Between the ages of 2 and 2.5 years, children become even more active! They can run, jump, and explore the world around them. Fine motor skills (hand and finger muscles) also develop, which helps them draw and play with small toys.
Conversations become more interesting as children learn to build more complex sentences and express their thoughts. It’s important to encourage children to speak and listen so they can communicate better and understand others.
At this stage, children begin to show their independence, sometimes accompanied by tantrums. It’s important to find a balanced approach to parenting where the child can learn to express their feelings and desires.
And of course, as they grow older, there are more opportunities for play and development!
In our article, we will discuss activities and toys that will help your little one at this stage of development. Detailed advice for each of the 7 skill blocks is presented below. Ready?
Activities for fine motor skills for children aged 2-2.5 years
Lego Duplo Games
Lego games are still relevant at the age of 2-2.5 years. This game helps improve eye-hand coordination, movement coordination, and fosters creativity.
As children grow older, their interest in Lego sets increases because they can assemble pieces more easily and quickly, and their developed imagination allows them to create more complex and original constructions or see uniqueness in the simplest structures.
Sticker Books
There are many different types of sticker books—fairy tale characters, animals, food, clothing, animals, countries, and so on. If you have already used sticker books with your child, you can now choose books that combine stickers with interesting facts about nature or geography.
Working with stickers improves fine motor skills and stimulates creative abilities. If you also narrate interesting facts to the child during this activity, the child will remember it better, thus developing memory and attentiveness alongside fine motor skills.
Games with Wooden Shape Sorting Puzzle
Wooden Shape Sorting Puzzles are also excellent for developing fine motor skills at this age. The challenge here is to correctly “twist” the shapes into place. Every detail must fit precisely into its place—otherwise, it won’t work. This is a great exercise for problem-solving skills and fine motor development. Additionally, these frames can be used for drawing, such as tracing with a pencil and then coloring.
Drawing
Drawing with chalk, markers, pencils, watercolors, and finger paints promotes fine motor skills development, improves coordination and hand control, and stimulates imagination.
It’s important to vary drawing materials as each affects the child’s hand and wrist differently:
- double-sided boards are great for chalk and markers, while markers are good for paper, and chalk is suitable for creativity on playground asphalt.
- drawing with pencils, watercolors, and finger paints is excellent for creativity on paper.
Play with Play-Doh
Working with Play-Doh is an excellent way to develop fine motor skills, which in turn positively impacts speech development.
For a more diverse and beneficial activity, various modeling tools, cutting shapes, and rolling pins can be used, enhancing hand strength and finger dexterity. The process of squeezing, rolling, and shaping material in the hands helps develop the child’s hands and fingers.
Sitting alongside the child, you can demonstrate different ways to work with Play-Doh, showing how simple shapes can be turned into various figures, such as a bear or a cat. Seeing these examples, the child will gradually learn to create their own unique crafts.
The main focus in these activities is the process of modeling 😉
Puzzle Games
Puzzles with large pieces help improve fine motor movement coordination and problem-solving skills.
If your child has already worked with 8-piece puzzles before, they can now tackle puzzles with more complex designs. For added interest, thematic puzzles featuring favorite fairy tale characters or cartoons can be used.
Velcro Books
Use books with Velcro and simple tasks where the child can attach and detach objects. This helps improve hand strength and coordination.
Workbooks for Cutting Practice
At the age of 2-2.5 years, children can start learning to manipulate child-safe scissors.
For cutting practice, using such workbooks is excellent. Afterwards, the cut-out materials can be used to create crafts, such as gluing pieces onto a sheet of paper. Working with glued details also further develops fine motor skills.
Activities for gross motor skills for children aged 2-2.5 years
By this age, children have already mastered walking and running skills, opening up new activities for gross motor skills development. This is the perfect time to introduce your child to their own mode of transportation 🙂
Practice with Scooters or Balance Bikes
Riding scooters and balance bikes improves both fine and gross motor skills. Children learn to maintain balance, coordinate hand and leg movements, which is beneficial for overall physical development. These activities also strengthen the leg, back, and abdominal muscles, making them stronger and more resilient.
Moreover, as children acquire new skills, they become more confident in themselves, which positively influences their self-esteem. Having their own means of transport allows them to cover much greater distances and do so faster than walking hand in hand with mom, contributing significantly to the child’s independence, which is crucial at this age.
