The development of fine (small) motor skills is essential to the growing two-year-old. Without these abilities, any child will have difficulty getting dressed, writing or even self-feeding. Preschool teachers can help young students to hone these physical abilities by creating a wide variety of activities and lessons that involve coordination and hand/finger control. Instead of choosing activities that only work one motor area in isolation, try a few different ideas that tie to curriculum or content areas. Work fine motor skills in art with crayons or markers, reinforce dexterity in the pretend kitchen or at meal times with plastic utensils, or tie small physical skills to math by sorting plastic shapes or completing small puzzles.
Gross motor skills include body movements using large muscle groups and include walking, running, hopping, throwing and kicking. Two-year-olds can get a workout in the gross motor area with free-flowing, creative movement dance where they simply move their bodies to different beats, music or tempos. Additionally, outdoor activities such as passing a large plastic ball, running in a grassy open area or kicking a soft or plush soccer ball can help to develop large muscle abilities. For an extra-special activity day, set up a mini relay race or obstacle course with easy-to-complete motor games. Include jumping on two feet from one place to another, crawling or running back and forth between two cones or marks.
The two-year-old child is not yet ready to engage in true social play. Unlike older preschoolers, children in this age group will typically either play alone or demonstrate parallel play in which two children will try a similar activity side by side or near one another with limited interactions. Although two-year-olds may not naturally want to play together, preschool teachers should not forget to create activities and lessons that set a groundwork for later social interactions.
Try small group activities that encourage three to four of the children to paint a mural, dance together or set up a block castle together. Teachers may find that the students have a difficult time demonstrating positive social behaviors and may exhibit problem issues such as biting, hitting or screaming. Use this as a teachable moment and help the growing learners to understand what is acceptable through the use of calming words and modeling.
A two-year-old may not be ready to sit down and quietly read a book or even write his or her name, but early childhood educators can use preschool time to begin teaching early literacy skills. According to the organization Zero to Three, children ages 24-36 months typically may have a language vocabulary of approximately 900 words. Teachers can help to build language skills by sharing stories back and forth with two-year-olds, asking questions, reading to the children and even singing songs. Choose books and stories that are brief, easy to follow, have large print words and colorful or vivid pictures. Additionally, teachers can help two-year-olds to build pre-writing skills by providing blank paper and crayons to make marks and scribble.