What to do if you have a two year old child. Two-year-old children - developmental features (well, it’s written about us!!!)

In the doctor's office, he puts the stethoscope to his chest with a serious look. At home, he follows his mother around, doing the same as she does: sweeping, wiping dust, brushing his teeth; and all this with the most serious look. He takes giant steps towards mastery and understanding through constant imitation.
At 2 years old he can be very dependent on his parents. He seems to understand who gives him a feeling of security. Mothers often complain: "My two-year-old child is turning into a mama's boy. He clings to my skirt when we go outside and hides behind me if strangers approach." At this age, children usually whine for any reason, which is tantamount to clinging to their skirt. The child may regularly crawl out of the crib at night and come to his parents or call them from his room. He may be afraid of being alone without his mother, upset when parents or family members leave for a few days, or when the family moves to a new place of residence. Try to take into account his sensitivity when planning various changes in the life of the family.

473. Two years is the age at which sociability should be encouraged.

At 2 years old, children still hardly play together. But they really enjoy watching each other's games and just doing their own thing nearby each other.
Take the time and effort to provide your two-year-old with other children at least a few times a week.
Before a child learns to share his toys and participate in children's games, he must spend several months in the children's society, just getting used to it.

*Fears of a two year old*

474. Fear of being separated from parents.

This is what sometimes happens when a sensitive, dependent 2-year-old child, especially the only one in the family, is unexpectedly separated from his mother. Maybe she needs to leave town for two weeks or she decides to go back to work and hires a nanny (a stranger) for her child. Usually the child behaves calmly while the mother is away. But when his mother returns, he sticks to her like a leech and refuses to even let another woman get close to him. He panics when it seems to him that his mother might leave again. He is especially afraid of being separated from his mother when it is time for him to go to bed. The child resists in horror. If his mother breaks away from him, he may cry in fear for several hours. If she sits by his crib, he lies quietly, but as soon as she moves, he immediately jumps up.
Sometimes the child worries that he might wet the bed. He asks to go to the potty, his mother sits him down, he squeezes out a few drops, but as soon as he is put to bed, he asks to go to the potty again. You will say that he is simply using this excuse to keep his mother. This is true. But it's not only that. Children are really afraid of getting their bed wet. Sometimes they wake up every 2 hours at night thinking about it. At this age, the mother already disapproves of such “incidents.” Perhaps the child imagines that if he wets the bed, his mother will love him less and then leave. Thus, he has two reasons for being afraid to fall asleep.

475. Avoid reasons for fear.

Children who, from infancy, have often been around strangers and thus had the opportunity to develop their independence and sociability, are less susceptible to these fears.
If your child is around 2 years old, try to avoid making drastic changes in his life. If you can postpone your trip or going to work for six months, it is better to postpone it, especially if this is your first child. But if you must go now, give your child the opportunity to get used to and love the person in whose care you are leaving him. If the child will live in someone else's family, then it is all the more important to accustom him to a new home and new faces in advance. Allow at least two weeks for this. Let the new person only be present for the first few days, but do nothing for the child until the child feels trust and sympathy for him. Then gradually hand over your responsibilities. Do not leave your child for the whole day at once. Start with half an hour, gradually increasing the time of separation. Your quick return will accustom him to the idea that you will always come to him soon. Don't leave for a long period of time (such as a whole month) soon after you move to a new place or after a family member leaves. It takes a two-year-old child a long time to get used to every change in family life (see also sections 750-756).

476. How to help overcome fear.

If your baby is afraid to fall asleep, the safest, but also the most difficult, remedy is to sit quietly near his crib until he falls asleep. Don't rush to sneak away. If he has not yet fallen asleep, your departure will frighten the child and make his sleep even more sensitive. This situation may drag on for several weeks, but eventually you will achieve the point that he will no longer be afraid to fall asleep. If he is afraid that you will leave again, try not to leave in the next few weeks. If you have to leave for work every day, say goodbye gently but firmly and cheerfully. If you look like you are thinking to yourself, “Am I doing the right thing by leaving him,” then the child becomes even more uncomfortable.
Trying to get your child to sleep by canceling daytime naps or shifting bedtimes to later and later times usually does little or nothing, and neither does doctor-prescribed sedatives. A child may panic and force himself to stay awake for hours, although he is close to exhaustion. You will have to calm him down.
If your child is worried that he might wet the bed in his sleep, reassure him that it doesn't matter and that you will still love him the same.

477. Excessive care only increases fear.

A child who is afraid of parting with his mother is very jealous of whether his mother is also having a hard time parting with him. If the mother hesitates and behaves insecurely when she needs to leave, if she rushes to him at the first cry, her anxiety assures him even more that for some reason it is really dangerous to leave her.
This may seem contradictory after my advice to sit near the child’s crib until he falls asleep, and not to leave him if he is afraid of separation. The mother should pay extra attention to the child if he is frightened, just as she would do if he were sick. But she should act cheerfully and confidently, showing him that there is no reason to be afraid. She should also encourage the child to be independent when he is mentally ready for this, and praise him when he makes progress along this path. This behavior of the mother is the surest way to help the child overcome his fear.
Excessive care inevitably makes the child too dependent on his parents, which causes panic, difficulty falling asleep and being spoiled.
Excessive care is usually shown by very devoted, kind-hearted parents who easily succumb to feelings of guilt, even when there is no reason for this (see sections 14, 454). But the greatest harm comes in most cases from the inability to admit one’s irritation towards the child (see section 8). It will be easier for parents if they recognize the inevitability of moments when they are consumed by the most evil feelings towards their child, and try to treat them with humor.
Sometimes it helps to admit to your child how angry you are with him (especially if your irritation was not entirely fair). If you do this wisely, you will not undermine your authority with this admission. It is very useful to occasionally say to your child: “I know that you are very angry with me when I have to do this to you.”
When the question is raised about the need for a child to overcome fear, much depends on how quickly this needs to be achieved for practical reasons. There is no particular need to force a timid child to pet a strange dog, or swim in a deep river, or ride the bus himself. He will want to do it himself when he plucks up the courage. But, on the other hand, if he has already started going to kindergarten, then it is better to insist that he go there, despite his fear. If the very thought of it makes him panic, meet him halfway. Do not allow the child to come to the parent's bed at night. He must stay in his crib. A school-age child suffering from anxiety neurosis must sooner or later return to school. The longer you put it off, the harder it is for him to do it. In each case of a child’s fear of parting with his parents, it is necessary to think about whether their excessive concern for the child plays a role here, and try to overcome it. Both of these steps are difficult to complete, so a psychiatrist or experienced teachers can be of great help (see section 547).

