How to Teach Toddlers at Home

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Most of us moms are NOT trained educators. Some are, and if you ask me they rock the socks off motherhood. Teaching is a HUGE part of what a mom does. The more comfortable you feel educating your child in a way that fits how they learn best (on anything from mathematics to how to be polite), the more confident you will be jumping in and teaching them skills they need to learn!

This series of posts is all about how to teach your kids at home. Whether that is full homeschool, or just making sure you are teaching them with intention in the time they are NOT in school. You are an educator! And here are some helpful tips and resources to help you feel confident in that role!

Toddlers. They have so much to learn! How to talk, jump, watch for cars, drink out of a cup… you name it! Lets talk some of the basic skills that a 2 or 3 year old is going to start learning.

How To Teach a Toddler to Do Chores

I start with this because I recommend that having a toddler help around the house is the foundation for how you teach them just about everything else we will talk about today. When they are involved in what you are doing, it is much easier to teach them in natural ways rather than needing to add learning time as just one more thing to fit into your day.

Toddlers are remarkable capable WHEN THEY CHOOSE TO BE. So honestly… the biggest hack for getting a toddler to help with chores is to help them choose that they want to do chores. Make it a really special thing that they have a special job and then be patient enough to let them own it.

For example: My toddler empties the lint filter in the dryer. We started by showing how and then asking for help doing it each time. Now as soon as I start to do laundry they come running to do their job. I still praise them up and down for doing such a good job (even though it takes 10x as long as if I were to do it myself). This has become a chore that my toddler LOVES to take ownership for.

So how to teach them to do a chore?

Choose a chore they can do completely on their own
Help them to do it/see how it is done.
Ask them to help with it consistently (make them feel important)
Start asking them to do it on their own
Praise and thank. Many many many times 😊

How To Teach Toddlers Numbers at Home

Okay so numbers! Counting isn’t that complicated is it?! Teaching numbers is a lot like teaching talking. Frequent exposure is your best friend. If you want to teach your child to count:

YOU count
Count everything…
Dishes as you unload together
Crayons as they color together
Seconds as you play hide and go seek
Trucks
Legos
Dolls
Sticks and leaves while you walk

Do you get the gist here? Incorporate counting into the things you already do and numbers will start to come naturally.

You can also work on holding up the number of fingers as you count things, or identifying the number written out and then counting. Same concept though. Make it natural!

How To Teach Toddlers Colors at Home

You will start to see a similar theme through each of these sections. Same idea as teaching numbers… lets talk ways to make this fit into the things you already do each day.

Start by identifying matches (ie. This red toothbrush matches your red shirt!)
Name colors while you drive. “Your shoes are blue!”
Name colors at the park
Name colors at the grocery store.
Find matches with clothes they are wearing, or you or a sibling are wearing.
Expose them to paying attention to colors and you will start to see them recognize colors on their own!
I have a super easy fun color match idea in my homeschool sample pages as well.
- You draw a dot of color onto a paper and have your child find objects that match it (from a pile you pre-selected or on their own if more advanced).

How To Teach Toddlers Shapes at Home

Shapes are fun! Similar to colors and numbers, you will want to find ways to identify shapes with your kiddo in natural ways. Start with simple shapes. The cracker is a circle, the tire is a circle, the plate is a circle etc… Then you can introduce more complicated shapes as you go (hearts, stars etc… A toddler can learn a parallelogram too…. But maybe give them a solid foundation in the basics first 😉).

How To Teach Toddlers Letters at Home

Letters are a fun one. When it comes to visually identifying them, this is going to look a little different than the previous sections… because letters are not as easy to just TALK about as we go about our day. AND they look pretty different in many different fonts and sizes and cases. SO how do you teach a toddler letters? Choose just a few to start with and look for. Letters from their name are a good way to begin.

The M on this tag says MMMM… MMMM for Max!

Try to find normal looking letters and point them out to your kid. Check out some books about letters too! Continually expose your kids to letters during reading time, craft time, shopping trips, or vacations. You see them a lot of places once you start to look!