For safe scooter or balance bike riding, children need to be attentive to their surroundings, which helps develop concentration and observation skills.
Hand and Foot Play Mat
Such mats are excellent for developing gross motor skills, hand and leg coordination, and engage both hemispheres of the brain, thereby promoting cognitive development.
Ball Games
Using small soft balls, you can invent many fun activities for the child and engage the whole family:
- playing soccer to practice kicking skills;
- throwing the ball forward and upward with hands;
- tossing the ball into a basket or box to practice accuracy;
- creating a circle with your hands and challenging the child to aim for this “imaginary basket”;
- throwing the ball far away and encouraging the child to run and catch it.
Dancing
Dancing is a great activity at any age 🙂 Now that the child is older, they will particularly enjoy discovering their body’s capabilities through rhythmic movements.
Jumping Games
Practice jumping on two feet, jumping sideways, or alternating feet if the child can already jump confidently on both feet. If not yet confident, we recommend reviewing our previous article, where we detailed how to teach a child to jump on both feet.
Walking Practice in Different Directions
Show the child how to walk backward and sideways with small steps in various directions. You can do this to music to make it even more fun and engaging for the child.
Obstacle Course
Create an obstacle course using pillows and other household items. Encourage the child to crawl under, jump over, and overcome obstacles.
Playground Games
At this age, children will likely enjoy navigating obstacle courses on playgrounds. Playgrounds with slides, carousels, and many other children can seem intimidating for moms, especially initially when the child starts exploring them.
Stay calm, be with the child, hold their hand when they climb the slide, and everything will be fine. Encourage the child’s curiosity to explore new playground activities.
Of course, it’s important to choose slides appropriate for the child’s age. If there are slides for much older children at the playground, it’s best not to go there. It’s important to explain to the child that they can play there later.
Light Exercises
Show the child a few exercises and do them together. Stand facing the child and perform the following exercises (you can do them with music), and the child will start imitating these movements:
- raising arms and legs (make sure to announce which arm and leg to raise);
- arm swings;
- bending the torso to touch the toes with fingers;
- jumping in place;
- spinning in place;
- stomping feet;
- touching different parts of the body one by one (hand, elbow, leg, shoulder, head, etc.).
Such joint exercises will be a very fun activity and will bring you closer to your child.
Activities for sensory skills for children aged 2-2.5 years
Play with Play-Doh
Through such activities, children:
- gain a unique tactile experience, which plays a key role in developing their tactile abilities;
- develop necessary sensory feedback;
- stimulate multiple sensory systems simultaneously — tactile, visual, and sometimes olfactory, especially when using scented materials;
- develop fine motor skills and cognitive functions.
For an engaging playtime, offer your child soft Play-Doh or modeling clay to experiment with, creating various shapes. Using different molds and tools for modeling makes the game process more exciting and diverse.
Children often enjoy mixing several colors of Play-Doh — it’s a great developmental activity, so allow your child to do so. Experimenting with colors allows children to explore the process of creating new shades and colors, stimulating their creativity and imagination. Mixing colors gives children practical experience in understanding color combinations and how primary colors can create secondary ones. This introduces children to the basics of color theory, which is an important part of visual art.
Sand Play
At the age of 2-2.5 years, sandbox games at playgrounds remain very relevant. This activity promotes tactile sensations and improves fine motor skills. Various molds can be used in the game to shape wet sand into different forms.
In addition to regular sand in the sandbox, kinetic sand is an excellent option for playing at home. Its unique texture helps develop sensory skills. Kinetic sand sets usually come with special molds that also stimulate imagination and creativity.
Children playing with kinetic sand often become fully immersed in the process, which helps develop their ability to concentrate on one task for a long time.
Finger Painting
Finger painting (often involving the whole palm :)) involves touching and manipulating paint with fingers, allowing children to explore different textures.
To start the game, squeeze a few drops of paint of different colors onto a sheet of paper, spreading them around. Show the child how to leave traces on the paper by gently pressing and dragging fingers through the paint. Then let the child try it on their own. Such fun usually brings joy and excitement to children, as they see themselves creating something new and witness instant results of their creative process.
During this game, the child may simply want to smear paint on their hands rather than on paper. Allow them to do so, as feeling and smearing paint on hands also greatly contributes to developing tactile skills.
