What daily activities for 2-year-olds should parents be planning? If you have asked this question before, here are some developmentally appropriate suggestions for how to set up your daily plan.
Where to start with daily activities
If you have a two-year-old, you might be considering starting preschool with them or using flashcards with them. They are curious and bright with so many questions. They seem ready to learn their letters and numbers, but if you have actually tried you will probably find that one minute, they know what A is and the next they don’t. If you try to get them to sit, they end up under their chair or rolling around on the ground. Although it is tempting to start preschool at this age, I would wait till their brains and bodies are ready to process and retain the information you want them to learn. So, what should we be doing with these little ones who seem so eager to learn?
If you have both girls and boys, you might already be aware of the vast differences between the species. Little boys in general seem determined to try to jump off the tallest rocks and you spend an astronomical amount of your time keeping them from injuring themselves, but they also seem almost proud of their injuries. Little girls can be just as active and energetic, or not, but seem to actually care about injuring themselves. At 2, both genders seem to delight in making giant messes, running around in circles and creating absolute chaos, but testosterone is already surging through little boys at this age causing them to seek additional adrenaline experiences. This isn’t to say all boys, or all girls, are the same. There are vast differences in temperament, personality and family dynamics, but all toddlers need these general daily activities.
What should 2-year-olds be doing every day?
First, and foremost, children this age need several hours a day of outside time or movement play. Kinesthetic learners especially need as much outside time and movement play as they can get at this age. Even if they are playing in the sand or drawing with chalk outside, that still counts because the feel of the sun on their face, the sound of birds chirping, and the smell of grass are still engaging their senses in ways that being indoors does not. Ideally, children should be spending over two hours outside in the morning and in the afternoon. If not able to be outside, the time should be made up of indoor movement play that uses their whole body. If a child does not get these hours a day of either outside or movement time, they will show it at bedtime.
Playing Outside: Why It’s Important for Kids – HealthyChildren.org
The Benefits of the Outdoors on Children’s Mental Health – The Kids Mental Health Foundation
Socialization
The second most important element of your schedule for this age group is being around other children their own age. Aim for about 5 hours a week around other children from 1 to 5 years of age. This can be at the park, or an indoor play place, and can also count towards your outside or movement time. Even if your child has siblings, it is important for toddlers of this age to still spend time around other children to develop language, social, and emotional skills. Making friendships is also an important developmental step for this age and seeing the same children on a regular basis is the best way to help your child make friends. Friendships allow children to practice their relationship skills and executive functioning skills. These are things like sharing, take turns, cooperative play, conversational skills, and having empathy for another child.
Creating Outdoor Spaces for Young Children
Movement Play for Young Children
Sensory Play
The third most important element is sensory play. Two-year-olds are still integrating their senses and this needs to happen before their brains will be ready for formalized learning. This should look like two or three 20-minute sessions of playing with play dough, dried beans, or water. Bathtime is a wonderful sensory experience for toddlers. Making your own playdough is another wonderful experience to share with young children. Scents can be added to the dough to also engage the sense of smell. Playing with instruments can engage auditory senses. Swinging in a swing is a wonderful sensory experience for balance and proprioceptive development. Walking along a curb, a low wall, or a balance beam is great for developing skills around balance. Sensory play should rotate between texture, sound, and balance at this age.
Open-ended Art Time
The fourth element of a child’s day at this age should be open-ended art time. This should be separate than sensory play or outside/movement play. This would include drawing with large crayons (I highly recommend triangular crayons to help develop proper grip), markers, finger paints, dot markers, shaving cream, and large butcher paper or construction paper. This should be messy and I recommend a designated spot for this play. Paint smocks are also a big help at this age or a splat mat on the floor. This art time should be all about the process and should not be geared towards any end product. This is also about sensory integration, fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and cause and effect.
Building Blocks for Learning
There are some other elements that you can start to incorporate into your schedule as your child shows that they are ready for them. These are building blocks towards pre-academics. They develop executive function skills like focus, turn taking, and patience. Some two-year-olds will be ready for all of these things at 2 ½, while others may not be ready till closer to 3 ½.
Structured Art Projects
The first is structured art projects with an end product. This is where you introduce smaller crayons, smaller markers, paint brushes, colored pencils, watercolors, and glue sticks. The fine motor skills needed to use smaller crayons and markers, and paint brushes don’t usually develop until around age 3. Before that age, children may also struggle with the sequence of steps needed to use these tools, like putting a paint brush in water, then on the watercolor paint, then the paper. Once your child is ready, you can replace two of your open art sessions a week with structured art sessions. These should be heavily parent led and supervised at first as your child learns new skills, but over time this can evolve into creating art projects together. For context, my daughter was exactly 3 when she was ready for this and I used a child’s craft book for inspiration.
Game and Puzzle Time
The last category is game and puzzle time. This is when your child is ready to follow simple rules with simple games, game boards or cards. Ideally, pick games that you can adapt so there is no clear winner for this age. Games like Duck, Duck, Goose or tag are great around this age. Games that involve taking turns and minor disappointments are also good to introduce. Look for game boards that are recommended for ages 2 to 4. You may have to adapt them though. This is a great time to also introduce more complex puzzles that you and your child can do together, like floor puzzles. This would replace some of your sensory play sessions. Some children are ready at 2 1/2 for this, but other children may not be ready till closer to 4.
Here is an example of what a daily schedule might look like for a 2-year-old.
Sample Schedule
- 7:00 am Wake up
- 7:30 am Breakfast
- 8:00 am Sensory play or Game/Puzzle time
- 8:30 am Art Time or Structured Art Time
- 9:00 am Snack Time
- 9:30 am Outside/Movement/Socialization Time
- 12:00 pm Lunch
- 12:30 pm Nap Time
- 3:00 pm Snack time
- 3:30 pm Art Time
- 4:00 pm Outside/Movement/Socialization time
- 6:00 pm Dinner time
- 6:30 pm Sensory play
- 7:00 pm Bedtime
Leave a Reply