478. Some difficulties going to bed.

I don't want to give you the impression that every 2-year-old who has trouble falling asleep needs to be sat around until they fall asleep. Against! A strong fear of separation from parents is a very rare occurrence, but almost all children experience moderate reluctance to separate. This reluctance takes two forms. In the first case, the child tries to keep his mother in the room. The child asks to go to the potty, although he urinated just a few minutes ago. The mother knows that he is just looking for an excuse to keep her, but on the other hand, she wants to encourage his desire to use the potty and therefore agrees to put him on the potty again. But as soon as she puts him in bed and is about to leave, he asks for a drink and looks as if he is dying of thirst. If the mother gives in, he will alternate between these two requests all evening. I think the child is just a little afraid of leaving his mother. Usually the surest way to calm your child down is to tell him in a friendly but firm tone that he's already drunk and gone potty, then say goodnight and leave the room without hesitation. If a mother allows her child to detain her and looks worried and unsure, then she seems to be saying: “Maybe he’s so nervous for a reason.” Even if the child whines or cries for several minutes, it is wiser not to return to him. It is better for the child to immediately understand that he will not achieve anything by doing this, than to continue a useless struggle for many weeks.
In the second case, a two-year-old child, who does not want to part with his parents, simply crawls out of the crib and appears in front of them. He is smart enough to act very touchingly during this time. He seems happy to be hugged and talked to (which he doesn't have time for during the day). It is very difficult for parents to be firm at such a moment, but this must be done and immediately. Otherwise, he will like to get out of the crib, which will eventually result in an unpleasant struggle that lasts an hour or two every evening.
When parents are unable to cope with a child who constantly climbs out of the crib, they ask whether it would be better to lock him in the room. I don't think it's good to leave a baby crying at a locked door until he falls asleep. Better to put a net over his bed.
I'm not sure that the grid is harmless from a psychological point of view, but this measure is certainly better than nightly bickering. However, don't make the net a punishment. You can tell your child that the net turns the crib into a house, and ask him to help tie the net. Most two-year-olds like this idea and willingly allow themselves to be placed under the net, then, after tugging at the net a little and making sure there is no way out, they fall asleep. If a child is afraid of a net, it is better not to use it. I would not recommend using it on a 3 year old who may be more likely to develop a fear of enclosed spaces. I think it makes more sense for a 2 year old to use cribs with side walls, even if you have to buy a new crib for the next child. Too often, children begin to wander around the apartment in the evening as soon as they are transferred from the nursery to the teenage bed. But when the child learns to get out of a bed with side walls, then the type of bed will no longer matter.
Sometimes, if your child is afraid to sleep, put a sibling in his room.

*Stubbornness*

479. Stubbornness in the third year of life.

Stubbornness and “negativity” begin to develop as early as one year of age, so this won’t surprise you. But after 2 years it reaches new heights and takes on new forms. A one-year-old child contradicts his mother, a 2.5-year-old child even contradicts himself. He has difficulty making decisions, and then wants to change everything. The child behaves like a person who seeks to throw off someone else's yoke, although no one intends to suppress him except himself. He wants to do everything his own way, just the way he did it before. He becomes furious when anyone tries to interfere or put his property in any other way.
It seems that the main characteristic of a two-year-old child is the desire to solve everything on his own and resist any pressure from other people. Waging a war on these two fronts without sufficient experience, the child brings himself to internal nervous tension, especially if his parents like to command him. This age period has much in common with the period from 6 to 9 years, when the child strives to get rid of parental dependence, takes responsibility for his behavior, is offended when he is corrected, and manifests his nervous tension in the form of various habits.
It is often difficult to cope with a child between 2 and 3 years old. Parents must be sensitive. The main thing is to interfere as little as possible and rush it. Let him dress and undress at his leisure, whenever he pleases. For example, start bathing him early so that he has time to splash around and clean the bath. At meals, let him eat on his own, don’t try to persuade him. If he stops eating, let him leave the table. When it's time to go to bed, or go for a walk, or return home, guide him by talking about all sorts of pleasant things. Try not to argue with him. Don't despair, calmer sailing lies ahead.

480. Sometimes a child cannot stand the simultaneous absence of both parents.

Sometimes a child behaves well in the presence of one parent, but as soon as the other appears, he becomes furious. Part of it is jealousy. In addition, at this age the child does not tolerate being commanded and tries to command a little himself. I think he feels out of place in the presence of two such important people. The father is usually especially unpopular. The poor father sometimes thinks that the child hates him. Of course, the father shouldn't take it so seriously. He should sometimes play alone with the child so that the child knows the father as a loving, interesting person. But the child must understand that the parents love each other, want to spend time together and will not allow themselves to be intimidated by him.

*Stuttering*

481. Stuttering is a common occurrence in the third year of life.

We don't fully understand the causes of stuttering, but much is already known about it. Frequent stuttering is a hereditary defect. It happens more often in boys than in girls. Sometimes it starts when you try to turn a left-hander into a right-hander. The part of the brain that controls movements of the dominant hand is closely connected to the part that controls speech. If you force your child to use the wrong hand, it will affect his speech.
We know that stuttering largely depends on the emotional state of the child. Nervous children are more likely to stutter. Some children only stutter when they are excited or talking to a certain person. Here are some examples. One little boy began to stutter when his newborn sister arrived in the family. He did not show his jealousy openly: he did not try to hit or pinch her. He just felt uneasy. One little girl (2.5 years old) began to stutter when her beloved uncle, who had lived with them for a long time, left. After 2 weeks, the stuttering stopped. But when the family moved to a new house, she began to stutter again, missing her old home. Two months later, the father was drafted into the army, the whole family was upset, and the girl began to stutter again. Mothers claim that the child stutters more when the mother is nervous. It seems to me that children who are not left alone for a minute during the day are especially susceptible to stuttering: they talk to them, tell them fairy tales, force them to speak and read poetry, show them to their friends, etc. Sometimes stuttering begins when the father suddenly decides to impose stricter discipline.
Why does stuttering begin in the third year of life? There are two possible explanations. At this age, the child works a lot on his speech. He used to speak in short sentences to express more complex thoughts. He starts a sentence 3-4 times and stops because he can't find the right words. The mother is tired of his constant chatter and is not interested, so she answers in monosyllables and in an absent-minded voice, continuing to go about her business. The child is in despair because he cannot hold the attention of his audience.
It is very possible that the stubbornness that is an integral part of this stressful period also affects the child's speech.