Taste and Smell Tastings
- Taste tastings. Such tastings can be done not only with fruits, but also with vegetables and other foods.
By the age of 2-2.5 years, children can already name most fruits and vegetables, and can distinguish between cereals and meat. You can suggest to the child to guess what they are eating with their eyes closed.
Demonstrate this beforehand by closing your eyes, letting the child put a piece of apple in your mouth, and then guessing what you are eating. If the child is interested in this activity, suggest that they repeat these actions.
When the child has guessed what they are eating, ask them to describe the taste in detail. At first, you can ask questions like, “Is this apple sour or sweet?” This way, the child will develop a clear understanding of what they are eating and will be able to compare tastes. Additionally, such activities help develop speech.
- Smell tastings. Using a similar principle, you can offer smell tastings. For example, scents like coffee, cinnamon, tea (especially if there are different types of tea). Initially, open a container of coffee, for example, and offer the child to smell it. Verbally label it as “coffee.” Then, a few days later, you can open the container of coffee again, offer the child to smell it, and ask, “What aroma is this?”
Chalk Drawing
This activity is still relevant and will be for the next couple of years. Chalk drawing involves simultaneous visual and tactile stimulation. Indoors, you can use a special chalkboard for drawing, and outdoors, for example, on a playground, sidewalk chalk is suitable for drawing on asphalt or concrete.
Bathing
Bathing in the bathtub is a great sensory experience and is usually a lot of fun for children. The main thing is never to leave a child unattended in the bath.
Outdoor Walks
Outdoor walks always enrich children’s sensory experiences. It’s important to spend time outdoors, talking with the child and explaining what’s happening around them.
At this age, children often show interest in specific things like flowers, butterflies, beetles, or leaves. Explain to the child about their interests, supplementing information with names, flower colors, and other characteristics. Describe the surroundings in detail, noting the material from which an object is made, its size, shape, color, and function.
Each such walk stimulates the development of touch, hearing, vision, and smell in the child, as well as contributes to building passive vocabulary.
Listening to natural sounds, whether bird songs or rustling leaves, also enhances auditory perception.
While playing outside, you can collect various elements to create creative compositions from leaves, stones, pine cones, and so on. This way, imagination and creative skills will develop.
Activities for cognitive development for children aged 2-2.5 years
Tangram Games
Tangram is a puzzle consisting of 8 shapes. From these shapes, specific forms and patterns need to be created (pattern cards are included in the set).
Playing with such a puzzle develops logical thinking, problem-solving skills, spatial reasoning; helps the child recognize various geometric shapes and colors, and develops patience and concentration.
Of course, one should not expect the child to immediately take the cards and start assembling figures. At first, you will be the one assembling while the child observes. Ask the child to hand you pieces of different colors. Show them where to place the piece, pointing with your finger. Examine carefully what you have achieved in the end. Describe what you have assembled, for example, show the petals and leaves of a flower that have formed. Or explain how the airplane turned out, showing its wings and tail.
Also, show the child how to fit these 8 pieces into a square to fit them into the box. Initially, it may be easier for the child to put all the pieces in the box and form a square than to follow the instructions on the card.
With time, the child will become more involved in assembling shapes according to the instructions.
Puzzle Games
Puzzle games promote fine motor skills development and help develop problem-solving skills. If the child has previously worked with 8-piece puzzles, by the age of 2-2.5 years, you can introduce puzzles with 10-15 pieces.
Book Reading
Reading plays a key role in developing concentration and is an important element of cognitive growth for the child, simultaneously enriching their vocabulary. It’s preferable to use books with bright illustrations that will interest the child. Ask questions during reading and discuss the plot together.
For children aged 2-2.5 years, alphabet books with large pictures and preferably rhymes are excellent choices. Read a rhyme and then ask the child to repeat 3-5 words related to the corresponding letter. For example, for the letter “A”, you can list words like apple, apricot, pineapple, alphabet, shark. Pause so the child can repeat after you. If the child enjoys repeating the words, you can repeat this several times. Even if the child shows no interest in repetition, the words will still remain in their passive memory and will be recalled later.
Books with interactive windows that reveal logical pictures or interesting facts on the theme remain attractive for children of this age. The themes can vary widely: nature, geography, animals, food, actions, and more.
