Let's look at the main developmental milestones for 18 to 24 months old. 

Developmental Milestones: 18 - 24 months

This age brings a whirlwind of new words, new skills, and movement! 

From around 18-24 months, these are the milestones you should expect to see:

• Forget the 2-block tower, your toddler can now master a build using 4-6 blocks, as well as do things like put 4 rings on a stick, large pegs in a pegboard, pull up a large zipper, and turn pages of a book, 2 or 3 pages at a time.
• At around this age, temper tantrums are even more common as they start to feel emotions, like anger, shame, and excitement, more strongly.
• Toddlers still need their sleep and should be sleeping 12 -13hrs in a 24hr period. Some will still need 1-2 periods of sleep in the day, while others may need none.
• As their brain is developing nerve connections and pathways through all the different things they’re experiencing, trying, and learning, they’ll start copying what they see and hear.
• They can now find hidden objects (such as a toy under a blanket).
• They can sort shapes and colors, and put large shapes into a shape sorter.
• As the dexterity in their hands develops, they can now hold a crayon with their fingers at the top of the crayon, and imitate you drawing a vertical line and a circle.
• They’ll also be able to feed themself with a fork and spoon. 
• They’ll start to parallel play with other toddlers – which means playing alongside them, but not necessarily playing together or sharing toys…yet.
• Watch out for stairs, as your child will have started walking up and down. They'll still need your help as they may not yet have the balance to do it on their own.
• As their language and listening skills are developing, by their 2^nd birthday, they’ll be able to say 50-100 words and will use their own name to refer to themself. They'll start asking for "more, or "why" when told to do something!
• Are they a leftie or a rightie? You’ll probably notice them starting to favor one hand over the other.
• As their rate of growth slows down, you'll see a change in their eating habits as they may now start to eat less. 
• The fussy period kicks in about now, and they'll suddenly show strong likes and dislikes towards certain foods. 
• Separation anxiety reaches a peak at around 18 months and should start to calm down within 6 months. 
• As their gross motor skills are developing, they can now try to catch a ball by moving their body and holding out their arms, as well as use their legs to propel themselves forward on a sit-on toy on wheels. 

The Best Activities for Kids: Age 18 to 24 months 

Pretend Play

Kids this age love to pretend play. Play simple pretend games such as feeding a doll or a stuffed toy, or tucking his toys in bed. Make car noises as you race around the carpet pretending to be a car, or animal noises as you pretend to be a farm animal. Let him climb onto and off the couch while you take on the role of a grizzly bear. Unleash his imagination and encourage him to dress up or play a character from his favorite book.

Simple Plays

Sorting objects and toys by color or shape or even genre is a fun way to develop cognitive thinking. Maybe he can sort and carry his cars to a container on one side of the room, and then carry his trains and place them in a different container on the other side. He can help you sort out the socks in the laundry by matching pairs based on color! 

Get out the building blocks and try to build a tower with 4 or more blocks, or throw a small ball (overhand). Have a go at stringing large beads. All these are great for her dexterity. You can also introduce three-or four-piece puzzles.

Art

Introduce her to a paintbrush and watch how she uses her whole arm to move around the paintbrush. Give her large markers or chalk to draw with. Encourage her to try to copy simple shapes that you’ve drawn – like a line or a circle.

Skoolzy’s Recommendations:

Skoolzy Alphabet Blocks

Your toddler will love stacking towers with these wooden blocks, improving hand-eye coordination, dexterity, and motor control as they play and build. As they get a little older, they can use the blocks for letter learning and can even try spelling out their own name. They're also ideal for color sorting, and of course to build even higher towers!

Skoolzy's Peg Board Toddler Stacking System

This is a fantastic toy for all ages. Your toddler can stack the pegs for some fine motor skills practice, and continue to use them as she gets older to develop her counting skills, for match and patterns games and to help her learn her shapes and colors. 

Skoolzy Nuts & Bolts Set

Your child will use her fine motor skills as she turns and twists the nuts and bolts to screw and unscrew them. She'll enjoy matching and sorting the shapes and colors as she figures out how the parts fit together. 

Skoolzy's Jumbo Lacing Beads

Dexterity, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, color sorting, shape matching, and patterning - are just a few skills your child will work on as they thread the beads through the string. Whether it's a mishmash of shapes and colors or a carefully organized pattern, we know it'll look awesome! 

Download and share our Developmental Milestones Checklist for 18 - 24 months olds

Other Milestones you might want to look at: