What a two-year-old child should be able to do: development and homework

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

The parents of most two-year-olds are finally breathing a sigh of relief as the adorable toddler who demands undivided attention is gradually turning into an independent, albeit very stubborn, child. The former very active physical and mental development slows down, because children already know how to walk and run, master the basic skills of self-care, confidently handle small objects. Neuropsychic development depends on how parents de alt with him in the first years of life.

Physical development

As early as two years old, the physical development of boys and girls is different. Girls weigh from 12 to 14 kg, height is approximately 84-90 cm, boys grow up to 86-92 cm, weight - 13-16 kg. By the age of two, children walk confidently, run almost without falling (unless they stumble through negligence), are able to step over obstacles, go down an inclinedplane and walk up the stairs. Most toddlers are very fond of active pastime, and movement without a goal does not appeal to them.

Two-year-olds on a walk want not just to walk, but to ride on a swing, climb ladders, play with a ball, run after each other and dig sand with a shovel. The movements of the child become noticeably more confident. Parents may notice the first inclinations towards certain sports: boys become interested in playing football, girls dance or do gymnastics, children can jump over low obstacles or walk on a beam.

Fine motor skills

Particular attention in the development of a child of two years should be paid to fine motor skills. At this age, you can gradually begin preparing for school, because hand movements in children are associated not only with visual coordination, but also with the work of the brain. Two-year-olds are good with both hands and most often it becomes clear whether the baby is left-handed or right-handed. The child begins to act with both hands at the same time less and less, giving preference to the leader when drawing, sculpting and other creative activities.

To ensure harmony, half of a child's development program at 2 years should be focused on fine motor skills. Classes should be held regularly. Two-year-olds are very fond of sculpting from plasticine, making simple applications from blanks or cutting out large figures with scissors under the supervision of their parents, drawing with pencils, paints, felt-tip pens on any surfaces that they come across. No needbe afraid to give the child scissors, brushes and paints, but at the first lesson it is necessary to explain how to handle these items.

Mistakes of parents

Classes for the development of a child of two years provide for the achievement of any result, which can be a drawing, appliqué, figure from s alt dough or plasticine. But many parents make the big mistake of doing everything on their own or choosing tasks that are too difficult for a two-year-old. A child at this age still cannot cut paper evenly, draw according to a pattern or cells, does not understand why cut out even squares and circles.

The baby should be allowed to first consider the proposed items. Brushes and paints, felt-tip pens, colored paper, other tools and materials for creativity will surely interest him. Only when the child has considered everything and played enough, you can offer some simple task. A very good result is considered if a two-year-old can properly hold scissors in her hand, carefully paint large pictures, make balls and “sausages” out of plasticine.

The opposite (and also wrong) approach is to leave the baby to deal with everything on his own. Any development program for a two-year-old child first provides for acquaintance with objects, materials for creativity, auxiliary tools, performing several basic crafts, and only then relatively independent creativity. At this age, the baby does not yet understand what can be done with plasticine, colored paper, glue, scissors and paints. Therefore, parents need to consider a program for developing the motor skills of a 2-year-old child so that he gradually moves from simple activities (for example, coloring a simple picture) to more complex ones (drawing according to a model).

2 year old behavior

At the age of two, the behavior of an obedient and loving baby suddenly changes dramatically. He turns into a stubborn and restless naughty, who argues with his parents and confidently defends his independence. By the age of two, children understand and answer questions, learn to express their thoughts, communicate their own desires (sometimes even too insistently), can keep up a conversation with adults, tell how the day went.

The period from two to three years, child psychologists call sensitive, because it is at this age that an important stage in the development of speech takes place. The child no longer just learns to speak, but knows how to pronounce words correctly, understands their meaning and learns the most important components of native speech, for example, the ability to correctly build sentences, answer questions, pronounce sounds and syllables separately. At this age, it is quite possible to start learning a foreign language, but only if the two-year-old has no problems with his native speech. The kid will be happy to learn the meaning of new words and expressions, and very soon “why” will become his favorite word.

Child speech development

For the development of the speech of a child of two years, it is important to read with him as much as possible, tell fairy tales and just talk. Child psychologists have noticed that modern technology(watching videos on a computer or smartphone, cartoons on TV) are not suitable for speech development, and children who spend a lot of time in front of device screens have difficulty expressing their thoughts coherently even at school age, their imagination is poorly developed and vocabulary is limited.

