The first few years of a child's life are critical as they form the foundation for later development.
Read on for some practical tips and ideas that will help your toddler enjoy learning.
1.
Encourage Questions Asking questions is an important part of your toddler's learning development, so do encourage your child to have an inquiring mind from an early age.
Most toddlers are inquisitive by nature and tend to ask many questions.
You can encourage your little one to ask even more questions by taking time to answer any questions that he or she may have rather than simply brushing the questions aside.
If your toddler does not naturally ask questions, you can still stimulate his or her learning and thinking skills by talking to your child often and asking him or her appropriate questions throughout the day.
For example, when traveling in the car, you can ask your toddler to point out to you what vehicles he or she sees on the road.
2.
Give Your Toddler Room to Explore and Experiment To encourage a love of learning, it is a good idea to allow your toddler to explore and experiment within reasonable limits.
As parents, our first instinct is often to stop our children from experimenting because the activities they engage in mess up the home.
However, if we constantly prevent our children from experimenting, they may eventually stop trying new things altogether which is unhealthy for learning development.
Instead of saying "no" to your toddler's experimental efforts all the time, try offering your child a suitable alternative when it is appropriate to do so.
For example, if your child experiments with pouring water from his highchair during mealtime, you can let your child know that while this is not acceptable behavior during mealtimes, you will give him or her a chance to play with water during bath time instead.
When your child is taking a bath, you can then provide your little one with a variety of different-sized plastic containers so that he or she can experiment with scooping and pouring water.
3.
Expose Your Toddler to a Variety of Environments and Experiences It is important to expose your toddler to a variety of environments such as parks, zoos, playgrounds and museums as each new place you take your child to adds to his or her learning experience.
When you take your child to a new place, ask questions and share your own observations of the place and what is happening.
Try not to be overprotective of your child and instead expose him or her to new experiences such as splashing in the paddle pool, riding a bicycle, playing ball, or baking cookies as this will help your child learn to pick up new skills in a fun way.