Teaching Toddlers Care of Self

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Self-care is all about actions taken to maintain personal health and human development. Why not start teaching the basics now when they are toddlers? Maria Montessori made it well known that what she called “Practical Life Skills,” were very important for children to master. Practical life skills can mean so many different things; here I am going to show you how a toddler as young as 12 months can start to help care for herself.

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This is the set-up I used for Bells this week. A few baby dolls, a bucket, a washcloth, a blanket to wrap the baby, a cloth diaper, and a few books.

You can set out a pouring activity (pouring a pitcher of water into the bucket) if your child is a little older. I haven’t started that because Bells isn’t ready to pour without a mess yet.

 She washed the baby with the washcloth and then practiced on herself. It was so very cute.
You can also practice swaddling the baby, rocking the baby and loving the baby.

Enjoy talking about being gentle and loving. It is so nice to see your children learning all of these wonderful skills.

We even had her new tooth brush set up for teeth brushing. These little baby teeth need cleaning too.

Our favorite books of the week for this Teaching Empathy Theme were
Toddlers are so eager to learn, and they want to be so helpful at this age. Practical Life Skills is a great way to start working on their independence, self-confidence, and self-care. Get them involved in your everyday routine and watch how they blossom.

Toddler Activities

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