1. Chapter 14
The Child from Eighteen to Twenty-
Four Months of Age
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

2. Materials and Activities
• Materials for this age group must be challenging:
– As toddlers practice their gross motor skills,
they develop increased competence in using
them
– Their finger and wrist muscles are developing
so they can manipulate more complex objects
– Their imaginations are expanding as they
construct internal representations of their
world
• Materials may be homemade or commercially
purchased
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

3. Physical Development
• Toddlers gain more stability and coordination
– Stand, squat and stand again
– Climb on everything, including stairs with assistance
– Walk, run, jump with both feet
– Kick balls, ride wheel toys, push and pull toys
• Toddlers have increased control of fingers and
wrists
– Grasp and drop, twist and turn
– Turn pages of books
– Observe for hand dominance
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

4. Suggestions for Implementing Curriculum--
Physical Development
• Provide open spaces for walking and running
• Provide riding toys and riding path
• Provide balls and targets for throwing
• Provide music for dancing
• Provide easels for painting and table for drawing
• Assist child in turning pages in books
• Provide tools for sand and digging
• Assist when necessary with self-help skills:
dressing, feeding, tooth brushing
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

5. Cognitive and Language Development
• Cognitive Development:
– Toddlers are in Piaget’s substage 6 or are
transitioning to the preoperational stage of
development, using mental trial and error
– Toddlers can remember one and two step oral
directions, and may show imitation in play
– Play begins to move from imitative to symbolic
during this time period
– Play can involve working out conflicts
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

6. Suggestions for Implementing Curriculum--
Cognitive Development
• Allow time for child to figure out solutions
• Allow children to help plan games, such as
with hidden objects
• Provide dolls and puppets for role play
• Provide clothing and materials that help child
to pretend to be someone else
• Observe pretend play behaviors over time
before making interpretations
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

7. Cognitive and Language Development
• Language Development:
– Toddlers learn language through positive
interactions with others
– Children’s vocabulary is expanding rapidly, a
language explosion
– Children use their language to express needs and to
direct others, seek information, etc.
– Toddlers may use telegraphic speech
– Shared reading should take place several times daily
– Toddlers show interest in scribbling as written
representation
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

8. Suggestions for Implementing Curriculum--
Language Development
• Verbally label objects and actions
• Speak normally and use sentences
• Model social words “please” and “thank-you”
• Listen to child’s expression of needs or commands
• Answer child’s frequent questions
• Use the child’s name when talking to him
• Read books throughout the day. Demonstrate care of
books
• Tell stories, repeat rhymes and poems
• Provide writing spaces and materials, share interest in
scribbling
• Display each child’s work
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

9. Emotional Development
• Toddlers interpret responses from caregivers
and other children as reflecting their self-
worth
• Memory and other cognitive skills result in
toddlers expressing more fear and stress
• Emotions are felt and expressed intensely
• The more enjoyable and secure relationships
have been, the easier the separation process
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

10. Suggestions for Implementing Curriculum--
Emotional Development
• Accept and acknowledge emotions, respond to
child’s needs
• Provide consistent feedback that helps the child feel
good about self
• Listen to a child’s fears and fantasies
• Shared reading provides security and calms
children’s emotional agitation
• Create new routines and maintain existing routines
• Explain change before it happens
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

11. Social Development
• Children of this age are continuing to develop
a sense of self
– I, me, mine
• Toddlers are beginning to recognize other
people’s feelings and they are working slowly
at understanding another person’s intentions
• Toddlers engage in pro-social behaviors
• Toddlers are still working on showing
ownership and are not yet ready to share
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

12. Suggestions for Implementing Curriculum--
Social Development
• Help the toddlers to interpret the behaviors of
their peers by providing descriptive language
• Recognize and allow ownership of toys
• Encourage toddler to interact with others, with
support
• Provide multiple supplies and equipment so that
they can engage alongside others in parallel play
• Allow child to choose if they want to trade toys
• Praise a child for seeking help with challenges
• Encourage toddlers to help with clean up
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

13. Spotlight on Research
• Conflicts with Peers
– Young children must learn how to engage in a
process of responsible decision making as they
negotiate their relationships with others
– Responding with strong emotions or harmful
behaviors does not mean that children are
aggressive or antisocial
– To attribute all of their conflicts to possession
minimizes their efforts
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

14. Checkpoint Discussion Questions
• List three ways symbolic play helps a child
develop cognitively.
• Identify two possible developments in the child’s
language and state two strategies for each that a
caregiver can use to facilitate that development.
• Provide examples of how routines can be used to
help children deal with emotional stress.
• Chris and Marlin both pick up a car and start
pulling on it. What can you do and say that shows
appropriate understanding of each child’s needs
and desires?
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.