Activity tips for parents: 18 months - 26 months

Activity tips for parents: Do the right thing at the right age.

How to stimulate motor, cognitive, language and social development.

Playing with wooden blocks in different colours is good training for hand function and eye-hand coordination. The child can learn to build a tower of blocks from the age of about 1 ½ years.

At the age of 2 years, the child often manages to build a tower of 3 blocks, 6 blocks at 2 ½ years, and 8 blocks at 3 years.

Let the child draw a picture for you on a sheet of paper with crayons or felt pens. Give the child plenty of room to express himself.

Although children of this age only manage to draw lines, you should praise the masterpiece. Collect the drawing material afterwards.

Children of this age do not know that they should only draw on paper.

From the age of about 1 ½ years the child will try to eat alone, first with his fingers, then with a spoon and gradually a fork.

This is good training for fine motor skills, especially what we call eye-hand coordination. Look how well Fredrik uses a fork!

He can also drink alone from his bottle. Let your child train these skills, even though it is rather messy at first.

From the age of about 1 ½ years the child will start playing parts. Playing parts in a pretence meal is a good interaction game for you and your child. Have a small selection of cups, plates, cutlery and plastic food.

Let the child set the table, pour into the cups and hand out the food. Talk to your child as you play, so that language is also stimulated in this game.

The child learns to hand out things to others. When the child is slightly older, you can use proper water in the jug and cups.

From the age of about 1 year, children like looking at a picture book with an adult. You should get hold of a selection of picture books suitable for children of different ages. To begin with you can point at pictures and say what things are called. This is good concept training. Gradually, you can ask the child to name what you are looking at.

Where is the cat?

What does the cow say?

Especially books with pictures of animals and known objects in different colors are popular with children in this age group.

From the age of about 1 ½ years the child starts to manage the simplest shape boards, and gradually puzzles as well. Have a small selection of shape boards with different degrees of difficulty.

This is good training for hand motor skills and being able to recognise different shapes that fit together. Talk to the child about what the picture is on the bits of puzzle. The child experiences mastery and is pleased with himself when he manages something.

At first he may need a little help, start with the easiest boards with fewest bits. Only remove a few of the bits at first and let the child put them back correctly before you increase the degree of difficulty by removing more of the bits at the same time.