Have you ever looked at your little tot and wondered what was going on in their mind? Have you ever been curious about how they learn different skills, like verbal and motor skills? At a young age, your child will learn a lot very quickly.
It may be strange to watch your cute blob of fat learn to talk and walk. It may even be strange to watch them use different items in your home as they should be used. Understanding how your child learns will allow you to make more sense of their actions and allow you to assist them in their development.
At Inch By Inch Child Care, we believe that understanding how your child’s mind works can help you build a stimulating environment and help them learn better. Our child care center provides kiddos from two months to six years with enriching environments, a stimulating curriculum, and the care they need to learn and develop. Our child care center is the perfect place for your little ones to get a great jumpstart on their education.
As a parent, you should understand how your children’s minds work and how they learn. An article from RaisingChildren.net mentions that babies and young children learn best when they have a warm, engaging, and responsive relationship with their main caregiver. That means you have an important job in the first few years of their life. In this blog, we are going to discuss how a child learns so that you can better understand your little one’s mind and help foster their learning and development.
What They Learn
During the first year of life, your child will learn a lot and very quickly. They develop physically, cognitively, socially, and emotionally throughout their first year. While the developmental milestones may vary from baby to baby, they will all develop a lot within the first year to 18 months. From there, your child will just continue to grow, develop, and learn.
From birth to about one year, your baby will go from not having control of their limbs to being able to crawl, to stand on their own, and maybe even walk. They will start learning how to say simple words, understand different games, like peek-a-boo, and explore items by using them in different ways.
By the age of two, your child will learn even more and understand more about their surroundings. An article from Verywell Family, talks about some of the things that the average child can do by the age of two. Your kiddos gross motor skills should be well developed and they should be able to climb on furniture, kick a ball, walk up and down the stairs with support, carry large toys while walking, and begin to run. Your child will also develop more fine motor, cognitive, verbal, and social skills. Let’s take a closer look at what each of these includes.
Fine Motor Skills
Uses spoon and fork
Drinks from a cup
Scribbles
Stacks blocks
Closes and opens a box or container
Molds play dough
Uses one hand more frequently
Cognitive Skills
Creates imaginative games
Operates mechanical toys
Involves other in their play
Imitates others
Follow simple instructions
Verbal Skills
Masters about 50 words (different for every child)
Use “I” and ‘“you” appropriately
Names people in the family
Repeats words they hear
Completes lines in familiar books
Can name objects, animals, and body parts
Speaks in two- to four-word sentences
Social Skills
Copies others (mostly adult and older kids)
Become more independent
Interacts with other children in games
Takes turns when playing
Understands that they are separate from others
Understands when they do something you would disapprove of
From this point, your child will perfect these different skills, become more conscious of their surroundings, and learn so much more. They will learn to read and write, talk in proper sentences, become much more mobile, understand emotion, and become more aware of others. They will be able to do more and more tasks on their own like getting dressed and cleaning up. They will understand emotions and empathy. During the first two years of life, your child will develop a ton of new skills, and following that time in their life, they will perfect these skills and advance from there.
Now that you know what your child will learn and how they will develop in the first few years, let’s take a look at how they develop and learn all of these new skills.
How They Learn
There are many ways that your child learns. Read on to learn more and get a better understanding of how your kiddo learns.
Through Observation
A lot of what your child learns is based on what they observe. They watch the people around them, how they act and react, and how different items work. Through observation, your child learns a lot. They understand more about the world around them and start to learn. After just two days in this world, babies can begin to process language like adults. An article from Mental Floss talks about this as well as other ways babies learn, from moving their mouth to better distinguish sounds to being more curious about items behaving in unexpected ways.
As they grow older, they will continue to observe you, siblings, and others and learn from them. They may notice how someone acts after a certain situation and may even start copying some of these habits.
Exploring Interests
As children start to learn about the world around them, they will get curious and start exploring how things work. They will test different cause and effect scenarios and learn from these situations. They will take interest in different objects and see how they work. As your child explores the world around them, they will be able to understand more and gain more knowledge about different things.
Social Interaction
Social interactions are great for child development and learning different skills. Your child will learn how to behave around others, they will learn how to share, how to talk to others, and so much more. Giving your child more social interactions will allow them to develop social and emotional skills. They will learn how to communicate better, how to handle other people’s emotions, and so much more. Social interaction is a great way to help your child learn a develop, so make sure they are always around other kids and people.
At Inch by Inch Child Care, your child will be in a classroom with a ton of other students. They will be able to interact with other kiddos, as well as the adults in our staff. As they grow, with will advance with their friends and develop in our stimulating environments.
In the first few years of your child’s life, they will grow and develop rapidly. You will be amazed at how quickly your baby bundle of joy becomes a sassy two years old that is too smart for their own good! But that is the beauty of children. They are an adventure and it is fun watching them learn.
If you are interested in our child care center, schedule a tour! Your child will be in a warm and stimulating environment with children their own age. They will be able to learn different skill sets during their time with us. Now that you know more about how your baby learns as they grow, you will be able to provide them with a stimulating and encouraging environment. Contact us today to learn more and start helping your child develop these important skills!