482. How to eliminate stuttering.

Perhaps you or someone close to you had a long and difficult time getting rid of stuttering. But don't be discouraged if your child stutters. In 9 out of 10 cases, stuttering goes away on its own after a few months. Only in exceptional cases does stuttering become chronic. Don't try to correct your child's speech or worry about it at all. Better track what causes his nervous tension. If he was upset that you left, try not to leave for the next two months. If you feel like you're talking to your child too much and forcing him to talk, try to get out of the habit. Play with him mostly through actions rather than words. Does your child have enough opportunities to play with other children in whose company he feels free? Does he have enough toys and equipment at home and in the yard so that he can make up his own games without your intervention? I don't advise you to ignore your child or isolate him from you, but when you are with him, try to be calm and let him take the initiative. If he tells you something, try to listen carefully so as not to make him angry. If your child is tormented by jealousy, think about whether there is anything you can do to prevent it. Typically, stuttering continues for several months, then intensifying and then subsiding. Don't expect it to stop right away. Be happy with the gradual progress. If you can't figure out what's causing your stuttering, talk to a child psychiatrist. Don't confuse stuttering with tongue-tiedness.
There are special schools for speech correction. They often, but not always, help correct speech defects. Such classes are especially valuable for school-age children who themselves want to correct their speech defects. But if the child is nervous, it is better to first consult with a child psychiatrist to try to establish and eliminate the cause of the nervousness.

*Nail biting*

483. Biting your nails is a sign of nervousness.

Typically, children who bite their nails tend to worry about anything. For example, they start biting their nails while waiting to be called on to answer in class, or while watching a scary movie. If a child is usually happy and happy, then nail biting is not necessarily a sign of nervous tension. But in any case, this phenomenon deserves attention.
Remarks and punishments usually stop the child only for a minute, since he simply does not notice that he is biting his nails. Punishments can only increase his nervous tension. Lubricating with bitter substances also rarely helps.
The best approach to this problem is to try to find out what is bothering the child, what is weighing on him. Maybe he is forced a lot, corrected, warned or scolded. Maybe his parents expect too much from him, for example, only excellent grades at school. Check with your child's school teachers. If movies, radio or TV shows excite him more than other children, it is best not to allow him to watch or listen, especially to programs that are not suitable for children.
A girl over 3 years old can be jokingly suggested to get a manicure so that she gets rid of the habit of biting her nails.

The second birthday is already behind us. How fast the baby is growing! By the time he was two years old, he had become quite an adult and had acquired many new skills that he happily demonstrates. During this period, raising a child will require even more patience, calmness and skill from parents.

The crisis at 2 years is manifested by aggression and hysterics

Physical changes

The height development of a two-year-old child begins to slow down and averages about 10 cm per year. Weight increases by 2.5-3 kg.

1. The proportions of the body change: the growth of the head stops, but the development and elongation of the lower limbs begins.
2. The percentage of adipose tissue decreases, as a result of which the swelling of the cheeks and tummy disappears.
3. At two years old, the face loses its roundness, the legs become long and slender.
4. The “pads” on the inside of the foot disappear.
5. Thanks to the increase in elasticity in the muscles, the child’s body becomes similar to an adult.

Skills

Having reached the age, the child can walk independently and gradually masters speech. These two skills are his main achievements. The development of new territories causes huge changes in the physical and mental state of a small person, in addition, his psychology changes. The energy of moving forward haunts the baby. He needs to see and touch everything.

The development of mobility will be observed for several more years, and providing the opportunity for movement is one of the first tasks for parents.

The skills acquired at an early age will be remembered forever. At two years old, boys and girls are already capable of:

Formation of speech

At the age of two years, the baby’s speech actively develops. Over the course of a year, his vocabulary increases 10 times. Now the child is able not only to ask questions using a single word, but also to construct small sentences. During this period, it is very important to talk more with your fidget, tell stories and fairy tales. And in no case should you distort words, believing that such a language is clearer and simpler.

A child of two years old cannot always clearly express his desires in words. You need to be patient, try to listen to him to the end and understand what the baby wants.

Games

Games occupy one of the first places in education. By the age of two, many children develop skills in handling pencils, plasticine and watercolors.

To speed up the development of fine motor skills in children, you can teach your child to draw with a brush or simply with a finger, dipping it in paint and leaving prints of your small palms on a sheet of Whatman paper attached to the wall of the room.

In the sandbox, girls and boys of two years old are already capable of not only digging a hole. They will be able to make Easter cakes if they are taught this, or pave the way for a typewriter. At home you can try playing with a doll - bathing it, feeding it, putting it to bed. Girls especially love these games. During the game, such qualities as love and care are nurtured. Along the way, ordinary everyday items are studied: soap, washcloth, towel.

At the age of two, both boys and girls are already able to independently find a way out of a difficult situation. For example, they like to pull out a rolled ball from under a chair, or play hide and seek. You can try to solve simple riddles together. To interest children in this useful activity and help them with the answer, it is good to make large drawings depicting the object or animal that needs to be guessed and show it in case of difficulty. This is where memory and ingenuity develop.

But when working with a two-year-old child, you should always remember that two-year-old children cannot perform the same actions for a long time. It is difficult for them to sit in one place for more than half an hour, so all activities should be limited in time.

Two year old crisis

Often mothers of children over two years of age notice that changes suddenly begin to occur in the child’s behavior, and not for the better. If just three months ago he was obedient and fulfilled any requests, now the baby has been replaced. Whims that turn into hysterics arise completely unreasonably and several times a day. It is becoming increasingly difficult to distract a screaming child and switch his attention to another subject, as it was before.

The psychology of such child behavior is defined as a crisis at the age of two.

Behavior during the transition period

Tantrums can manifest themselves in a wide variety of forms. Having decided to satisfy his desire, the child screams loudly, falls to the floor sobbing, or begins to hit everyone around him, break and throw toys around. The development of the situation is getting out of control. The reasons that cause such inappropriate behavior are different. To parents they seem absurd and unworthy of attention, and the demands are sometimes simply impossible to fulfill.

For example, when entering a store, a baby begins to grab all the toys in a row. Any persuasion to put everything back and take only a teddy bear or a car ends in crying, turning into hysterics.

Parents clutch their heads, remember with horror when and where they behaved differently, what they missed in raising their children. And they don't find an answer.

Reasons for changes in child behavior

This psychology of behavior in two-year-old children is not difficult to explain. At this age, the child begins to feel independent and needs to master new relationships with the outside world. If earlier he was one with the adults, now the baby thinks that he can cope with all the tasks himself, and parental education infringes on his personality. Of course, the desire to be independent should be welcomed and encouraged, but only to the extent that there is no danger to the baby’s health. Children's tantrums and disobedience are costs of the transition period.

From the age of two, children begin to explore the boundaries of what they will be allowed to do. Many parents have noticed that if they refuse their child some of his wishes, for example, not turning on a cartoon, since it’s time to go to bed, he begins to cry and fight in hysterics. This goes away instantly if you turn on the TV.

At two years old, a baby begins to interact with the world around him and observes the results.

If the reaction to his actions is the same every time, then the memory records it as normal. And the next time, trying to achieve what he wants, the child pulls the usual strings in anticipation of the usual result.

Over time, the baby should feel the resistance of the surrounding world. If there is no resistance and everything is allowed to him, then something is wrong, danger lurks somewhere.

