Article: At this stage, you need to first provide a safe play environment for exploration. Incorporate activities that give your child the opportunity to choose between things. You should also try to incorporate physical activities such as throwing and catching a ball, chasing after bubbles, skipping and hopping while singing to her favorite song.  One creative thing you can do is give your child an empty box. The box should be small enough that she can push it around the house easily. She can pretend that the box is a grocery cart or a car that needs to carry stuff around. Chances are, you'll find her inside the box too. Because toddlers lose interest in things quickly, if she doesn't want to play with her “cart” anymore, turn it into a basketball game where she can throw and shoot her balls inside the box. Incorporate play that will let your child practice their language skills, such as playing with sock puppets, or pretend playing that she's the “mommy” and you are the “baby”.  Of course, at this time, your child is still learning how to talk so if she makes a mistake, avoid openly correcting her; instead, just reply with the correct grammar or usage of the word. Always speak slowly and clearly when talking to her. Other ideas include:  Playing that she's a doctor and you are the sick patient. Let her try to introduce herself through her puppet or through her role as a doctor. Let her sing songs on her own and pretend that you are the baby asking her “mommy” to sing or tell her a story. If you have a puppet of your own, encourage her to speak to your puppet; this will practice her language skills instead of just parroting everyone around the house. You can also engage in activities that involve cause and effect; for example, if you stack the blocks too high, it will topple over or if you throw everything out of the house, there won't be toys left inside anymore. Cause and effect teaches your toddler how to make choices. It will make her choose the best course of action based on what she wants at that time. Instead of telling her not to stack the blocks too high, let her experience what will happen if she does. Of course, don't let her experience what will happen if she climbs the stairs on her own; teaching cause and effect should not jeopardize your child's safety. While playing and teaching your child at the same time is very important, it is also fun to just be silly with your child and let her imagination run wild. Other fun things to do with your toddler include:  Playing with drums or other musical toys like a toy guitar. Pretend play with dolls or stuffed animals. Ball throwing or other easy 'sports'. Singing and dancing. Block or ring stacking. At this stage, your toddler will begin stacking, banging, and placing objects inside anything that it can fit into (including their mouths, noses and ears, so be watchful!). Your toddler's pincer grip (holding objects with the forefinger and thumb) will become more developed. She will pretend play more often by playing and talking to her stuffed animals and she will be walking and running in a more coordinated fashion. Social interaction starts at this stage and continues as she grows and matures. Functional and representational play such as pretending that a shoe is a phone to call daddy at work, helps your child to develop her imagination skills. Expect children at this age to be more energetic, self-interested and full of activity. Your toddler will begin to emulate sounds and actions of others (which is called parroting), become more clingy and sensitive. Your child may also have a relatively short attention span. Expect that your child will have more words in their vocabulary and will start to understand what people tell them.
What is a summary of what this article is about?
Have fun with your child by playing active games. Play with your child to help her learn new language skills. Teach your child cause and effect while having fun. Try some other fun games during playtime. Understand what is going on with your child at this stage in her life. Expect your child to start developing new qualities.