Two Year Old
Milestones Matter
How your child plays, learns, speaks, acts, and moves offers important clues about his or her development. Check the milestones your child has reached by age 2.
What Most Children Do By This Age
Socal / Emotional
- Copies others, especially adults and older children
- Gets excited when with other
- Shows more and more independence
- Shows defiant behavior (doing what he/she has been told not to)
- Plays mainly beside other children, but is beginning to include other children, such as in chase games
Language / Communication
- Points to things or pictures when they are named
- Knows names of familiar people and body parts
- Says sentences with 2-4 words
- Follows simple instructions
- Repeats words overheard in conversation
- Points to things in a book
Cognitive
Learning, Thinking, Problem-solving
- Find things even when hidden under two or three covers
- Begins to sort shapes and colors
- Completes sentences and rhymes in familiar books
- Plays simple make-believe games
- Builds towers of 4 or more blocks
- Might use one hand more than the other
- Follows two-step instructions such as “pick up your shoes and put them in the closet.”
- Names items in a picture book such as a cat, bird, or dog
Movement / Physical Developement
- Stands on tiptoe
- Kicks a ball
- Begins to run
- Climbs onto and down from furniture without help
- Walks up and down the stairs holding on
Your Child Knows Best
Act Early
If you have concerns about the way your child plays, learns, speaks, acts, or moves, or if your child:
- Is missing milestones
- Doesn’t use 2-word phrases (for example, “drink milk”)
- Doesn’t know what to do with common things, like a brush, phone, fork, or spoon
- Doesn’t copy actions and words
- Doesn’t follow simple instructions
- Doesn’t walk steadily
- Loses skills they once had
Tell your child’s Provider if you notice any of these signs of possible developmental delay. Acting early can make a real difference!
You can help your child learn and grow. Talk, read, sing, and play together every day. Below are some activities to enjoy with your 2-year-old child!
You can help your child learn and grow. Talk, read, sing, and play together every day. Below are some activities to enjoy with your 2-year-old child!
What You Can Do For Your 2 Year Old
- Encourage your child to help with simple chores at home, like sweeping and making dinner. Praise your child for being a good helper.
- At this age, children still play next to (not with) each other and don’t share well. For play dates, give the children lots of toys to play with. Watch the children closely and step in if they fight or argue.
- Give your child attention and praise when they follow instructions. Limit attention for defiant behavior. Spend a lot more time praising good behaviors than punishing bad ones.
- Teach your child to identify and say body parts, animals, and other things.
- Do not correct your child when they say words incorrectly. Rather, say it correctly. For example: “That is a ball.
- Encourage your child to say a word instead of pointing. If your child can’t say the whole word (“milk”), give her the first sound (“m”) to help. Over time, you can prompt your child to say the whole sentence.
- Hide your child’s toys around the room and let them find it.
- Help your child do puzzles with shapes, colors, or farm animals. Name each piece when your child puts it in place.
- Encourage your child to play with blocks. Take turns building towers and knocking them down.
- Do art projects with your child using crayons, paint, and paper. Describe what your child makes and hang it on the wall or refrigerator.
- Ask your child to help you open doors and drawers and turn pages in a book or magazine.
- Once your child walks well, ask her to carry small things for you.
- Kick a ball back and forth with your child. When your child is good at that, encourage running & kicking the ball.
- Take your child to the park to run and climb on equipment or walk on nature trails. Watch your child closely.