Following Instructions

Materials You Need: A ball, a leaf or a flower, a child’s hat, etc.

What You Can Do Together: Let’s go outdoors! Bring your child (and other family members if possible) outdoors to your garden or a park or other play area nearby. Encourage your child to use her new walking and running skills to enjoy exploring with your supervision. Then you can play a “following instructions” game. Give your child two things to do at the same time.  For example, “John, can you pick up the ball and throw the ball to me?” You might need to gesture or demonstrate once or twice. Praise your child for whatever your child does.  If two steps seem too challenging, play with just one simple instruction, and try again another time.  Play again and again as long as your child is enjoying the game. Make up different instructions with fun activities: “Can you run to Papa and then run back to Mama?” “Can you get the ball and roll the ball to Grandpapa?” 

What Your Child is Learning: Your child is learning to understand and follow simple two-part directions. As he or she gets older, he or she’ll be able to follow even more complex instructions, getting ready for school, and even more challenging learning activities. Your enjoyable games at home are stimulating your child’s cognitive development (reasoning) as well as her or his language and communication skills (understanding others’ instructions).