Books like “Wimmelbooks” are also a great choice for children at this age. Wimmelbooks are filled with numerous items to find and discuss, which helps expand vocabulary and develop the ability to formulate logical sentences and describe what they see.
Counting Skills
At this age, it’s important to start teaching the basics of counting using everyday objects. Together with the child, count their fingers and toes, family members, toys, pieces of clothing — basically anything that can be counted. Counting the steps while walking up or down stairs is a great way to practice counting. As you ascend or descend the steps with the child, count each one aloud.
Matching Games (Lotto)
Matching games that require comparing and matching elements stimulate cognitive development. The child learns to notice details, compare them, and find similarities or differences. This promotes attention, memory, and logical thinking development.
Magnetic Letters and Numbers
Magnetic letters and numbers on the refrigerator or a special board will gradually help the child learn letters and numbers while also developing fine motor skills.
Memory Games
You can start with simple memory development games. For example, place several items on the table, let the child examine them, name them, and ask the child to repeat. Then cover them with an opaque cloth and ask the child to remember these items.
For memory development, you can use the half puzzles mentioned earlier. Place several different halves (for example, half of a flower, candy, leaf, vase), ask the child to look closely and remember these items. Then flip the cards over and ask the child to name the items that were there.
Over time, you can make the task more difficult. Lay out 4 cards in a square shape on the table. Then ask the child to remember where exactly on the table a particular card is located.
Role-Playing Games
Engage in role-playing games using dolls or stuffed toys. A large doll or a plush bear works well. We have already described in detail in previous articles how to play such games.
Interactive games with kitchen playsets, as well as fruits and vegetables, remain relevant and will now be even more interesting for the child. Especially if you offer them a real plastic container for the kitchen and, for example, a large wooden salad spoon. This way, the child can add “ingredients” to the container and simulate preparing dinner. Children feel more confident and grown-up using real kitchen utensils.
You can also add other sets for role-playing games, such as a doctor’s kit, dentist’s set, or toolset.
Flash Card Games
Educational card games enrich the child’s vocabulary and improve visual memory. At the age of 2-2.5 years, you can complicate such games by moving to a “what is this?” format, for those cards that you have shown the child over the past few months and understand that they already know these items/colors/animals, etc.
Show the child cards one by one and ask “what is this?” The child will name what they see. If it’s difficult for the child to say, say the name yourself and ask them to repeat. If you see that the child easily names everything they see in the pictures, make the game more challenging by asking additional questions. For example, what color is it? Where does it live? or is it a vegetable or a fruit?
Sorting Games
You can use safe household items and various toys for sorting. Offer the child different sorting options:
- by size;
- by color;
- vegetables/fruits;
- edible/non-edible;
- clothes and shoes by season.
LEGO Games
Still relevant and will remain so for a long time 🙂
Communicative activities for children aged 2-2.5 years
To develop speech, communicate with your child as much as possible. During these interactions, the child builds their vocabulary.
It’s important to create conditions where the child has to express their desires using words. Avoid trying to intuitively understand their needs immediately; instead, encourage the child to explain what they want to do or what they want to get. Though this may seem difficult at first, consistent practice makes it easier each day. This significantly supports the development of their communication skills.
Also, remember that developing fine motor skills is essential for speech development. For more on how speech development is connected to fine motor skills, read here.
Activities for developing speech at age 2-2.5 years:
- Talk to your child throughout the day. Ask open-ended questions to engage them in conversation:
- How was your day?
- What did you do?
- How did you feel?
- What did you enjoy the most today?
- What did you eat today?
- What do you want to play with?
- Where do you want to go for a walk?
- Speak clearly, using correct speech sounds.
- Sing songs and nursery rhymes. Children find it easier to remember rhyming sentences. Therefore, listening to songs and nursery rhymes helps children develop passive memory.
It’s excellent to recite short nursery rhymes that the child can easily memorize and repeat. For example:
- Hot-pot-hot, my tea’s very hot,
- Zoom-zoom-zoom, I’m riding my broom,
- Hop-hop-hop, like a kangaroo I hop,
- Mom-mom-mom, I’m dressing all on my own.
- Continue to read to your child regularly. Choose age-appropriate books with simple text and colorful pictures. Describe what you see in the pictures. Ask questions about the story and encourage the child to point to objects and respond to your prompts.
