My Special Helper

Materials You Need: Everyday objects or other materials used in daily life. For example clean folded clothes; toys or other objects your child has been playing with; spoons, unbreakable cups, or other objects from a meal; materials found in the garden, such as leaves on the ground.

What You Can Do Together: Invite your child to “be your special helper.” Say something like “I really need your help putting these socks away. Some go in baby sister’s cupboard; some go in yours. Can you please take these and put them away? Oh, what a big help you are. Thank you!”

This kind of activity can be part of your routines every day, with different materials and tasks. 

What Your Child is Learning: Your child is learning to cooperate, and that helping others makes your child and others happy. Your child is also learning to follow simple directions and learns the names of more objects. He may be learning how to sort or group things, also —for example, you could ask your child to find all the very little socks and put them in one pile and the bigger socks in another pile. Make this activity fun and friendly, not a test of their abilities.