When throwing a tantrum, the child does not at all expect to receive what is required. He waits for resistance from those around him to assure him of his safety.

Crisis resolution

Faced with such behavior of the child, parents begin to look for a solution to the problem. Some lock the child in a separate room with instructions to reflect on his behavior, others make it clear that no one is going to console him, and that’s where their upbringing ends.

Many parents can’t think of anything better than to give in to their child so that he can calm down. This is the wrong and dangerous path. Having become accustomed to achieving by shouting, the child will become uncontrollable.

Parents need to establish what is allowed and what, on the contrary, is not allowed, and always follow the accepted rules.

If a crisis situation has arisen and the child does not want to fulfill the requests of elders, you need to calm down and firmly explain why the demands will not be fulfilled. If the hysteria does not stop, you should not continue the argument, but simply leave the room. Left alone, the child will quickly calm down and begin communicating again.

Each child can have several crisis periods on the way to growing up. One of them occurs at the age of three, but many pediatricians characterize it as a crisis of 2-3 years. What happens to the child at this time and why should parents double their vigilance? Let's talk about how to survive this difficult period and how to determine that the child is growing and developing in accordance with his age standards.

The first significant crisis period may occur earlier than 3 years

Physical indicators

First, it’s worth understanding what a child aged 2-3 years should be able to do. However, it is equally important to find out what conditions need to be provided for the baby so that he does not lag behind his peers. Full and comprehensive development is promoted not only by education, but also by:

• a well-designed daily routine;
• balanced diet;
• walks;
• active games, physical education.

If the baby grows in normal conditions, the parents pay enough attention to him, there will be no problems in physical development. A child at this age can follow the instructions of adults well, and also act at his own discretion to achieve assigned goals. So, the main skills and characteristic stages of child development in the period of 2-3 years:

• The ability to walk, run, jump, move on toes, on heels, squat, step over a low threshold.
• Play with the ball - throw it to someone, hit a basket, a wall.
• After a little training, catch the ball with both hands.
• Imitate the behavior of other people. Play, repeating the actions of mom, dad, older sister or brother.
• Perform more than one action at the same time - for example, jumping by clapping your hands.
• Learns to ride a bicycle - masters a four- or three-wheeled model.
• Try swimming, skating, skiing, rollerblading.

Intellectual level

Next, we will list the features of the development of children 2-3 years old - their intellectual, logical thinking. All of the above standards are approved by experts in the education, mental and physical development of children. However, they are only indicative. If a two-year-old child falls short of the average in some way, it makes sense to work with him in this direction. Let's figure out what a child should understand and remember, as well as how much he should be able to express his thoughts and emotions.

Development of memory, logical thinking

A 2-year-old child's attention is still unstable, but the older he gets, the more time he can spend on any one activity. Closer to three years, the baby should be able to hold attention for 10-15 minutes if he is interested in something. This could be a new toy, a cartoon, activities with mom.

At this age, memory develops rapidly - the baby can remember the most significant events of his life that happened a week, a month or more ago. For example, a son may remember that he went with his mom and dad to his grandmother, went to the circus, or found a gift from Santa Claus under the tree.

What can a child:

• correctly connect the parts of a collapsible toy that has at least 4 components - assemble a pyramid, make a picture from simple puzzles, build a tower from cubes;
• be able to identify an object by one of its parts - the wings belong to a butterfly, the wheels belong to a car;
• determine what color an object is;
• be able to distinguish whether toys are the same or different, which doll is large and which is small;
• distinguish the shape of objects - square, circle, triangle;
• understand the meaning of definitions - this toy is soft, the tea is warm, the chair is heavy;
• identify the missing parts in the picture - which character the artist forgot to draw a tail, who has missing ears, etc.;
• find an object based on its characteristics;
• be able to tell his mother what he saw in the drawing, photograph - how many characters are in the house, what each of them is doing, what they are wearing;
• talk about what you did all day.

If any of the above is not yet available to the child, then this skill needs to be trained. Properly raising a child involves stimulating logical thinking: learning to retell what they hear, describe pictures, and concentrate attention.

Counting and logic

A baby at this young age should already be able to understand simple mathematical concepts. The child can already be taught to count and explained that counting is done from left to right. Make sure that the little student does not miss numbers when counting. In the third year of a baby’s life, you can teach:

• count to 5;
• remember that there are five fingers on each hand;
• comparison - larger, smaller, wider, longer;
• understanding that there are many objects drawn in the picture, or one object;
• correlate words with familiar numbers - three chairs in the room, two windows;
• show what is above and what is below.

Speech and vocabulary

During this period of life, the child actively increases his vocabulary. It is believed that a three-year-old child may well have a vocabulary of 1200-1500 words. It is at this age that the ability to compose simple phrases consisting of 3-4 words is formed. By the age of three, the child will be able to freely use complex sentences. He must perceive an adult’s speech at such a level that he can understand the essence of short stories, perceive a description of an object that he does not currently see, or some event. At this age children:

• They know the names of objects that they see and that they and their parents use. Understand their function and degree of importance.
• They focus on the following generalizations: “animals”, “birds”, “transport”, “dishes”, and determine which of what they see belongs to a certain group.
• They begin to master words denoting actions. They can say that the car is moving, the plane is flying, mom is making soup, the bear in the picture is eating.
• They understand the meaning of some professions, they understand what a seamstress, a driver, a postman does.
• Answer simple questions. If the baby tends to answer in monosyllables, you need to encourage him to give a detailed answer.
• Ask questions to adults.

• They can know a couple of simple poems of up to 4 lines.
• With the help of their mother, they try to compose a story based on a drawing or photo.
• They recognize animals or cartoon characters by their characteristic sounds - a pig makes “oink-oink”, a cow “moo”, a sparrow chirps.
• By the age of three, children can use nouns, verbs, and definitions in speech.
• The child tries to communicate not only with adults, but also with children.

Time for games and creativity

Play is a powerful stimulus in a child’s development. With its help, he expresses himself, learns to imitate adults, and unnoticed by himself remembers the names of objects, the sequence of actions in a given situation. The development of a child aged 2-3 years means that he can:

• remember the words of rhymes, songs, rhymes;
• draw with pencils, felt-tip pens, sculpt balls and sausages from plasticine;
• enjoy doing creative work under the guidance of an adult.

Parents need to try to encourage their son or daughter to think creatively, develop fine motor skills, and the ability to express themselves through crafts and drawings. To do this, you need to create a creative atmosphere at home, give your child the opportunity to use clay for modeling, construction sets, and various educational toys.

Mom and dad must realize that the development of fine motor skills creates the prerequisites for improving speech, memory, and attention. It is advisable to provide your child with the following types of play items:

• puzzles, nesting dolls, pyramids, various sorters, construction sets, mosaics;
• sets for simulating adult life - plastic dishes, a doctor’s case, equipment for a store, etc.;
• developmental literature, age-appropriate books (we recommend reading:).

