Toddler Life Skills to Practice This Summer
7 practical life skills to teach your kids at an early age
With summer around the corner, we’ve been making a list of activities we want to do and places we want to go with the kids! We also know this season is the perfect time of the year to introduce or build on practical life skills.
So today we’ve got 7 of the most highlighted life skills for kids at an early age and we’ll give you some practical ways as to how this might play out in your summer. Language tips and why it matters, included! It’s certainly not an exhaustive list, but it will get you started in the right direction!
We think our Summer Language Workshop is going to make an impact on parents this summer because we know we have an opportunity to play with our children and teach them what it looks like to participate in every day life skills! Check out the group here!!
Here’s the trick to teaching any life skill:
So much about teaching our kids life skills is about modeling it in our own lives.
Let’s dive in.
7 Life Skills for Toddlers AND HOW THIS PLAYS OUT IN YOUR SUMMER
✓ Decision-Making Skills
Action Step: Start by Choosing an outfit
A simple skill that you can easily practice every morning is to begin with basic choices. Like chocolate or vanilla ice cream, walk your child through wearing white socks or blue socks, a green shirt or pink shirt.
Language Tip: Physically hold up the options and label them. If they only point to choose the clothing item or use 1-2 words, it’s great that they understand the task at hand. Model the language expectation and/or expand on what they have said. “Green shirt” “I want to wear the green shirt.” Remember to modify your language model and expectations based on where they are in their language development.
WHY IT MATTERS
Making decisions is a valuable lesson children will carry with them throughout their life. In the short term, it begins the process of allowing children to weigh their options and see how things play out. (ie. reward vs. consequence; pros and cons). With a long term view, we understand there are small decisions and big decisions. Ultimately, we know that while there will be bad decisions, we hope to make mostly good ones.
✓ HEALTH & HYGIENE
ACTION STEP: WASH AND WIPE YOUR FACE
This is an easy one to practice after a snack or meal. Be the first to model wiping your mouth with a napkin and encourage your child to do the same.
Language Tips:
Use the opportunity to name the parts of the face: mouth, nose, eyes, ears.
Have an older toddler? Have them wash their face in front of the mirror. Review more advanced parts of the face: forehead, cheeks, eyebrow, eyelashes, chin, etc.
Talk about the difference between clean and dirty, wet and dry.
ACTION STEP: Brush and FLOSS YOUR TEETH
Sometimes brushing and flossing teeth can be a struggle! Try brushing your teeth alongside each other. Model each step and talk about what you’re doing.
Language Tips:
Use vocabulary like: first, next, then, last to sequence the task.
Introduce or review front vs. back and top vs. bottom as it relates to brushing and flossing your teeth.
WHY IT MATTERS
It’s never too early to help our children learn about health and hygiene. Knowing how to care for our bodies is crucial to our every day routine. As parents, we not only get to show them what healthy habits look like, we can explain why!
✓ PREPARE A MEAL
Action Step: WASH THE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
Get hands-on in the kitchen. Describe the fruit or vegetable that you are washing. See how many different fruits or vegetables your little can name. We’re washing strawberries. I wonder if we can think of another fruit!
ACTION STEP: SET THE TABLE
Utensils, napkins, and plates - let your little one set the table for mealtime! Talk about what each item is used for. Count out each plate as they are placed on the table to practice basic one-to-one correspondence.
WHY IT MATTERS
As adults, we know how to make healthy choices, plan our own meals, meal prep, make a lunch, and even host a dinner for others. As kids, whether it’s the ability to pour milk for a bowl of cereal, make a sandwich, or cook an egg, we get to help our children become confident in the kitchen.
✓ Cleaning
Action Step: Clean up a spill
If a toddler is near, a spill is bound to happen. We can help them learn to problem solve by walking through the thinking process with them.
Language Tips:
Name what happened and why. Identify how the problem can be solved. What might you need.
Use “I wonder” statements to set up the conversation. I wonder what we can do to clean this up.
Introduce or review concepts like wet/dry, clean/dirty.
ACTION STEP: PUT AWAY GROCERIES
Consider giving your child a light grocery bag to carry inside the house. Allow them to help take the groceries out of the bag. Ask for assistance and model sorting the cold items to be placed into the refrigerator or freezer.
ACTION STEP: WASH THE CAR (Or CLEAN OUTDOOR TOYS)
Model taking care of things you own and use. Gather a bucket, sponge, and some soap. Allow your child to help you fill the bucket with water and add soap. Use relevant vocabulary words associated with the task: empty/full, pour, fill, wash, scrub, soapy, rinse, wet/dry, clean/dirty.
WHY IT MATTERS
If you feel like cleaning and doing the chores yourself is easier and quicker, welcome to the club! Here’s your kind reminder that children learn how to keep a house clean by starting with age-appropriate chores!
✓ LAUNDRY
ACTION STEP: Match Socks
Include them in a simple task while you’re putting laundry. Talk about the different sizes and colors of the socks. Add in the concepts same/different. Comment naturally: You found a match! It’s not a match. They are different colors.
Language Tips:
Sort clothes by color.
Talk about different textures of clothing.
Talk about the purpose of items and where we wear them. (ie. We wear socks on our feet..)
WHY IT MATTERS
Simply put, as long as you're wearing clothes, there will be laundry. I like to think that helping our children learn how to wash, fold, and put away their clothes will not only help them — but it will help us out too!
✓ House Maintenance
ACTION STEP: PICK AN AGE-APPROPRIATE CHORE
Take the lead and help your child practice the art of pitching in to help! Change the toilet paper roll, put a trash bag in the bin, clean the glass, vacuum the floor, or unload the dishwasher. You know what needs to be done. 😜
WHY IT MATTERS
In our home, we take care of our things and each other. I know house maintenance is very similar to cleaning, but here’s the difference: cleaning covers day-to-day chores while maintenance tasks are completed periodically. In either case, we’re a family. The family uses these spaces and we are responsible for taking care of them. Sometimes it’s hard to imagine, but I know one day my children will have a space of their own. I hope so much they’ll take care of their family and things too.
✓ COMMUNICATION
ACTION STEP: PLAY
Here’s 20+ practical ways to be an intentional parent and make play happen this summer! How many do you think you can do?!
WHY IT MATTERS
We know we’re biased, but it’s our favorite topic around here and we wholeheartedly believe language is the most important life skill. You can read all about why play matters here!
It starts with us.
It starts in our home.
Teaching our kids basic life skills is a journey! While our 5 year old may not be able to manage finances like an adult, we can start with basic math skills like counting and adding. Over time, we can take what they know further — we can teach them the value of a dollar, how to save, invest, compare prices, and make smart choices.
We hope today’s post taught you:
A few life skills to try with your child this summer.
Simple ways to meet your child where they are. (Short term benefits.)
A vision for how these life skills will serve them for the rest of their life. (Long term impact.)
You have the greatest impact on their life.
Let’s help each other get really practical with this! Leave a comment with any ideas for an “action step” that comes to mind!!
If you have our Play By Play guide, the section on strategies or goals could be great examples of where to start!
And ya’ll, can we just tell you this guide was made for summer! Yes, it can be used any time of the year and it’s encouraging, but we think it could totally transform your summer and your child’s language skills! Add her to your summer list and start a play group! Or join ours!
If you’re not into the full guide bundle, but you’re still looking to freshen things up, check out our toy guides! They’ve got the same goal of helping you make the most of play time! You can find them in our shop.
