As the name suggests, children this age are doing just that… toddling! But they’re also mastering a whole heap of other skills that will stand them in good stead in the years to come.

Top 10 Tips

1. After walking comes jumping. Give your child plenty of opportunities to jump!

2. Children need to have mastered basic gross motor skills like jumping before they can work on their fine motor skills such as holding a pencil, weaving and threading beads.

3. Simple ‘whole body’ activities like rolling down a hill, playing hide and seek and swinging will set children up well for learning in the years to come.

4. Once your child has mastered jumping, they will learn to cross the midline, which means one side of their body can do something different from the other side.

5. Crossing the midline means children have eye-hand and eye-foot coordination. Riding a tricycle, marching, swimming and climbing trees are only possible once you’ve crossed the midline.

6. At this age, learning is all about play.

7. Messy play gives children endless ways to learn and to develop fine motor skills so put your need for order aside and get out the playdough and finger-paint!

8. Make sure you give your toddler lots of opportunity to manipulate the messy materials using their hands before introducing any other equipment like rolling pins and shape cutters.

9. Talk with your child about their discoveries as they create.

10. And most importantly, have fun!