Psychological picture

In the third year of life, the child demonstrates characteristics that parents should remember. At this age, the baby’s psychology is such that he does not accept pressure and tries to get maximum freedom. It is necessary to try to give him more rights, but at the same time explain that the baby has certain responsibilities. For example, remove the cubes, fold the construction set, wash your hands. It is important not to force the child to do anything, but to create conditions so that he wants to do it himself. Let us list the characteristic psychological characteristics of children 2-3 years old:

• the nervous system can already withstand stress, the child is less susceptible to mood swings, he has hysterics less often, his mental health is stronger, sometimes he can hide strong emotions;
• the period of wakefulness is extended to 7 hours;
• persistence appears, patience and determination are developed;
• he can no longer instantly switch from one game to another, it happens more smoothly than before.

A child at this age constantly improves his skills and abilities. Right now, a leap in the development of fine motor skills can occur, which allows the baby to learn a lot. For example, put on socks, slippers, unfasten buttons, eat carefully from a spoon, without leaving stains on clothes.

This period is also characterized by the desire for socialization, the search for contact with peers, and awareness of oneself in the society of adults. It has been noticed that a baby closer to 36 months can already:

• adopt the style of behavior of society, follow the rules adopted in kindergarten, at home, on the playground;
• repeat the actions of adults, their gestures, words, and notice some characteristic features.

The desire to do something on their own, familiar to many mothers, does not disappear; the child also tries to perform some difficult actions on his own. At this age, self-awareness arises - the baby no longer talks about himself in the third person, he can begin to use the pronoun “I”.

Right now, parents are noticing signs of the onset of the notorious “three-year crisis.” It is very important to outline the acceptable boundaries of independence and not deviate from the agreed rules. For example, mom and dad have the right to prohibit the baby from using electrical appliances without supervision, opening windows, or picking up a knife. At the same time, he can easily handle cutlery for children - a fork and spoon, wash his hands on his own, standing on a small chair, etc.

Parents should clearly understand what the baby needs and try to create conditions in which he will feel comfortable. When raising a child, it is wrong to go to extremes: allow permissiveness or intensely care for the baby. We will highlight the key points that parents of children of this age need to take into account:

• Raising a child at 2 years old implies all kinds of encouragement for independence, praise for every new achievement (see also:).
• Show your attitude towards his efforts, make it clear that mom and dad care about the result.
• Do not seize the initiative and do not finish what the child started if he was unable to do it himself. It is better to simplify the conditions of the task, give advice for solving it, and encourage you to do it again.

• Mom and dad should not laugh or joke if the baby doesn’t succeed in something.
• Be patient, remember that it takes time for the baby to learn any action.
• Do not scold the baby, nervously pulling him back if he could not do something carefully, or if he broke a toy, trying to understand how it works.
• Demonstrate trust and confidence that he will cope with the task.

Competently raising a child aged 2-3 years is constant encouragement, stimulation to overcome difficulties, preparation for the fact that not everything is easy. It is very important to form in a child faith in his own strength. For example, if he couldn’t do something, calm him down, tell him what will happen next time. In this case, it will be psychologically easier for the baby to cope with the task.

Each child is an individual with his own interests and desires, and a vision of the world. The parents’ task is not to reject his worldview, destroying his mental health, not to force him to meet his own standards, but to support in every possible way the desire for self-expression and independence. It is necessary to direct the child’s interest in the right direction, and strive to arrange it so that he learns to make decisions himself, as well as bear responsibility for them. Patience and a positive attitude will help mom, dad and baby get through a difficult but very interesting period called the “3rd year crisis.”

Sorter, mosaic, puzzles and similar toys.

What should a child be able to do?

Most children at the age of two already know how to:

• Run and climb stairs.
• Close and open the door.
• Step over obstacles.
• Build towers and houses from cubes and construction sets.
• Assemble a pyramid of rings of different sizes.
• Catch the ball with both hands.
• Play multiple actions in a story game.
• Eat with a spoon and drink from a cup.
• Help mom around the house.
• Understand short stories about familiar events.
• Answer simple questions.
• Show parts of the body and face.
• Pronounce about 100-300 words.
• Link 3-4 words into a sentence.
• Name the objects in the picture.
• Say goodbye and hello.
• Finish words in familiar rhymes and songs.
• Imitate animal sounds.
• Draw doodles on paper.
• Distinguish between 3-4 colors.

Height and weight

Compared to the indicators of 1.5 years, by the age of two, children gain about 1300 grams and grow by about 5-6 cm. For girls, all indicators will usually be slightly less than for boys. To find out whether the baby is physically developing normally, we offer you a table with the average values ​​of the main indicators, as well as the normal limits for children of different sexes:

Should you worry about deviations from the given physical standards, see Dr. Komarovsky’s program.

By the age of two, many children have completed teething. On average, babies of this age have 16-20 baby teeth.

Calculate your vaccination schedule

Types of child development

Physical

This type of development helps the child become more resilient and dexterous. A two-year-old baby needs daily physical activity.

Activities for the physical development of 2-year-old children are as follows:

• We alternate fast running with slow running.
• We run on our toes.
• We teach a child to jump on two legs in place.
• Ball games - throw them against the wall, catch them, throw them to mom.
• To maintain balance, we walk on a bench or board on the floor.
• We copy the movements of animals after mom showed us - we jump like a hare, walk like a bear, crawl like a caterpillar, stomp loudly like an elephant, wave our arms like a bird.
• We roll on the floor.
• We jump like a frog from a half-crouched position.
• We reach up to the hanging objects.
• We run around the room, avoiding obstacles (for example, pillows laid out on the floor).
• We carry light, large items.
• We walk on an uneven surface.
• Walking along a drawn line - straight and winding.
• We crawl under the stretched rope.
• Together with other children we run around like a train, play catch, and have a round dance.
• We hang on rings or a horizontal bar.
• We master climbing on a sports wall.
• We jump over the “bumps” - pillows laid out on the floor.
• We climb through the tunnel.
• We jump on a fitball.
• We play snail - we crawl with a pillow on our back.
• We walk on our hands.

