Milestone Moments: OT Tips for 18-24 Months
Play is important for your 18-24 month old these days. They tend to have the energy of four adults, but that is just their mind working over time to learn everything around them. Here are some tips on ways to help them interact with their world with tips from an occupational therapist.
- Play is how they are learning about and interacting with their environments. Limit screen time and provide opportunities for play throughout their day.
- Complete simple insert puzzles together, draw and color together, allowing your child to scribble and begin making vertical and horizontal lines.
- Read books together, allowing your child to turn the pages.
- During bath time and dressing, have your child assist with removing and putting on socks and shoes, pulling down pants, and pulling shirt over their head.
- Provide opportunities for sensory play such as water play, bubbles, digging/scooping in sand, gathering leaves in a pile, etc.
- Allow use of spoon during mealtime and encourage self-feeding. Mealtime is a great sensory experience for children, so let them become messy!
- Children this age love to imitate what adults do. Let your child help with cleaning by giving them a wet rag to wipe the chair while you wash the table, allow child to stack plastic cups while you empty the dishwasher, encourage your child to help you remove clothes from the dryer and place in a basket, allow child to assist in watering flowers, etc.
- Continue to encourage dramatic play with activities of interest such as talking to you on a toy phone, cooking on toy kitchen to stir, stack items, pretend pour into cups, or with trucks to drive up/down ramps, park in pretend garage, etc.
- Encourage hand and finger strength and coordination with Play-doh activities using cookie cutters, small rolling pins, plastic scissors to cut Play-doh. Encourage shoulder strength by drawing or painting on vertical surfaces such as a chalk board easel.
- Introduce child to toilet training by regularly allowing child to sit on toilet.