65 Ways To Promote Independence in your Toddler at Home

Hi guys. It's summer break and the Children are home. You may think your Child is relatively dependent and that the things they do around the house don't matter, but you'd be wrong. Simple actions parents take at home can have a long lasting impact on the way your child enters their first years of school.

Here are 65 life skills you can allow your toddler to carry out at home, setting them up well for their transition to school.

Some of them will require a great deal of patience from you, but I promise your patience will pay off in the long run.

See how many you can try out this week;

Dressing

1. Choosing their own clothes

2. Getting dressed

3. Collecting clothes from cupboard

4. Putting on shoes

5. Putting on socks

6. Zipping/buttoning a jacket

7. Bathing

8. Using a flannel to clean body

9. Using soap correctly

10. Brushing teeth for 3 minutes

11. Squeezing and opening toothpaste

12. Brushing hair

13. Apply moisturizer to body

14. Drying body with towel

Toileting

15. Choosing underwear

16. Wiping bottom after using the toilet

17. Folding, sealing and throwing away nappy

18. Flushing toilet, putting seat down

19. Washing hands with soap

20. Refilling underwear supplies

21. Indicating when to use the toilet

22. Placing dirty underwear into laundry

General Cleaning

23. Wiping up spills with sponge

24. Using and refilling a spray bottle

25. Sweeping with brush

26 Mopping using soap

27. Dusting shelves

28. Organizing recycling 

29. Watering a plant

30. Cleaning up books, toys

31. Restoring items to shelves

32. Sharpening pencils for art and craft

Laundry

33. Collecting dirty laundry

34. Placing laundry into basket

35. Putting laundry into washing machine

36. Moving wet laundry to dryer or to a line

37. Matching socks

38. Folding own clothes

39. Sorting laundry into categories (colours, whites)

40. Putting clean cloths where they belong

Eating

41. Pouring a drink

42. Opening a juice bottle

43. Setting the table

44. Drinking from a cup

45. Choosing a healthy snack

46. Cooking/ preparing food

Gathering Ingredients

47. Placing ingredients in bowls

48 . Spreading with butter knife

49 Chopping soft foods

50. Using a spoon to stir

51. Taste testing and watching you cook

52. Pouring liquid or dry ingredients from one container to another

Other Kitchen Work

53. Wiping down counter or table

54. Bringing dirty dishes to sink/dishwasher

55. Rinsing dishes

56. Cleaning dishes

57. Drying dishes

58. Loading dishes into drying rack

Outdoor activities

60. Pulling weeds

61. Caring for outdoor animals (gathering eggs for example)

62. Sweeping garden

63. Watering plants

64. Helping to plant seeds

65. Washing car

These activities may seem difficult but just by involving your child in some way will model to them exactly how its done. It will enable them to learn from your example.

Remember that all the time you spend with your child modelling these activities, use complex language (talk through everything and understand that what is work for you is play for the child)

The greatest moments of education occur through experimentation, conversations and modelling.

Please give feedback on how it turns out.

Have fun!