Cognitive

This type of child development includes the study of the surrounding world, the properties of objects, the development of logical thinking, attention, memory, and the study of elements of mathematics. Activities for the cognitive development of a two-year-old child can be as follows:

• Study of geometric shapes.
• Studying the colors of objects.
• Find the named object indoors, on the street or in the picture.
• Find a pair by choosing from similar items.
• Find the same patterns on hats, mittens, saucers and similar images.
• Studying the concepts of “little” and “many”.
• Determining the difference in the number of objects - the child learns to distinguish between 1 and 2.
• Sorting items by color and size.
• Orientation in space with the study of the concepts of “right”, “below”, “left”, “above”.
• Folding puzzles and cut-out pictures that have 2-4 pieces.
• Comparison of pictures, as well as objects in the games “where is whose mother”, “where is whose house”, “who eats what” and the like.
• Guessing simple riddles - who eats grass and says “moo”, who is white and likes carrots.
• Stacking nesting dolls and glasses into each other.
• Build a tower from different sized glasses or cubes (sorted by size).
• Comparison of geometric figures with projections in the figure.
• Classification of cards with objects based on common characteristics, for example, products, animals, toys.
• Find the whole from the part, for example, match the roof of a house or the tail of an animal.
• Find a figure, taking into account 2 signs - among all the circles, find a small red one, among all the squares, find a large green one.
• Studying the concepts of “low” and “high”, “narrow” and “wide”, “short” and “long”.
• Find a shadow for the object.
• Find the missing part of the picture.
• The game “what’s missing” (hide one of the toys or pictures) or “what’s appeared” (add a picture or toy).
• Hide and seek games.
• We remember together what we did in the morning, yesterday, on a walk.
• Remember the plot of the picture.
• Playing "thimble" with small toys.
• We study wild and domestic animals. We show the child their cubs, tell simple facts about their life, name their body parts (hooves, horns, trunk).
• We study birds and insects.
• Introduce the concept of day and night, as well as the division of the day into morning, lunch and evening.
• Studying natural phenomena, for example, looking at rainbows, snow or rain.
• Get to know 3-4 flowers that grow in your area.
• Study of commonly found vegetables and berries, as well as fruits and mushrooms.
• Getting to know the seasons.
• Conversations on the topic of transport, professions, clinics, parts of the human body, shop, family, aquarium, sea, trains, materials, cities, electrical appliances and others.
• If your child is about to start going to kindergarten soon, it is important to pay attention to discussing the topic of kindergarten.
• During a walk you can study traffic rules, vegetation, transport, sky and sun, natural materials (stones, leaves, branches), houses.
• Also, during walks, you can play with snow, puddles, sunbeams, shadows and sand.

Touch

Musical

This type of development is aimed at the child’s hearing, musical perception, and recognition of musical instruments. It also includes dancing and singing.

To develop your child musically, the following games and activities are suitable:

• Listening to children's songs.
• Listening to classical music.
• We distinguish different music - slow from fast, sad from cheerful, quiet from loud.
• We listen to a variety of sounds while walking - the noise of cars, birdsong, rustling leaves and others.
• We determine the source of sounds, for example, we look for a bird in a tree.
• We play various children's musical instruments.
• We listen to the sounds of different instruments.
• Listening to mom's singing.
• Mom and I dance slowly and quickly, clapping and stamping our feet, making “lanterns” with our hands, putting our feet on the heel and then on the toe, and doing a round dance.

Carry out the lesson shown by M. L. Lazarev (an expert in musical development) with a 2-year-old child.

Speech

The development of a child’s speech is aimed at increasing the baby’s vocabulary and stimulating the repetition of words after an adult. It is also important to perform exercises for articulation.

Activities for speech development with a 2-year-old child can be as follows:

• Replenishing the baby’s passive vocabulary by constantly communicating with the baby and talking about everything that happens in his life.
• Reading books (fairy tales, poems), as well as discussing what they read.
• Ask your child questions about the image in the picture or what is happening around the child.
• Play out simple fairy tales with your baby.
• Listen and sing songs.
• Describe the objects that the baby sees using adjectives.
• The use of prepositions in speech (behind, before, about, in), pronouns (here, there), adverbs (close, low, far, right, high, left and others).
• We learn to blow on a candle, leaves, cotton wool, and also play with soap bubbles. You can blow either smoothly or sharply.
• We make faces at the mirror, sticking out our tongue, chattering our teeth, opening our mouth wide.
• Learning to speak in a whisper and loudly.

Carry out articulation classes with your baby, which will help the baby speak sounds more clearly. One example is the “Cup and Saucer” exercise, which Tatyana Lazareva shows in the following video.

Fine motor skills

Its development is important for the development of speech, since in the human brain the area responsible for hand movements is located in close proximity to the speech area. Thanks to such close proximity, activities during which the child’s fingers are used have a positive effect on the baby’s speech development. Here are fine motor activities suitable for a 2 year old:

• Finger gymnastics.
• We do drawing, creating appliqués and sculpting.
• Games with insert frames, construction sets, mosaics, lacing, sorters, pyramids.
• Pour the cereal from one container to another using a spoon, funnel, hands, or children's dishes.
• We pour water from one container to another using children's dishes, a watering can, a jug, and a funnel.
• Games with stickers.
• Fastening and unfastening Velcro on toys, clothing and shoes.
• Unfastening zippers, buttons, buttons.
• We catch small floating objects in the water (in a basin, bowl, glass) with a sieve or spoon.
• We collect water with a pipette or an enema and pour it into another container.
• Collect water with a sponge.
• We crumple and tear the paper.
• We create patterns using small pebbles, large beans, pasta, and sticks.
• Games with clothespins.
• We select lids for jars and bottles. We twist and unscrew them.

Games with cereals contribute to the development of motor skills. Be sure to organize such classes. Garbage after games can be easily removed with a vacuum cleaner.

Creative

This type of development stimulates the baby's creativity and may include drawing, designing, sculpting, creating appliqués and similar activities.

Creative activities with a 2-year-old toddler can be like this:

• We draw circles, lines (they can be long, short, horizontal, vertical), paths.
• We add strings to the balls, flower stems, hedgehog needles, grass, rain and other simple elements.
• We draw patterns on a towel or rug.
• Choose a color for the drawing.
• Draw with a stick on snow, semolina or sand.
• We leave paint imprints on the paper using a sponge and stamps.
• We learn to paint with paints using a brush.
• We draw with our fingers.
• We try to roll out plasticine or dough, making sausages and balls.
• We break off a piece of plasticine or dough to flatten these lumps in our fingers or palms.
• We connect the rolled out sausage at the ends.
• We mold lumps of plasticine onto cardboard, for example, to make decorations on a Christmas tree or grains for a chicken.
• We learn to smear plasticine on paper.
• We leave prints on plasticine or dough using different objects.
• We cut the dough with a plastic knife and cut it out with cookie cutters.
• We make appliques from torn or crumpled paper, as well as from cotton wool.
• We apply an object consisting of two or three parts, for example, a mushroom or a house.
• We make plot applications from two or three objects, for example, a house, a cloud and the sun.
• We use Dienesh blocks, Legos, and Cuisenaire sticks in games. We build a house, a bridge, a fence, a mountain from them.

Diversify your day with an activity using the “Little Leonardo” method, which is shown in the video with O. N. Teplyakova, an expert on intellectual development.