At one and a half to two years, a child's vocabulary ranges from 40 to 100 words, by the end of the second year it can reach 300 words. The speech development of children of 2 years old involves the ability to combine words into phrases and simple sentences in meaning. If it is not possible to form phrases, then parents need to teach him: to pronounce correctly not a single word, but the whole sentence. Vocabulary replenishment is facilitated by the fact that a two-year-old, seeing a new object, tries to learn about its functions, often asks what the object is called, why it is used. Parents need to answer all these questions in detail.

Games for the development of the speech of children 2 years old are numerous, but it is best to just read books and talk with the baby, because nothing can replace lively interested communication. For reading, it is better to choose books with bright pictures, easy and understandable text. It is necessary to strive not only to quickly read fairy tales and poems, but to read with expression, to try to convey the meaning of what has been read to the two-year-old. It is necessary to involve the child in the discussion of what he read, forcing him to sympathize or empathize with the fairy-tale characters. At the age of two, many kids love simple poems by Korney Chukovsky or Agnia Barto, fairy tales about animals and Russian folk.

Cognitive abilities

The development of a two-year-old child is still determined by the fact that he cannot concentrate on one object for a long time. This is an age feature that many parents use to their advantage, diverting the attention of the baby as necessary. A two-year-old understands the purpose of household items, tries to use them, continues to master cutlery and personal hygiene items. The child knows how to assemble a pyramid and play constructor, correlates a three-dimensional geometric figure with a flat one (cube and square, circle and ball), determines an object by signs (heavy, soft, hard, large), orients in simple quantities, for example, comparing toys by color, size, weight, can name the color of the toy, draws lines of different directions and lengths.

Favorite games in two years

The development of a two-year-old child is directly related to play activity, which remains the main one. The kid is already consciously doing some actions and wants to learn more interesting things about the world around him. When planning classes for children of 2 years old for development, it should be taken into account that two-year-olds can focus only on a small number of objects, quickly get carried away with a new activity, but also lose interest in it in a short time. You need to play games that are easy to understand and short in duration.

The independent games of a two-year-old become more emotional and complex. In a group, children act out scenes from fairy tales, plots, like to play “house” or “daughter-mothers”, cook food, “heal” toys, create homemade"barbershops" or "car parks". It is good if parents are actively involved in the game. For the development of a child of two years, it is recommended to use cubes, various frame inserts, soft large puzzles, magnetic toys, mosaics, board games like "Find a Pair", wooden constructors and Lego.

Successful early development of a child at two years of age is necessarily associated with social ties. In this increase, behavior, emotions and preferences change greatly. All two-year-olds delight their parents with an inexhaustible interest in the world around them, the ability to get along with other adults and peers. Children actively participate in common games, love to spend time with their peers in kindergarten or on the playground.

But by the third year of life, the character can deteriorate greatly. Most parents find it difficult to cope with the irresistible craving for independence in everything and the desire of the child to defend his opinion on any issue. Previously, stubbornness and disobedience were most often associated with fatigue or poor he alth, but as early as two years old, children can even learn to manipulate their parents in this way.

It is important not to interfere with the craving for independence. Parents need to provide a two-year-old with the opportunity to try everything they want for themselves (of course, within reason). Of course, the child will not be able to clean, dress or eat completely on his own, but even if the results are catastrophic (scattered garbage, a dirty bathroom, and so on), you can’t scold the baby. Otherwise, the two-year-old will very soon give up trying to do something on her own, which will slow her down.mastering simple everyday skills and abilities.

Practical skills

So, no less important than the development of the speech of a child of two years, is the mastery of practical skills. This applies primarily to personal hygiene and household skills. Trying to sweep the floors or brush your teeth - these are all games for the development of a child at 2 years old, because a two-year-old child cannot master skills otherwise than in a playful way. In any case, among the most important social skills at this age, psychologists note the ability to take care of oneself on one's own. The child should be able to eat liquid or semi-liquid food with a spoon (soups and mashed potatoes), wash their hands and wash, put on some things, ask for a potty or sit on it on their own, turn to adults with requests.

Boys and girls

Physical and mental development of the child (age 2) begins to depend on gender. Boys are usually slightly larger than girls, taller and weigh more, their chest circumference increases faster. But we must not forget about the individual characteristics of the family. With large parents, a girl can weigh more than her peer boy from a family where everyone is thin. In the second year of life, the weight of the child increases monthly by 200-250 grams, and height - by a centimeter.

Boys and girls after reaching the age of two are aware of their gender and believe that in accordance with this they have certain "duties". By about two and a half years, children know that girls are more likely to wear dresses and skirts, and whengrow up, they will look like mothers, and boys are not supposed to wear skirts, they look more like dads.

