10 Ways To Include Learning Fun In Your Toddler's Routine

A challenge I often hear from parents of young kids is that they simply do not have the time or patience to teach a busy bodied toddler. Toddlers by nature are wired to receive alot of knowledge and information and they are equally curious about the world around them. Toddlerhood is really a great time to teach them as much as possible and to make it fun. As a mom of toddlers I quickly figured out that the solution to teaching said busy bodied and hyper curious toddler is to attach learning fun to an established routine. Toddlers learn also learn alot through repitition, play and life experiences so learning fun and daily routines work beautifully. Here are 10 fun ways to attach learning fun to your toddler's routine:

1. Teach the Alphabet While Washing Hands. Step 1. Wet Hands Step 2: lather hands together with soap. Step 3: Sing the ABC song at an even pace for about 2 minutes enunciating each letter especially the notorious l,m,n,o,p sequence. Be sure to scrub fingernails. Step 4. Rinse & Dry hands.

Munchkin Dots Bath Mat

2. Teach Colors At Bath Time. Children love bath toys, they are fun and colourful, and the perfect cue for parents to reinforce colours. If you're against the bath toys (especially the ones that trap water). I especially like the munchkin bath mat that provides a slip minimizing surface in the bathtub and is full of colourful circles. It's a safety mat and teaching tool all in one! 

3. Teach Counting Going Up And Down Stairs. Math is literally all around us and an easy way to get young talkers to count is to practice it in daily routines like going up and down the stairs. This type of counting also helps little ones to focus on each step they are taking, minimizing trips and slips on stairways.

Days of the week socks

4. Teach the Days of The Week in the Morning. Learning is fun when it's relevant to real life, for both kids and adults alike. For the little ones you can buy them days of the week socks, underwear or t-shirts or assign different coloured clothing to different days to help reinforce the learning.  

5. Teach Gratitude at Lunch or Dinner Time. Teach your kids a special prayer to say at meal time or practice asking what they are grateful for. Here arw two of my favourite tot friendly prayers:

 "For health and strength and daily food we give you thanks Lord. Amen" 

"Thank you for the food we eat, thank you for the world so sweet. Thank you for the birds that sing, Thank you Lord for everything. Amen"

6.Teach Literacy at Bedtime. Sounds like a tall order but the simple act of reading bedtime stories is lots of learning fun. Reading to your little one at bedtime not only sets them up for a good night's rest but it also introduces them to new vocabulary and ideas that form the building blocks of literacy. To meet the #1000Book challenge aim to read at least 5 different books a day.

7. Teach Shapes during playtime. There are shapes all around us! Make a fun game of having your child bring you items of different shapes from around the home. This game never gets boring.

8. Teach Food Science at Meal Time. Have a budding scientist on your hands? Get them involved in meal prep and talk about how different foods contain different nutrients and properties that each combine to create a new dish or drink. You can also talk about temperature. There is even science in washinf dishes. So mant fun learning opportunities.

9. Teach Self Regulation at Night Time/Wake Up Time. Is there a child that does not love to wake up in the night and jump into their parent's bed? You can use the opportunity to teach your child self regulation. Instead of giving in (and quite frankly giving up) and allowing them to disrupt everyone's sleep; walk them back to their bed every time and help them problem solve. 

If the problem is being thirsty, offer water. Monsters? Show them how to karate them. Not feeling sleepy? Teach them to pray, read or meditate to wind down for bed. Teach them to count sheep or clouds or offer them a white noise or lullaby machine that they too can operate. If you co-sleep you can teach them to resist the urge to wake everyone up if they wake up early. You can create a checklist of child friendly tasks they can complete if they get up early like using the potty, doing morning stretches, reading a book, playing quietly with a toy, picking out clothes to wear etc.

10. Teach Spelling at snack time. If your toddler is anything like mine, they probably love going up to the fridge at different intervals in the day to checkout what's yummy in stock. Placing alphabet magnets on the fridge is a good way to get toddlers interested in spelling words (and enticing them to stay out of the fridge). 

What are some ways that you include learning in your toddlers routine? Comment below, I'm always interested to know!