Toddler Teaching Strategies
Use Time-Tested Teaching Strategies to Effectively Teach Toddlers
Apr 28, 2009
With boundless energy, insatiable curiosity, but a limited attention span, toddlers pose a unique challenge for parents and professionals alike. Whether teaching one toddler or a group of toddlers, it is essential that to go in with a plan and a strategy to ensure that your child has truly mastered what you teach.
Decide on a Topic
There are so many things you want to teach your child that it is often difficult to decide where to begin. When tackling the vast world of knowledge and wisdom you would like impart, start with something you enjoy. Love your topic and your child will love it too. If you decide on a common topic, like the alphabet or numbers and are having a difficult time getting excited about teaching the basics, try focusing on the end game, which is fostering your child's love of reading or math.
If you decide that you are going to teach your child something that you simply can not get excited about, remember that teaching is 25% content, 75% theater. Act as if you are thrilled about your topic even if you are not as excited as you think you should be.
Make a Plan
Once you decide what to teach, come up with an exciting and engaging way to teach your child. Remember to incorporate all the senses if possible. Young children need to not only see, and hear what you are telling them, but the also need to touch and even taste and smell what you are teaching if you want your child to retain what you are teaching. Plans do not have to be long and involved. Ideally, you want to engage your toddler for several short, pointed lessons throughout the day instead of one long lesson each day.
Prepare
While teachable moments abound, you will lose your child quickly if he has to sit around and wait while you gather your materials. Have all materials ready and in a box before you begin, including anything that needs to be cut or glued in advance. Placing your materials out of sight until you need them is strongly recommended. This will allow you to present information in a methodical, progressive and organized way. This trick will keep your little one from trying to do all of your activities at once, which is characteristic of this age.
Execute the Plan
Go through your lesson in a logical progression. Introduce the topic, review information from the previous session (if applicable), present your lesson, review the topic, and end the lesson. While going through the lesson note what activities your child likes or engaged him the most. Keep lessons short and tension-free. If you see your child becoming bored or disinterested, stop and come back to the lesson later.
Reflect
Once you have completed your lesson, reflection is your best tool for the next lesson plan. Assess what worked with your child and which activities interested him the least. Adjust the next plan to reflect this new information so that you can make the next lesson even more interesting and effective than the last. Your child is an individual and his home learning environment should reflect those individual needs.
While just about every moment with a toddler is a teachable moment, you will see that following these five simple guidelines for teaching your toddler will allow you both to get the most out of your time together.
For more ideas on teaching your child to read see The Smart Way to Teach Your Child the ABC's.
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