Brain development activities for 2 year olds [Boost your child’s brain power!]

So, are there good brain development activities for 2 year olds- you could be researching easy activities/toys that are especially effective in your baby’s brain development.

The answer is yes- and below we have prepared a list of some of the best brain development activities for 2 year olds including interesting 2 year old baby brain development games

Brain development activities for 2 year olds

The first three years of a child’s life are critical for learning and development- children’s brains develop rapidly from birth through three years.

So this is the perfect time you can help your 2-year-old child in brain development- remember brain development affects all areas of a child’s growth.

Which is where the following brain development activities come in- they might go a long way in boosting your kid’s memory, vocabulary, grasp of things, etc.

 

Moving activities

Most of us associate movement with physical development in kids.

What most of you don’t know is that movement helps build a child’s brain (here is a study confirming it).

For that reason, encourage your little one to try the following movement activities/exercises/games:

Send him/her to bring you small items

To start with, you can ask your toddler to carry small items for you once he/she can walk.

You can, for example, send him/her to bring a pair of shoes from the shoe rack.

Kick-a-ball and let him/her run after it

Still, you can kick a ball, and if your toddler can move, encourage him/her to run and kick it too.

Activities that will make him/her start to learn to think critically

Every time your child is stimulated to think, either new neural pathways are formed or existing ones are strengthened which is great for their brain development.

So what activities can your kid do to stimulate brain development?

Here are a few:

Puzzle games

Now that your boy/girl is two years, you can introduce them to simple 2-piece and 3-piece jigsaw puzzles.

You see, puzzle games help your child in reasoning, which is an important skill especially if you want them to learn problem-solving from an early age.

Quick Tip: Go for colorful puzzles as kids find colorful stuff more fun to play with.

Blocks

Blocks are fantastic- they have countless benefits and playing with them could help immensely.

From helping kiddos learn vocabulary to enhancing their creativity, there’s a lot playing with blocks can do for your boy’s/girl’s brain development.

So let your child feel them, stack them, line them up, and knock them down.

Playing with sand

Take your toddler to a place where he/she can play with sand -you can go to a beach or a nearby playground.

You can start by showing him/her how he/she can model things such as wavy lines, circles, and others.

This enables your toddler to express himself creatively and can help hone the creative part of the brain (called the hippocampus).

To spice up play, you can even bring sand toys with you to the beach/playground and help him/her use them for exercises like making footprints, tracks, and more (including pretend sand-dune drives).

 

Try drawing activities

Give your toddler crayons or paint and show him/her how to draw creatively.

To stimulate his/her imagination, encourage your toddler to make his/her drawings using different colors.

 

Playing with clay

Using non-toxic modeling clay from a toy store, show your son or daughter how to make basic shapes like squares, triangles, and rectangles.

Also, show him how they fit together.

To make the game more thrilling, advance to modeling recognizable shapes like blocks, tables, and so on.

 

Singing games

You might not believe this but it is the truth: singing with your kiddo helps boost his/her brain power.

How?

For the most part, singing your kids’ best songs with him/her sing builds their vocabulary (they’ll be hearing new words) which, in turn, helps their speech (once they master how to pronounce them).

Tips

• You can teach him/her music by making drums out of pots and pans
• You can put aside time to sing to your child/children while you play a beat (like Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star, and Row Row your boat).
• Don’t just sing once but sing songs and repeat rhymes together- take turns inserting goofy words into the songs.
• Dancing to music is also great – sway, move, and bounce together (also move your hands- the two of you) according to the beat

 

Other things that can help brain development for 2 year olds

In addition to the brain development activities for 2 year olds we have talked about above, we encourage you to try the following:

Talking to him/her

Taking to your toddler often is the first thing you should do if you really want to help him/her- by talking to your baby, you’re helping him/her develop their vocabulary even when they’re infants.

So start by making it a habit to talk to your little one as much as you can about anything- Talk to your toddler about the things you’re doing and seeing together each and every day.

Here are some helpful tips when it comes to talking to 2 year olds:

• You should repeat words correctly if your toddler mispronounces something, rather than telling the child that he/she mispronounced the word.
• Teach your toddler to identify and say body parts and other common things like animals, plants, or utensils.
• Use words to identify feelings, for example, you are sad, happy, disappointed, etc.
• Encourage your boy/girl to say the word rather than pointing to something he/she wants.
• Tell stories and encourage pretend play as well.
• Expand on the words he/she says. Example: If your little star says “me eat”, just respond by uttering the words “You want to eat. Uh?”.

Reading together

Surprisingly, reading is one of the best ways to promote your child’s overall brain development.

The truth is before he/she can recognize letters or words, reading jumpstarts language and communication skills.

On top of that, hearing words and seeing pictures connects the two in a child’s mind.

Also, reading the same book over and over again to him/her further builds recognition between the words you speak and the images your toddler is seeing.

You can try these two awesome books:

Dear Zoo

First 100 Padded- Numbers, Shapes, Colors– a wonderful colorful book

Quick Tip: As you read together, urge your son/daughter to turn the pages in a book themselves- it is a good way of making them feel that they’re participating actively.

 

Take away

During the first three years of your child’s life, his/her brain grows at an explosive rate.

Also, his/her existing brain connections eagerly await new experiences that help shape their neural networks (eventually this helps language learning, reasoning and problem-solving skills, and even values).

Therefore, it is important to engage your toddler in the above brain development activities for 2 year olds because it will help improve quicken the development of his/her brain.

ALSO READ:

Games for 2 year olds online free [11+ free online games]

Best Games to play with 2 year olds (15+ games and activities)