Your busy toddler: Games, toys and play in the second year of life
When your baby becomes a toddler and starts walking, running and climbing, playtime becomes a whole new experience. As their physical abilities improve, children between 12 and 24 months are learning a variety of new skills: how to talk, play games, socialize, and make friends. Playtime is an important part of early learning.
- Toddlers like to touch and explore. You can encourage curiosity by creating a safe home environment where you don’t have to say “no” all the time. Outdoor spaces also offer great opportunities for children to learn about their world, with new and exciting things to experience, touch and discover. Always closely supervise your toddler when outdoors, especially around water.
- Toddlers are in constant motion, testing their new skills: walking, running, jumping, kicking and throwing. Be sure to build lots of outdoor playtime into daily routines, so that your child can develop these skills and stay active.
- Toddlers want to climb. A safe way to encourage this skill, and to enjoy some fresh air, is at your local playground or park. Play structures should be age-appropriate and well maintained, with a safe surfacing underneath to cushion a fall. Supervise playground activities closely at all times.
- Toddlers want to do what they see others doing. Encourage your toddler to help around the house by giving them simple things to do—pick up toys, fold laundry, or sweep.
- Toddlers are developing their imagination. By the end of the second year, your toddler will start to engage in pretend or imaginative play. They might incorporate household objects into playtime or make up little stories about their cars, trains, or dolls.
- Resist the urge to always direct your toddler’s play. Sit back and observe, and let them come to you when they need you.
Toys for toddlers
Toys become more interesting now that your toddler is better able to handle them. Simple things like blocks, bath toys, pots and pans or empty plastic containers, often make the best toys. Toddlers are learning how things work, and experimenting with cause and effect. They are also fascinated by measuring and pouring.
Your toddler doesn’t need expensive or complicated toys. Toys that are safe and appealing to children this age include:
- push-pull toys (with short pull cords)
- safe ride-on toys that your child makes move with their feet
- simple dolls or animals that can be dressed, especially with Velcro or snaps (watch for features or buttons that can be pulled loose)
- simple board puzzles with several pieces
- toddler building toys
- large cardboard boxes with doors and windows cut out for climbing and peering through
- stacking and sorting toys, large plastic or wooden boxes with shaped holes and corresponding blocks
- large soft balls to kick and throw
- musical toys, like a drum or shakers
- hand-sized cars, trains or trucks
- a child-sized broom and dustpan
- sand and water toys, such as a bucket, shovel, rake or sieve
- simple costumes
- bubbles (you’ll still need to blow the bubbles, but this simple activity encourages visual tracking (following the bubbles as they move through the air), cause and effect (pop!), and gross motor skills (chasing and reaching)).
Art and language
Toddlers enjoy simple arts and crafts, like drawing with large crayons on blank paper, playing with clay, chalk and a chalkboard (or sidewalk), and painting with large paintbrushes (for less mess, “paint” the sidewalk or fence with water).
Continue to use books in your toddler’s playtime and daily routines:
- Have books available in different areas of your home and within easy reach of your toddler.
- Toddlers enjoy books with simple rhymes and predictable text, with just a few words on each page. Books about saying goodbye and bedtime help with these transition times. Sturdy board books that are easy to carry around are best.
- As language skills develop, your toddler will participate more during story time. When you read, point at pictures, ask “where is the…?” and give your child time to point. Or pause and let your child complete the sentence.
Music is also an important and fun part of playtime. Encourage your children to clap, dance, and eventually sing along. Sing and dance along with them.
As much as possible, avoid screens. Children learn best by interacting with loving caregivers.
Making friends: Playdates
At 12 to 18 months, children usually begin to take part in “parallel play,” playing alongside (but not directly with) other children. Around 18 months, your toddler will start to notice other children and to interact with them more.
Inviting a friend to play is a great way to encourage your toddler’s social and sharing skills. Here are some tips to make these first playdates positive experiences:
- Schedule the playdate for a time of day when your toddler is likely to be in a good mood, such as the morning or right after a nap.
- Keep playdates short, about an hour long. Invite just one friend at a time at first.
- Toddlers have a short attention span. Plan a few fun activities and crafts that you can do together in a short period of time.
- Toddlers haven’t yet learned to share. Put away your toddler’s favourite toys to reduce the chance of a conflict. Toys with multiple similar items (small vehicles, blocks, play food) are easier to share during parallel play.
- Make sure that an adult is supervising children at play.
- “When we play together, we tidy up together!” At the end, make putting away the toys part of the fun.
Reviewed by the following CPS committees
- Public Education Advisory Committee
Last updated: July 2022