- Actively listen. When your child speaks, listen attentively and respond. Show the child that you are interested in what they are saying, which encourages them to communicate more. Tell the child, “I love talking with you,” “I’m really interested in what you’re telling me.” Children truly understand and feel your genuine interest, which motivates them to speak more.
- Play with flashcards to expand vocabulary.
Emotional intelligence
In the previous article, we discussed in detail how to handle children’s tantrums. Here, I want to briefly remind you of the main points, as tantrums will be quite common at this age. The key is to remember that this is a natural process and completely normal.
The best way to deal with a child’s tantrum is to remain calm yourself, understand the nature of what is happening with the child. Also:
- When a tantrum begins, take a short pause to understand what you are feeling at the moment (whether you are upset, disappointed, angry, etc.) and tell yourself that it’s normal to experience these feelings. You will cope with them, and you can handle this tantrum. It will definitely end, it will not last forever.
- When you realize you are calm, start containing the child’s emotions (empathy and validation of emotions).
- Show empathy. Show your child that you understand and sympathize with their emotions. This helps the child feel supported and calmed.
For example,
“I understand that you are very upset right now, I sympathize with you. I’m here, I’m with you.”
- Validating emotions means that parents should acknowledge and accept their child’s emotions, even if they are difficult or uncomfortable. By doing this, you help the child understand that their feelings are normal and important.
You can say:
“It seems like you’re angry right now, it’s normal, you can be angry.”
- Stay close to the child until the tantrum ends. During this time, you can hug the child, pat their head and/or back (if possible, as the child may try to break free). Tell the child that you love them.
- Conversation after the tantrum. After the tantrum has ended, calmly explain to the child what happened and why. You can start the conversation like this:
“I understand that you were very upset (or you were angry) because I didn’t allow … (and then explain why you didn’t allow something)”
Then offer your options for how to handle similar situations differently next time.
At the age of 2-2.5 years, during such a conversation after a tantrum, you will mostly be talking, and the child will agree with you, because they cannot yet express such thoughts independently. If they do not agree, look for another explanation with which the child will agree.
As the child gets older, you will be able to discuss the situation together, the reasons and think together about options for how to react in the future to similar situations.
These conversations are the best prevention to reduce the number of tantrums in the future.
A calm reaction to a child’s tantrum and a conversation afterwards are a huge contribution to the development of their emotional intelligence. In this way, you demonstrate by your own example how to control your emotions.
Conversely, if during a child’s tantrum you also engage in a tantrum, but already an adult (when you start shouting at the child), you show them that you do not control your emotions and there is simply nowhere for them to learn this skill from.
Activities for emotional development for children aged 2-2.5 years
- Hide and seek games.
- Talk to your child after a tantrum (as discussed earlier). The child may not be able to explain all the reasons for the tantrum yet, but you can describe how you saw it from your perspective, and the child can agree with what you said during the process. This way, during the conversation, you’ll understand what caused it, discuss it again, and acknowledge the child’s emotions. You can also suggest options for handling similar situations better next time. This gradual process helps the child learn to control their emotions.
- Read books focused on emotions. Look through illustrated books where characters express various emotions, and discuss them with your child. Try to understand and discuss together what emotions the characters might be feeling according to your opinion.
- Name emotions. When your child experiences different feelings, verbalize them aloud. For example, say, “You look very joyful!” or “It seems like you’re a bit upset,” or “It looks like you’re angry.” This helps children connect words with their emotions. It’s important to remain calm in response to conditionally negative emotions such as anger and avoid shouting at the child. Explain calmly what is happening. Remember, this is also a stressful situation for them because they don’t yet understand their feelings, and uncertainty causes even more anxiety.
- Emotion cards. Use cards depicting different emotions, such as happy, sad, or irritated faces. Show them to the child and discuss which feelings each face expresses.
Role-playing games. Engage in role-playing games with dolls or soft toys. Create scenarios for taking care of toys that will help your child develop empathy and social skills. You can also role-play situations where a toy had a tantrum, and you discuss it with the child. Alternatively, role-play a situation where the toy had a tantrum, and the child can show empathy towards it. For example, you say to a stuffed bear, “Bear, I see that you’re very upset right now. I really sympathize with you, I’m here for you. Yaroslava is also here. Yaroslava, what would you say to Bear to help him calm down? What do you think would help him calm down right now?”
