Safety
Why Toddlers Do Not Understand Stranger Danger
Parents often worry about teaching toddlers to be wary of strangers, yet developmental research shows that toddlers are cognitively incapable of under...
5 min read
11 articles found
Safety
Why First Steps Are the Most Injury-Prone Stage
When babies transition from crawling to walking—typically between 12 and 18 months—they enter their most injury-prone developmental stage. While learn...
6 min read
Safety
How Cartoons Affect Attention and Safety
Modern cartoons are designed to be extremely engaging and stimulating—features that hold children's attention but may have developmental consequences....
7 min read
Play
Pretend Play: Why It Matters and How to Support It at Home
The child who offers a teaspoon to a stuffed rabbit, or solemnly announces that all the cushions have turned into hot lava, is engaged in one of the h...
4 min read
Play
Play for Children Aged 18–24 Months: Exploration and Active Play
Eighteen to twenty-four months is a period of rich development and, often, rich difficulty. The toddler in this phase is grappling with desires that e...
4 min read
Play
Play Ideas for Children Aged 12–18 Months: Movement and Discovery
The newly walking toddler approaches the world with a combination of enthusiasm, limited judgement, and extraordinary curiosity. Play at 12-18 months...
4 min read
Play
Messy Play: Benefits, Preparation, and Ideas for Young Children
Most young children are drawn to mess. Squeezing playdough through their fingers, pouring water from one container to another, or pressing their hands...
4 min read
Development
Independence Skills in Toddlers: Supporting Self-Care Without Pressure
The toddler years are defined, in part, by the push-pull between dependence and the drive to "do it myself." Independence in self-care does not emerge...
4 min read
Daycare
Which Self-Care Skills Develop in Daycare?
Many parents notice that children seem to develop practical self-care skills faster at daycare than they were progressing at home. This is not acciden...
3 min read
Play
Block Play by Developmental Stage: What Children Learn from Building
A set of wooden blocks is, by most measures, the most educationally valuable toy a young child can own. Not because of marketing or parental enthusias...
4 min read
Development
Learning to Dress Themselves: When Toddlers Develop Self-Dressing Skills
Watching a three-year-old attempt to put on a jumper is both endearing and, on a school run morning, a test of patience. Self-dressing is one of the l...
5 min read