Contents

2 to 3 years

Children learn as they play. Most importantly during play children learn how to learn."

O. Fred Donaldson (Pulitzer nominated author, and renowned play researcher)

Now that I am two, I am learning how to do things by myself, but I still need you to help me to learn, grow and develop, by playing together.

Picture of two boys cuddling

Behaviour

Sometimes, I know what I want to do, but cannot explain things, or I do not fully understand what is happening. I can then get cross and cannot tell you why as do not have the right words yet. You can help me by giving me time to sort things out, or use distraction by changing what we are doing as this sometimes helps. There is information to help you with understanding and supporting my behaviour and for further tips about behaviour. Don’t forget to give me a cuddle to help me calm down or when I have calmed down, I’m feeling a bit frightened and don’t know what to do.

I like feeling good and well, but sometimes I might feel sad and not know why. The things that happen around me and how my grown-ups feel can affect my emotions. Positive emotional health is important to help me feel safe, calm and happy, it is as important as my physical health. How I feel can also impact on things that happen later on in life, like learning at school, relationships with other people and how I feel when I get older.

Sign-up for brain-building tips and ideas

Find out more about how to recognise, understand and support my emotional health and parents mental health.

If I am at nursery or with a childminder, talk with them as they can give you some tips for supporting me at home. You can also find out more information about how to support me when I have a tantrum. There are workshops at the Children and Family Centres, where you can access information.

You can access more information on:

Don’t forget to respond to my invite about my two-year development review with our Health Visitor.

In early years settings (childminders, nurseries and school) there are three prime areas that help support the very youngest children

  • Personal, Social and Emotional Development (this is about me, my feelings and how I behave and my friendships and relationships with other people).
  • Communication and Language (talking, listening and understanding).
  • Physical Development (walking, running, climbing, balance, confidence, using my eyes and hands together, picking up small things, using a spoon, building with bricks).

These areas of learning are all taken from the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework, which provides parent's with ideas and activities you can do at home.

View the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework

Did you know that sharing and looking at books together every day helps me achieve better in my learning?

Information about looking at books provides useful tips and benefits. It will help increase my vocabulary and understanding and take me into imaginative new worlds.

So let us explore books, go to libraries, look at supermarket magazines, catalogues, cookbooks and leaflets. We can even listen to most books on line for example, The Gruffalo.

Singing rhymes and songs are also fun and supports my language.

I am learning lots of language which will help me to talk with other children and people. It will also help me when I start nursery or school and in writing stories. For tips to support communication, you can access speech (PDF) and communication and talking.

If something does not feel right about my speech, please speak with our Health Visitor, GP or Early Years practitioner, nursery staff or our childminder. You can also pop along to one of the speech and language drop-in groups held at the Children and Family Centres.

Here are some ideas to help me talk at home. 

Keeping me safe

See the video below on accident prevention. You can also find out more information about keeping children safe and safety in the bath.

Heathy Eating

I am a very busy and active toddler who is growing fast. While I am so curious this is a great time to get me interested in lots of different, healthy foods. The following nutrition website and children’s exercise website provides easy to follow information about how much I should be eating/ active play ideas, how to encourage me to eat if I am fussy, and foods that I might like to try. If you have any concerns about my eating, you can talk to our Health Visitor, or we could visit our local Children and Family Centres. For lots of information about learning, behaviour and wellbeing for all age groups, you can access the ‘Parent channel TV’.

Picture of a child holding oranges over her eyes