Social

Communication with peers is important for a two-year-old child. The baby reaches out to other children and copies their actions. In the social development of a child, great importance is also paid to the acquisition of everyday skills. Activities for the social development of a 2-year-old child will be as follows:

• We draw the toddler’s attention to other children, trying to arouse sympathy for them.
• Meeting other children during walks, inviting them to play together. Since at this age children do not yet know how to interact in a game, it is very important for an adult to participate in a joint game. It is especially important to teach your baby to play with other kids if the child soon starts attending kindergarten.
• We teach the child to exchange toys.
• We explain when to feel sorry for other people, for example, if a boy fell.
• We teach the child to wash his hands using soap and towels.
• Together with the baby, we clear the table from the table after eating.
• Collect the spilled liquid with a sponge.
• We teach the baby to take off his clothes on his own, as well as put them on.
• Watering flowers with your child.
• Together we remove the toys, putting them back in place.

At the age of two, a common problem is the child's reluctance to share toys. How to understand the baby and what to do in this case, watch Larisa Sviridova’s video.

If you see a child’s aggression towards other children, watch the video of Lara’s mother (Larisa Sviridova), where she clearly talks about how to act in this case.

Many parents worry that their child’s toys are often taken away from him, but he does not defend them. Should you worry about this, see the next video by Larisa Sviridova.

On the other hand, there are children who do not want to share their toys under any circumstances. In the next video by Larisa Sviridova you will see how to properly talk to a child and teach him to share.

An extremely relevant topic for many families is a child’s hysteria when they don’t get what they want. How to guide parents in this situation, see a fragment of Komarovsky’s program.

Sample exercise program for a week

Drawing up a weekly plan of developmental activities for the baby helps solve several problems at once:

1. Do not overload your child with activities in general.
2. Do not repeat the same activities.
3. Don't miss out on any type of development.
4. Don’t worry that the child is not developing well and you are missing something.

We offer an example of a weekly schedule for the development of a two-year-old child:

This is just an approximate development plan for a child aged 2-2.5 years. To draw up your own plan, it is important to take into account the toddler’s skills, his temperament, the child’s interests, and your goals.

The plan should include mandatory activities, for example, a visit to a massage therapist, visiting clubs, swimming in the pool. Identify the most important areas of your child's development and schedule activities on them 5-7 times a week. Be sure to leave room in the plan for improvisation or independent play by the baby. After 1-2 weeks, you will be able to analyze the implementation of the plan, after which some classes can be removed or replaced.

During classes, you may notice the child’s aggression. It often manifests itself in cases where parents refuse to comply with the child’s wishes. How to behave if the child also bites? Watch Larisa Sviridova’s video about this.

• You cannot force a child to study if he is against playing. Your persistence can aggravate the situation and cause a sharp rejection of educational games.
• Remember that a child's concentration on a game at the age of 2 lasts only a few minutes, so the lesson should not be long.
• Be sure to praise your child if he succeeds in something. This will be an incentive for the baby’s further success.
• You cannot scold a child if he refuses to study, as well as in cases when something did not work out.
• Try to make educational games interesting for your little one. They should bring joy to the baby, and not cause boredom.

Give your child the opportunity to complete the task independently, even if it takes a very long time. The baby will not be able to learn anything as long as you are more active in the game than the child himself.

Care and regimen

For the development of a two-year-old child, the health of the baby is of considerable importance, which is supported by the correct daily routine and care:

1. It is important to ensure that your child gets enough rest. Babies of this age sleep about 12-13 hours a day. Two-year-olds have one nap during the day, which lasts 2-2.5 hours.
2. The baby's morning should begin with washing and brushing his teeth, as well as combing his hair. It is also important to teach your child hygiene, reminding him that he should wash his hands after a walk and before eating.
3. After a day's sleep, hardening procedures are often carried out, for example, rubbing or dousing the feet.
4. Many children have already mastered the potty by their 2nd birthday and use it for its intended purpose. To ask to use the potty, the child says words or makes a sign. Some kids come up to the potty and take off their pants.
5. It is recommended to walk with a two-year-old child 1-2 times daily, since the baby really needs fresh air. The baby should be dressed according to the weather to prevent overheating, but also to prevent the child from freezing.
6. The diet of a 2-year-old toddler includes 4 meals with intervals of 3-4 hours between them. The nutritional value of the diet of a child of this age should correspond to 1400-1500 kcal.
Teeth

All parents want their children to develop normally and keep up with their peers. Each age of a child, including two years, has its own characteristics of physical, psycho-emotional and mental development. To make sure that the baby is developing in accordance with his age, knowledge of what a child should be able to do at 2 years old will help. Knowing how and what to do with a child, adults can help him acquire new skills and abilities.

Knowing the developmental characteristics of children of different ages, it is easier to help the child discover his abilities

Physical development of a 2-year-old child

The main physical parameters that parents and pediatricians monitor are the baby’s height and weight. At this age, children grow rapidly, and the body weight of a baby should usually be 1/5 of the weight of an adult. The main factors influencing these parameters include:

• heredity;
• nutrition;
• climatic conditions;
• physical exercise;
• ecology.

Specialists - first of all, an endocrinologist - are required to draw any conclusions about lagging or pathologically rapid growth, about excess or underweight, based on the examinations performed. The diagnosis is never made independently.

The table below shows the average height and weight standards for boys and girls at the age of two:

Fat cells that accumulate in the early months and years, according to nutritionists, remain for life, so the issue of extra pounds should be taken quite seriously. Gaining weight can most often be caused by overeating, eating too fatty and carbohydrate foods, an inactive lifestyle, and in more rare cases, metabolic disorders.

It is important to pay attention to the proportions of the child’s body, skeletal features and muscle mass:

• A long torso and arms + short legs cause an upward shift in the center of gravity.
• It is also considered normal for children to stick their stomachs forward and bend their backs backwards. This is due to the fact that their internal organs do not yet fit into the abdominal cavity.
• Plus, the head of two-year-old children is larger than the body, and this is normal from an anatomical point of view.

• The bones of the skeleton at this age still remain soft and pliable, with a large amount of cartilage tissue. Their ossification is still at the stage of completion. However, the cranial bones and spine bones become quite strong.
• A two-year-old child is also characterized by chubby cheeks, folds on the arms and legs, dimples in the bends of the knees and elbows. Over time, fat tissue is replaced by muscle tissue.

Motor skills and coordination

The physical development of a 2-year-old child is directly related to motor activity and coordination of movements (we recommend reading:). In the period from one to three years, children master and improve the ability to walk. Over time, their movements become more confident and their walking becomes more conscious. By setting a specific goal for themselves, they try to achieve it. For example, getting to your favorite toy, catching a pigeon, climbing a ladder on your own.

At two years of age, in addition to purposeful walking, children already master quite well:

• stepping over obstacles;
• climbing and descending stairs and inclined surfaces;
• short distance running;
• low jumps;
• walking on a log or curb;
• kicking a ball;
• turning and walking backwards.

