My Approach to Working with 2-year-olds

While studying Education at the University of Birmingham, we took the time to fully understand the developmental stages that a child goes through and how children learn. But this tells you very little about working with 2-year-olds! Nearly everything I have learnt about working with 2-year-olds has come from practically working with two-year-olds. This has meant I have developed my own approach, which I will detail in this blog. I will cover everything from my approach to dealing with tantrums to my approach to developing relationships with the children. But, first the most important point of all when working with two-year-olds:

1. Play with Them!!

Most of us will not remember being 2, but from my experience the best way to build relationships with two-year-olds, progress their learning and speech and language, and to manage behaviours is to play with them (managing behaviours in a nursery setting also requires clear boundaries). You can narrate what they are doing when they first turn 2, which will develop their speech and language. While when they are reaching 3, you can have a mini conversation with the child. Furthermore, playing with children manages their behaviours in two ways. Firstly, you are building up your relationships with the child, which means they are more likely to listen to you. Would you want to listen to a person you have no relationship with or a figure you have relationship with and admire? Secondly, you are preventing a child from getting bored, which will prevent a lot of negative behaviours for escalating.

But How Do We Play With Two-Year-Olds

Think of playing with two-year-olds as joining in with what they are doing and responding to their play. For example, if they are playing in a toy kitchen, make food with them, say ‘let’s put this in the oven, let’s cook this.’ Pretend to eat the food they give you. If they are building with blocks, ask them excitedly ‘can I join in?’ and start building with them. If they are playing with playdough, ask them what they are making and begin to play with playdough yourself. Copy their actions. Then narrate what you are doing ‘poke, poke, poke’, ‘roll, roll, roll’. Try to extend on their learning by adding new ideas. For example, if they are making pizza; ask ‘what toppings have you got on your pizza? Tomato?; Pretend to be a scary dinosaur chasing them around. If they are playing with baby dolls, say ‘let’s feed the baby, let’s put the baby to sleep.’ If they want to build something out of cardboard, build with them! The child should engage back with you and you can create an exchange which will allow you to bond and builds on their speech and language.

2.Be Dramatic and Enthusiastic in Group Activities

If you watch cartoons intended for 2-year-olds, you will notice that the characters tend to be talk excitedly, everything is ‘wow’ and ‘ooo’. This is what maintains the attention of 2-year-olds. If you want to talk to a group of 2-year-olds and maintain their attention, the best thing to do is to be dramatic and enthusiastic. Vary your tone of voice to build on the children’s excitement. Whether that be in story-time, singing time or group activities!

3. Give Them Enough Time Outdoors

According to the UK Chief Medical Officers 2-year-olds should spend around 3 hours a day engaging in physical exercise. Whether that be running, dancing, climbing, ball games or riding a bike; or even standing up and moving around. In my experience, the best way to get kids moving is to get them outdoors with bikes, scooters, ball games and space to run. Furthermore, when children spent time outside, they are not running riot inside causing themselves to run into each other and injuring themselves! They release all that excess energy meaning the classroom is calmer and more productive.

4. Ignore Tantrums, But Be Firm with Negative Behaviours

We’ve all been there, we’ve told a child no firmly for throwing a toy across the room or hitting another child, and the child has thrown themselves on the floor and began to scream and cry. The best response is to remain calm, ignore the tantrum and remember tantrums are normal for 2-year-olds. However, we should not stop being firm with negative behaviours to avoid tantrums. It is important to keep firm, while ignoring the tantrum. A firm no should not change into a ‘yes’. Furthermore, if the language of the child allows, introduce consequences for actions. For example, take a toy away or say ‘we will leave if you don’t stop this behaviour.’

In summary, in order to build bonds with children and to manage their behaviours, it is important to engage with children in play. Children cannot progress their language and communication by simply playing alone. It is important that you interact with them and play with them. This will not only build bonds between yourself and the child, promote their language and communication, but this will also help to manage their behaviours. You can also manage children’s behaviours through remaining firm and ignoring tantrums.