacting with and exploring. For instance, there are simple muscles and coordination skills they must develop in their hands to be able to grasp and manipulate objects. Then there are senses like proprioception that allow them to understand how their body moves relative to forces like gravity. Finally, there’s an immense library of information they’re building all the time for colors, textures, smells, taste, and all the other qualities things possess that make them what they are.
Of course, the degree to which any toddler develops these skills and senses depends heavily on the richness of experiences their environment provides. Parents need to fill their child’s daily life with the objects and opportunities that will stimulate their minds and bodies to grow, and ideally, these are also rich and rewarding activities you can share with your little one.
Here are 3 simple ways to enhance toddler cognitive development so they can get the very best out of this brief window and be ready to engage with the next chapter of their lives.
1. Pick Toys that Build Muscles and Minds
Toddler cognitive development is all about interacting with their environment, and that means filling it with toys that encourage movement and dynamic engagement. As you know, there’s no shortage of cheap, disposable plastic products for kids that are just as forgettable as the movies they come from.
While a stuffed princess might make a splash, it’s actually an incredibly limiting gift for your child’s imagination. All the thinking has been done for them and its main appeal is that they recognize it already—100% the opposite of what a toddler’s brain craves.
On the flip side, toys like the Little Partners Learn ‘N Balance Set are ideal for helping toddlers develop critical skills like coordination, proprioception, and fine motor control. Plus, because it’s modular and constructed with durable and sustainable woods, it won’t end up under the bed with the rest of the movie-of-the-week stuffies.
2. Invite Them into New Spaces
Toddlers have more energy and enthusiasm for exploration than any two parents combined, but there’s just one problem: they’re a little on the short side.
Every family has to protect inquisitive hands from unsuitable cabinets and household cleaners, but there are a surprising number of adult-height spaces where all kinds of fun and inspirational activities can be shared. Kitchen counters, for instance, are a treasure trove of tastes, textures, smells, and colors, and that’s where a Learning Tower® can make all the difference.
Learning Towers® are carefully designed to give your toddler a safe boost to places like countertops so they can share in the fun while you take care of your daily chores. Whether it’s bathroom sinks with fun splashing water, mixing some cookie dough in the kitchen, doing a little window washing, or just hanging out while you organize the bills, you’ll be empowering toddler cognitive development while creating new moments you’ll treasure forever.
3. Create Environments that Grow With Them
We live in a highly disposable culture, and nowhere is this more true than when it comes to products for kids. Because they go through so many stages of development so quickly, most clothes, toys, and furniture created for children are cheap, shoddy, and designed to be thrown in the dumpster within a year.
What that means is that every few years their entire life is going to be deleted and replaced with a new one—that’s a terrible philosophy for sustainability and healthy growth!
By choosing things that are designed to be durable, sustainable, responsibly sourced and constructed, and able to support a child’s development for years instead of months, they will discover that exercising their skills and senses is about engaging with the things around them, not having them.
There are many great companies out there who prioritize sustainability and environmental certification standards like UL Greenguard, and create with a Montessori philosophy in mind. The simple and enriching products they produce are constantly being rediscovered by children throughout many different stages of their lives, and in many cases, they find themselves passing them on to their children down the road. It’s a wonderful experience to share from one generation to the next.
Giving Your Toddler the Best Start with Little Partners
At Little Partners, we’ve made it our mission to create interactive products that enhance toddler cognitive development while giving them a million new ways to explore and reimagine the world around them. Whether it’s a Learning Tower®, one of our easels, or common sense furniture and storage, our products are constructed of all-natural materials and never contain any harsh or dangerous chemicals.
In fact, we’re so sure a Little Partners addition to your home will be around forever that we put a lifetime guarantee on everything we offer. We want to be a part of helping your family grow and develop together, and when it’s time to pass the love on to another child who’s ready to start exploring, our products will be ready and waiting.
Visit Little Partners today to find out more about how we’re bringing young hands and minds to life!