Games and activities are great ways to help your two-year-old’s development. And they are great ways to keep them engaged and active.
Are you looking for activities that are a lot of fun and can also help their learning development?
We’ve put together this list of ten of the best learning activities that you can use to help your two-year-old’s development.
Related: Parallel Play - Using Playtime to Encourage Social Development
Using Activities to Support a Two-Year-Olds Learning Development
You can use activities to introduce learning gradually to your two-year-old. There are many benefits of using different learning activities to help them learn, including:
- Improving Motor Skill
- Developing Problem-Solving Skills
- Recognizing and Identifying Items In Their Environment
- Promoting Creativity
- Teaching Perseverance and Patience
Learning Milestones For a Two-Year-Old
You might wonder what some learning milestones are for a two-year-old. According to the CDC, by the time your child is two years old, they should be able to do the following activities:
- Try to use switches and knobs on their toys
- Hold a container or bottle in one hand and open it with the other
- Play with multiple toys simultaneously
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Top 10 Learning Activities for a Two-Year-Old
Here’s our Top 10 list of educational and fun activities to keep your toddler engaged and help introduce them to new things.
1. Coloring Books
Coloring books are a classic way to introduce your child to learn about colors and work on their drawing skills.
How Do You Play?
- Get fun coloring books with things that interest your child
- They can use crayons, markers, and even paint
- Encourage them to stay within the lines, but it’s OK if they go outside
Coloring books can help improve your child’s eye-hand coordination, finger grip, and concentration.
2. Charades
Charades is another classic game that can help boost your child’s imagination and creativity.
How Do You Play?
- Say a basic word like sit or smile, and have them mimic you
- As they get better at it, introduce more difficult words
- Teach them about opposite words as well
Charades not only help boost their creativity, but it also helps them improve their vocabulary!
3. Can I Sink It?
Bath time is a great time to use learning activities with your child, and Can I Sink It can help them improve their reasoning skills.
How Do You Play?
- Fill a bath for them or a bucket of water if that works better
- Place toys with different buoyancies in the water
- Let them observe if the object sinks or floats
- Repeat and ask them playfully what the toy should do, sink or float.
This fun activity can help them improve their reasoning, cognitive skills, and cause and effect.
4. Puzzles
Puzzles are a great activity that you can buy premade or DIY.
How Do You Play?
- Use a premade puzzle or one you create and show them the picture
- Break the puzzle into its pieces and shuffle
- Ask your child to arrange them to form the original picture
- Start with a few pieces and increase as they get better
Puzzles help introduce the concept of fractions and help them with patience and recognition.
5. The Counting Game
This Counting Game is excellent because you can do it almost anywhere with anything handy.
How Do You Play?
- Take some items and put them into a row
- Count aloud while you point at them
- Have your child repeat after you
- Slowly increase the count as they improve.
This activity will help introduce your child to numbers while improving their cognitive and counting skills.
Related: Eight Ways to Nurture a Curious Child - Stimulate Their Mind
6. Draw a Song or Rhyme
Take your child’s favorite song or rhyme and make a fun activity out of it!
How Do You Play
- Use your child’s favorite song or nursery rhyme and sing it to them
- Show them photos of the song, or draw it for them as you sing the song
- For example, “Old McDonald had a farm, and on this farm, he had a sheep,” point to the sheep
- Then have them try to draw the sheep with crayons and paper
This activity helps with their creativity, hand-eye coordination, and concentration skills.
7. The Match Game
The Match Game is an educational and fun activity that’s easy to play.
How Do You Play?
- Use a pair of toys, fruit, blocks, balls, and animals of different shapes and sizes
- Separate them and scatter them or put them in baskets
- Ask them to pair up the things that are the same
- Try matching other objects with the same color, or shape as a challenge
Playing the Match Game improves hand-eye coordination and helps object identification, vocabulary, and abstract thinking.
8. Dress Up
Playing Dress Up is a silly and fun way to help them practice getting dressed.
How Do You Play?
- Put a pile of clothes on the floor in front of your child
- Ask them to get dressed however they want
- Play along and help them get dressed
Dressing up takes a lot of effort for a child, so they’ll improve their motor skills and creativity.
9. Ball Toss
Tossing a ball back and forth is a great way to teach your child about teamwork and working their little muscles.
How Do You Play?
- Use a soft ball and slowly roll and toss the ball back and forth
- Teach them how to catch the ball
- Have them pick up the ball, throw it, or kick it back to you
- Use colored balls and say the color of the ball and then say the color back to you
The ball toss is excellent for object recognition, spatial relations, coordination, and muscle development.
10. World Tour
Take your child on a world tour from the comfort of your home!
How Do You Play?
- Use an old box or something that can hold your child
- Show them pictures of a place like Paris, and describe it
- Sing, dance, mimic the culture
- Use different rooms in the house as in other places around the world
Taking them on a world tour helps teach them to pretend-play and boost their imagination as it introduces them to new places.
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Have Fun With Your Learning Activities
Games and activities can not only be a lot of fun, but they can also be excellent learning opportunities.
You can play most games with everyday items around the house. These activities are also a great way to help your child develop their imagination,
Subscription Boxes like the ones from 123 Baby Box are great ways to introduce new toys and activities that can help boost your child’s learning development.
By doing different learning activities that are fun for your child, you’ll not only keep them engaged. But you’ll help them slowly work on their physical and cognitive development.
In addition, these activities will set them up well as they continue to grow and interact with the world around them.
Related: Games for Babies: Play Time that Encourage Development