- Hug your child as often as possible. Provide your child with plenty of physical affection and hugs. Physical attachment is a fundamental aspect of emotional development and helps establish a strong bond between you and your child.
- Celebrate your child’s achievements. Celebrate your child’s new achievements. Positive feedback and praise will increase their interest in the activity. Praise the child for specific things, as the effect will be much better. For example:
“I really like how you made that clay figure, it turned out so well. I’m so proud of you.”
“Wow, you did such a great job putting together that puzzle, you handled it so skillfully.”
Activities aimed at the development of imagination and creativity for children aged 2-2.5 years
Drawing
Provide your child with creative supplies: offer a variety of materials such as paints, pencils, markers, crayons, and watercolors, along with plenty of paper for drawing. This will give your child the opportunity to express their creativity through drawing and painting.
Don’t worry if you can’t draw well yourself; to engage your child in this activity, it’s enough to draw simple things like the sky, sun, tree, etc. The main thing for the child is the time spent together with you and the freedom to experiment with paints and pencils on their own.
For variety, you can use different stencils for drawing.
Games with Play-Doh
Play-Doh is an excellent way to develop fine motor skills and stimulate imagination in children, and it remains very relevant at the age of 2-2.5 years. This activity not only engages but also teaches children how they can create different objects with their hands.
- Create animal figures. Help your child model various animal figures. It’s not only fun but also educates the child to distinguish shapes and colors.
- Use different molds. Give your child cookie cutters of various shapes to create figures from clay or dough.
- Modeling with tools. Offer your child simple modeling tools like rolling pins, plastic knives (safe for children), and molds.
Tell Stories
Tell your child improvised stories using educational cards or just looking around (this also perfectly trains your brain). Such cards are great for this game. By telling these stories, you set an example for your child, and over time, their imagination will also allow them to come up with stories on the fly.
Music and Dancing
Dancing promotes rhythmic and coordination skills, giving children the opportunity to express themselves through movement.
- Dance with your child to bring joy and pleasure to both of you. Play your child’s favorite tunes and have a home dance party. Improvisation and freedom in movements encourage creativity and contribute to physical development.
- Playing musical instruments or with musical toys gives children the opportunity to explore and create their melodies, which plays a key role in developing their creative skills.
Create simple musical instruments together from available materials. For example, empty boxes and plastic bottles can be turned into drums, and bottles filled with rice or peas can become maracas.
- Sing children’s songs or lullabies with your child. Singing not only develops musical hearing and improves memory but also strengthens the emotional bond between you and your child.
Role-Playing Games
Encourage role-playing games with dolls, toy kitchen sets, doctor kits, dentist kits, shop sets, and more. It’s not necessary to buy special sets for these games. You can use Lego bricks or household items to play shop or imagine what household items could be used as a stethoscope for a hospital game.
Imagination Games
Using imagination can be a wonderful way to spend time together with your child, even without toys.
- Sit next to your child and use your imagination: imagine your hands are a car steering wheel, and you are going on an exciting journey without leaving the couch.
- Mimic the sounds and movements of a train, imitate robots, or pretend to be different animals using your voice and gestures.
- Build fantasy houses. Use pillows, blankets, and furniture to create cozy corners or secret hideaways. This not only develops imagination but also teaches spatial thinking.
- Magic journeys. Suggest your child go on a magical journey. You can visit the jungle, the ocean, or even space, describing what you see, hear, and feel.
These simple games show children the power of imagination and significantly contribute to their development while strengthening your emotional bond.
Reading Books
Read books with colorful illustrations to stimulate visual imagination.
Lego Games
LEGO Duplo is a wonderful tool for developing creativity and is still very relevant at the age of 2-2.5 years.
Encourage any expressions of your child’s imagination, especially when they show you what they have created with Lego and tell you what it is. Support their interest by praising their efforts: “Oh, did you build a tower? Wonderful! You did a great job! I like how you built it using different blocks and colors.” Such an approach will not only inspire the child to further creative endeavors but also strengthen their confidence in their abilities.
Shadow Theater
Use a flashlight to create shadows on the wall. You can create shapes using your hands or some toys. Encourage your child to create shapes with their hands and explore the concept of shadows. By moving closer to and farther from the flashlight, show your child how the size of the shadow changes.
