Have you ever wondered how to keep your toddler from frequently using gadgets? Keeping a toddler off gadgets can be quite a challenge these days, but it is totally doable with a bit of consistency and creativity. The same thing when it comes to encouraging them to engage in early education.
Keeping Toddlers Off-Limits to Gadgets
- Regularly Rotate Toys
You can keep things feeling new by rotating toys on a weekly basis. So, you don’t have to give them all at once because this can bore them. You may include sensory toys, building blocks, or pretend play sets.
- Encourage Story Time
An effective method of engaging them for story time is to read picture books together. Even the same ones will do because they love repetition. If possible, make it interactive by using voices, asking questions, and letting them turn the pages.
- Arts and Crafts
You may also use crayons, playdough, water painting, or safe kitchen ingredients to indulge a messy fun environment. You bet, toddlers love using their hands.
- Promote Outdoor Play
It is important that you let them run, explore, and pick up leaves, or play with water if possible. You can do this in the park, backyard, or a simple bucket of water and toys outside can already do wonders.
- Set a Gadget Routine
If you allow the use of gadgets, set a limit to short, set periods under supervision. Thus, you have to make screen time a reward and not a default.
Encouraging Early Education for Toddlers
- Read Together Daily
Aside from the story time, you can begin with colourful picture books to engage them to read what they see. You have to point to words and pictures, ask simple questions, and allow them to say what is in the picture.
- Use Play as Learning
You can boost their thinking skills by getting them exposed to puzzles, building blocks, shape sorters, and matching games. You may also use pretend play to encourage creativity and early problem-solving.
- Sing, Rhyme, and Talk
Build their vocabulary with nursery rhymes, silly songs, and casual conversations. You can also talk about what you are doing because every little moment counts.
- Try Educational Activities
You may use flashcards with animals, colours, or numbers if possible. You can begin with simple sorting activities that can be done by shape, colour, or size. You may also use toddler-friendly apps, but you have to keep screen time short and supervised.
- Make Learning Part of Daily Routines
Daily routines may also help their learning, such as counting stairs together, naming groceries, or singing while brushing teeth. This will keep their brain engaged without it feeling like lessons.
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