Gender differences also show up in behavior. Girls, as a rule, are calmer and better at mastering speech, while boys are independent, aggressive and prefer movement. Differences can be seen in relation to others, addiction to different games and activities. Girls love to be noticed and judged by adults by their attitude. Two-year-old boys are more interested in the skills of others and the desire of adults to play outdoor games with them.

Educational games

Most children enjoy finding similarities and differences in pictures or things. For example, you can offer to compare a squirrel and a bear cub. The child will say that both animals have eyes, paws and a tail, but the squirrel has red hair, it is smaller in size, and the bear has brown hair, it is larger. If the kid copes with such a task with ease, you can move on to more complex ones, offering to compare, for example, two different toy cars. Such a simple activity develops mindfulness well.

Regular physical activity is important, which can be interrupted by calm and creative activities. On the floor or on the table, for example, you can build a small gate from the designer and arrange a competition in who will be the first to roll the object to the gate. Objects can be of various shapes and sizes, for example, sticks, a cube, a bar, a wheel, a ball. You need to show the child and let him see for himself in practice thatround objects roll better, explain why. This game will teach your 2 year old to recognize different objects by shape.

The beginning of the study of mathematics are the actions of comparison. The next lesson for the development of a child of two years is the best fit. You need to offer the child, for example, four small soft toys or dolls, and give three saucers (any items are suitable). Toys are laid out on the table, ask: “Will there be enough saucers for everyone?”. Parents can independently conclude that there are fewer plates than toys. Then you need to combine the number of items and invite the child to compare on their own. Do not take too many items, you can start with five.

Provides the development of a child's speech of two years, imagination and fine motor skills, creating a book with his own hands. You need to take several sheets of cardboard of the same size, cut out the pictures you like from newspapers and magazines with your child. In the process, you can teach a two-year-old the skill of cutting along the contour and working with glue. Pictures need to be glued onto cardboard, and then all the pages are folded together and tied with a ribbon or rope. Get a small book. Pictures can be selected thematic or educational, and then come up with a story for them together.

For the development of a child after two years (this is especially useful for imagination and motor skills), a variety of constructors are suitable. You can jointly build a reliable fortress, as a building material for which boxes of different sizes will be used (from under household appliances,shoes, small items). By stacking boxes, you can build a tower, a house or a fortress.

Development programs

There are ready-made programs for the development of a child of two years, but you can always make changes so that the classes correspond to the interests of the baby and his level of skills. Some parents prefer to study with a two-year-old according to special methods: they begin to teach how to read using Zaitsev's cubes, they are looking for a kindergarten where they study according to the methods of Waldorf pedagogy or the Montessori system.

Within the framework of the Waldorian pedagogy, much attention is paid to improving the emotional world of the child and creative abilities. Music lessons, a special system of exercises with musical accompaniment, crafts, wood carving, embroidery and weaving are provided. In schools of early development of children (2 years old and of a different age, because there are different programs), working according to this method, theatrical holidays, puppet shows are often held, the props for which are made from natural materials.

The Montessori system involves engaging in special exercises that stimulate speech through the development of fine motor skills. The program was originally designed for mentally retarded children, but this teaching method has proven to work well with different groups of children.

In many European countries today this technique is actively used in public children's institutions. The group consists of kids of different ages, practical skills and levels of knowledge, and morethe older and more experienced help the younger learn. The only drawback of the Montessori system, parents consider the bulkiness of materials and teaching aids. Still, the program is adapted more for kindergarten than for the development of a child at home.

The Nikitin system is being heavily criticized today. In fact, this is a method of technocratic education, where there is practically no aesthetic and humanitarian side. There are many disadvantages, but still some games can be used. By the way, the Nikitin system (unlike the Montessori method) is designed for homework and the active participation of parents.

There are more serious methods of early development that are openly alarming. According to the Doman system, for example, all the attention of parents should be devoted only to the education of the child, which is practically impossible. Education in the early stages consists in showing the baby a series of cards with a strictly defined set of information. It is not supposed to be distracted by extraneous questions and satisfy the desire of the child to feel things. Dialogue and joint creativity is not provided.

You can still borrow some elements from the system. This was proved by the Frenchwoman Cessile Lupan, who published the book "Believe in your child." She managed to adapt Doman's rigid system for children. It will be interesting to consider colorful cards by branches of knowledge for both a one-year-old baby and a five-year-old, but it is imperative to answer the child’s questions, let them feel the cardboard boxes, and remember together the appropriate ones for the occasion.songs, interesting stories, facts about animals or objects, fairy tales.