Micah is a brilliant little child. He is 21 months old. He can:

• Count from 1 to 6 skip to 9 then 10
• Knows, says, sings, and recognizes all the ABCs (Struggles with W… he thinks it’s M)
• Match colors
• Match shapes
• Knows his basic shapes: Triangle, Square, Star, Circle, Moon, Heart
• Knows his colors: Green, Blue, Purple, Orange, Yellow, Red
• Knows animals and animal sounds: Cow, Pig, Duck, Sheep, Dog, Cat, Elephant, Giraffe, Penguin, Fish, Lion, Tiger, Bear… oh my! The list goes on.
• Loves to read pictures in his book (example: A – Apple, B – Ball…)
• He loves to point out letters and numbers where ever we go!
• He loves to count his toy cars
• He loves to sign to songs: Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbean, Nephi’s Courage, Wise Man/Foolish Man, I love to see the Temple, Open Shut Them, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes… are just a few of his favorites.
• He knows the difference between a: fire truck, race car, ambulance, bus, train, tractor, van
• He can make different noises for “car sounds”: Beep Beep! Boom! Vroom! Zoom! 
• He can spend an hour organizing things

Micah has always done well to routines and he is really good with verbal prompts: 

• Are you hungry?
• Are you tired?
• It’s nap time, close your eyes and go to sleep.
• It’s night night time
• It’s still night night time (for the odd times he wakes up in the night)
• Close the door
• Go back to your room
• Clean up your toys
• Do you want water?
• Do you want to read a book?
• Say “Bye Bye” to ______ (We say bye bye to everything)
• Dada has to go “Bye Bye”
• Can you say Hi?
• Fold your arms
• It’s time to pray

Lately, I’ve realized that Micah needs to be playing, stimulated, or learning every minute of the day. Whenever he gets bored then he starts throwing a tantrum. He needs more than just play time with toys. I recently felt inspired to add structure into his daily routine by making his play time into learning time. I try hard to make sure Micah never gets bored.  It has worked so well! Here are some ideas I’ve come up with:

• Singing Time
• Story Time
• Homemade Car Mat
• Matching Colors with his toys
• I spy games
• Name the object game
• Homemade ABC flashcards
• Homemade Shape Matching
• Homemade Puzzles
• Water Play Time
• Cooking Time
• Laundry Time
• Cleaning Time
• Building Blocks
• Counting Toys
• Youtube Time
• Scripture Study Time
• Snack Time (Creative Snacks)
• Library
• Park
• Playing with Balls
• Building Forts
• Zoo

I will alternate activities throughout the day and week. It has worked so well that Micah wants his own free time. The last few days he has been going into his room for 30 to 45 minutes and he’ll close his door to play with his toys by himself. I didn’t know what to do with myself! I thought he was making trouble but really he just wanted time to himself. 🙂

What do you do with your toddlers?