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Child Development 2 Years:
The Stages Of Development Of Your 2 Year Old Child

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This section, Child Development 2 Years presents an overview of the developmental stages of your 2 year old child.

This is a year of exploration and discovery.

He's mastering his skill of walking, balancing, picking up things and carrying them about.

He builds up his ability to control his environment by exploring and testing it out in every way he can and when he's got to the stage of walking about freely, climbing onto sofas, negotiating chairs etc. he launches his energies into experimenting with speech.

• His Physical Development
• Best Way Of Promoting His Physical Development
• His Cognitive/Intellectual Development
• Best Way Of Promoting His Cognitive/Intellectual Development
• His Social And Emotional Development
• His Language Development
• Best Way Of Promoting His Language Development
• His Sensory Development
• Best Way Of Promoting His Overall Development

His Physical Development

Physical development is the stage at which your 2 year child acquires physical skills such as sitting, standing and walking.

This is where you need to make changes to his development now that he is mobile, by putting reachable objects out of the way and making clear rules and boundaries.

At 2 years he can...

• Run safely, avoiding obstacles and is very mobile
• Climb up unto furniture
• Push and pull large wheeled toys
• Walk up and down stairs, usually putting two feet on each step
• Sand on tiptoe when shown
• Kick a large ball gently
• Jump with both feet together from a low step
• Pick up tiny objects using a fine pincer grasp
• Draw circles, lines and dots using preferred hand
• Build a tower of six or more blocks with a longer concentration span
• Copy a vertical line and sometimes 'v' shape
• Hold a pencil in preferred hand, with an improved tripod grasp.

Best Way Of Promoting His Physical Development

• Provide toys and space for him to run and play
• Take him out to the park to learn about the natural world
• Encourage the use of safe climbing frames and sandpits and always supervising him
• Encourage ball throwing and catching to promote his coordinating skills.

Remember, however that your 2 year old will develop at a different rate and he may be faster or slower to learn certain skills than others may. You should always be alert and keep him from danger.

His Cognitive/Intellectual Development

The area of development connected with knowledge, understanding and reasoning of your two year old is referred to as intellectual or cognitive development. This involves what he knows and his ability to reason, understand and to solve problems.

He...

• Follows simple instructions and requests... such as 'Please bring me the toy'
• Begins to understand the consequences of his own actions
• Can say a few nursery rhymes
• Spends time naming things and what they do
• Provides comfort when younger siblings or other babies cry.

Best Way Of Promoting His Cognitive/Intellectual Development

• Your child must be an active learner... participating in group activities rather than telling or showing him what to do all the time will further develop his intellectual development
• The presence of one or more good role models can help his behaviour, attitude, values, social aspects and language development. His interaction with you and other children to try out and express ideas will also help his cognitive development
• An atmosphere or environment, which is physically safe and emotionally secure can enable him to explore and experiment without fear of failure
• Equipment and resources, which provide a range of experiences, particularly ones to develop the senses of your two year old is always an advantage to have.

His Social And Emotional Development

Emotional development involves the way in which he makes sense of his feelings, the feelings he has towards others and the development of self-image and identity.

Social development involves the growth of his relationship with other people, the development of his social skills and socialization.

At this stage he...

• Is very curious about the environment around him
• Begins to express how he feels
• Likes to help others
• Goes to the toilet independently and can dress himself
• Is very eager to try out new things
• Plays more with other children
• Does not like sharing toys with other children
• Skillfully eats with a spoon and may use fork sometimes.

His Language Development

He...

• Uses fifty or more recognizable words appropriately
• Forms sentences by putting two or more words together
• Carries out simple instructions such as 'go and get me a spoon'

• Talks to himself often
• Spends time naming things and what they do
• Continuously asks questions beginning with 'What...?' or 'Who...?'

• Can say few nursery rhymes.

Best Way Of Promoting His Language Development

By observing your child communicate or using gestures can create a big bond between you and your child. It is always good and never too early to introduce him to books. He will enjoy if he sees you enjoying them. He quickly learns reading behaviour, which is how books work: turning pages, following pictures and prints etc.

It is always important to get your child’s age book to create better understanding. From age two and above, it is the most important age for speech development and he begins to link two and three words to communicate his needs.

Use fact and story books that reflects his everyday activities… for example… getting dressed, mealtime, bath time, bedtime, playtime etc. are important to emphasize and introduce the idea of a sequence of events.

They may be single line of text, which describes the pictures… for example… under the bed, on the chair. This can help develop his vocabulary and understanding of positional words. Prints in his story books need to be large and bold.

As he begins to speak, his vocabulary grows and becomes more fluent for slightly longer books, which may have a simple story... one that has a beginning, middle and an end.

He can cope with only a small number of characters. Pictures need to be large and colourful. Allow him to get actively involved in playing or reading books but always supervise, as he will not always be gentle in handling them.

The language of a book must be well written using accurate grammar and tenses. Must have bold and colourful stories. Always give an eye contact to get him behave and to see to it that he is doing well and not in harm zones. It is always good to listen to him regardless of how he sounds or feel.

His Sensory Development

He...

• Listens to general conversation with interest
• Recognises familiar people in photographs
• Enjoys picture books turning pages singly
• Picks up tiny objects accurately and quickly, and places them down neatly
• Holds pencil and scribbles.

Best Way Of Promoting His Overall Development

• Encourage ball play... throwing and catching… to promote his co-ordination skills
• Provide him with toys to ride and climb on
• Provide simple models to build such as Duplo
• Constantly praise him when he succeeds at doing something
• Help him to express his feelings in open and honest ways
• Provide him with picture books, paper and colour pencils for drawing.

See Also...

• Child Development 6 Months
• Child Development 12 Months
• Child Development 18 Months
• Child Development 3 Years
• Child Development 5 Years
• Child Development 6 Years
• Developmental Milestones

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