100 Teachable Moments

Easy things you can do to stimulate your child’s development.

Moments 1-20 | 21-40 | 41-60 | 61-80 | 81-100

  1. Let your child help you circle everyone’s birthday on a calendar.
  2. Encourage your child to make her own toys out of whatever is around the house.
  3. Give your child a disposable camera for a day.
  4. Build a rainy day fort.
  5. Encourage your child to put on a puppet show or a play for you.
  6. Teach your child the basics of football and basketball as you watch it on TV.
  7. As you drive, name the parts of the car like the steering wheel, the stick shift, the speedometer, etc.
  8. Encourage your child to make up his own game with his own rules.
  9. Give your child age-appropriate responsibilities he can handle around the house. More.

    Regular responsibilities help a child develop independence, self-confidence, and a feeling of self-worth for contributing to the family. Match the responsibility to the child’s age and ability. Be clear about the expectations for the responsibility and then be prepared to accept the job that they do. Remember, it takes time and practice to master a new skill.

    Beginning at about 18 months old, children should always be responsible for putting toys away when they are finished with them. Make this responsibility easy for them to do by providing low shelves with some small containers to hold books and toys. “A place for everything, and everything in it’s place.”

    Teach him how to recycle and give him the job of sorting the recycling after dinner each day.

    Feed the family pet.

    Check the bird feeder each day and refill as necessary.

    Help load and unload the dishwasher.

    Get the paper or the mail.

    Make his own bed.

    Fold and put his own laundry away.

  10. Teach your child how to use a key to unlock a door.
  11. Let your child pick the restaurant where you go out to eat.
  12. Let your child create her own scrapbook.
  13. Teach your child where all the foods come from at a meal – eggs, bread, veggies, chicken, milk, juice, coffee, etc.
  14. Let your infant play with your fingers and face.
  15. Let your child decide what he wishes to dress up as for Halloween.
  16. Have your child draw a scene of what she see’s out the window or of some place you have been.
  17. Explain to your child what job you do for a living and why you do it. Arrange a visit to your workplace.
  18. Play with toys with your child.
  19. If you go out for Chinese food, talk about China. Italian food? Italy. Etc.
  20. On July 4th, explain to your child what the United States is and why we celebrate on that day.
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