Despite such tangible progress, coordination of movements is not yet so developed. To maintain balance, babies often spread their arms out wide, and when moving quickly they have difficulty stopping. They also continue to fall frequently. Clumsiness in movements can be observed until adolescence.

So far, children do not know how to control their bodies well and often fall

However, the baby is already able to control both hands quite well. He knows how to draw and sculpt from plasticine, and catch a ball from a short distance. During this period, parents can introduce the child to scissors - of course, under the strict guidance of an adult.

In addition to all of the above, useful household skills also appear in the child’s arsenal. He can independently:

• wash your hands and face;
• eat liquid foods with a spoon;
• go to the potty;
• putting on and taking off some things.

Psycho-emotional and social development

Up to the age of 5, children are unable to control and manage their thinking, memory and attention. These psychological processes are beyond their control. It is easy to switch children's attention at two years old with the help of a more interesting or new activity. At this stage of development, babies grasp everything new on the fly and absorb information like sponges.

From an emotional point of view, children are very sensitive to other people's emotions. Thus, you can often observe a situation when a cheerful, smiling baby begins to cry or becomes unhappy if another child next to him is capricious or throwing a tantrum. It is for this reason that the psychological environment in which the baby grows plays an important role.

In a calm, friendly atmosphere, a child will grow up mentally and emotionally balanced, while with constantly arguing parents who splash out their negativity on the child, he will become nervous, restless and capricious.

By the age of two, children become more sociable, they begin to show interest in strangers and play on playgrounds with other children. They make contact and interact with others more easily. Naturally, this is the time of the first quarrels and conflicts. In addition, babies already emotionally color their speech with the help of facial expressions, movements and exclamations. They also love to have fun, sing, listen to music, watch cartoons and educational videos.

Among other things, child psychology involves imitation and copying of adults. Children love to wash, clean, and cook with their parents, thus showing independence. Such aspirations should be encouraged, especially since this is another way to keep a 2-year-old child occupied at home.

Psychologists say that boys and girls at this age evaluate adults differently and gradually realize their gender identity. The table below describes the main differences in the emotional, psychological and social development of boys and girls at 2 years of age:

Mental and speech development

At two years old, children have certain knowledge and relevant skills. They have to:

• distinguish between 4-8 colors (we recommend reading:);
• be able to group objects by color;
• know basic geometric shapes;
• distinguish the properties of objects - for example, hot or cold, light or heavy;
• know numbers and count, show your age on your fingers.

At this stage, babies are already emotionally coloring their speech with the help of facial expressions, movements and exclamations. The vocabulary grows quickly and is usually about 300 words. Children's vocabulary is enriched with adjectives and pronouns, and instead of simplified designations such as “yum-yum” or “boom”, the words “eat” and “fall” appear.

Children at this age begin to understand a lot, perceive short stories about familiar things, and point out in pictures objects that they will be asked to show. They are already able to express their desires and needs in the form of simple sentences, in which the syntactic structure may be violated. Children also often omit sounds, swap syllables in words, and come up with their own words, replacing ordinary ones with them.

If the baby has not yet spoken or speaks incorrectly and with great difficulty, this is not a developmental disorder. We need to wait about another six months.

Methods of child development at 2 years old

Caring for a 2-year-old child consists not only of hygiene, nutrition and routine (we recommend reading:). It includes educational activities, exercises and games. It’s great if you can take your little one to clubs or sections, but you can conduct classes with a 2-year-old child at home. There are many videos on the Internet about the care and development of children, recommendations from psychologists and pediatricians, including Dr. Komarovsky. It is important to choose methods of training and care that suit the baby and suit the parents.

You can work on your child’s development even at home, if the mother has time for it.

Exercises for physical development

The purpose of exercise is to strengthen bones and muscle tissue. They are also necessary for the musculoskeletal system to form correctly. There is no need for special gymnastics; a few exercises are enough, which should be done in a playful way and without coercion. For example:

1. Path or bridge. Make a path out of a narrow piece of fabric or paper and ask the baby to walk along it, without going beyond the edges and maintaining balance. You can present it as crossing a river or have a competition with a prize at the end. When walking, curbs and logs are suitable for this exercise.
2. Harvest. The baby's task is to collect scattered cubes, toys or balls into a basket. To do this, he will squat or bend over. You can do this for a while or compete to see who can collect the most.
3. Transformation. The child needs to depict animals, birds, insects or vehicles. For example, he can be asked to jump like a frog or fly like a butterfly.
4. Charger. Squats, turns, jumps and pull-ups accompanied by cheerful music will be to the taste of any child. Sometimes just dancing is enough.
5. Games with a ball or fitball. The baby can roll the ball with his hands, kick, run after it and ride on it. All this contributes to the development of coordination of movements.

Fine motor skills exercises

Stimulating fine motor skills promotes rapid development of speech and thinking. This will help:

1. Finger gymnastics and games. There are enough videos and books on this topic on the Internet. The simplest exercises are clenching and unclenching your fists, bending individual fingers, and walking with your middle and index fingers on a hard surface.
2. Drawing and sculpting. For creative activities, there are finger paints and special modeling dough. Ordinary plasticine and pencils are not inferior in effectiveness.
3. Games with small objects. For example, chestnuts and acorns on the street, beans, buttons, large beads, walnuts at home. You can collect them, rearrange them, and lay out pictures from them.
4. Educational toys. Construction sets with various details, mosaics and cubes. It is advisable for parents to put them together with their child.

Development of attention and memory

The following games will help develop your child’s memory and attention at home:

• Hide-and-seek. Let the baby look for a toy placed somewhere in a room or on the street of a private house. You can hide more than one toy, but for example a whole zoo throughout the apartment.

• Upside down picture. Show the drawing to the child, turn it over or remove it, and ask him to describe what is happening in the picture. To make things easier, you need to ask leading questions.
• Three items. Place three toys in front of the baby and describe them. When he turns away, remove one, and then ask him to say which one is missing.
• Puzzles.

The nuances of working with a child at home

Caring for a 2-year-old child and conducting classes has its own characteristics. Below is a reminder for parents who want to develop their child at home:

1. “No” to overloading the child with exercises and tasks. Classes for 2-year-old children should not be difficult and should not last more than 15 minutes.
2. Alternation of active and passive games.
3. Patience and help. The child is just learning and trying, this needs to be taken into account.
4. Age appropriate games.
5. Reduce exercise before bed. It is advisable to read or just talk. In addition, reading and simple conversation contributes to the development of speech.
6. “No” to forced classes.
7. Communication. You need to communicate with the baby as much as possible, spend time with him, take an interest in his life, ask questions.
8. Praise. Don't forget to praise the baby for his achievements. This is very important to him.
9. Walk more, both in the summer months and in winter.