15 Things You Should Be Teaching your Toddler as a SAHM -

If you love staying at home with your toddler you are going to love the benefits that come along with it. Like how much they can learn and how smart they truly are! As opposed to placing your child in daycare you can teach your toddler at the pace that works best for them and you can go as far as they are able to understand. It’s truly amazing to watch them grow smarter. It may be the most rewarding thing you can do for your child other than spending quality time with them every day. There are also no limits to what you can teach your child. You are not controlled as to what you can or cannot do or the way you go about it. And you can be as creative as you want to be.

Establishing an effective learning routine

The key to being effective with having a learning routine is to be consistent. It allows your toddler to become familiar with learning new things every day and it helps your kid to feel empowered. But it may be challenging to come up with what to teach your child. Should you start with phonics, shapes, and planets, and how you should implement your lessons? I have been a SAHM for 3 years and I’ve learned so much along the way. I once had those same questions. Truthfully, I believe as soon as your child comes out of your womb, adulthood training has commenced! ABCs are important but so are hygiene and laundry. One of the major benefits of raising your kid at home is you can begin teaching basic life skills right away! Toddler age is the best time to start incorporating fundamental life skills into their learning routine. Trust me incorporating interdisciplinary lessons will impact your child in the best ways. So here’s an effective and simple learning routine to incorporate into your daily routine as a SAHM. Something cool like the 7 continents is awesome to know so young but can’t be applied to a baby or toddler’s everyday life. That’s why colors and body parts and numbers are a great place to start because you could work on what you’ve learned all day in a fun way of course

“The key to being effective with having a learning routine is to be consistent.”

15 Things You Should Be Teaching your Toddler as a Stay-at-home-Mom

Body parts Starting with body parts is a great way to have them learn about themselves so they can explain what is wrong if they get a boo-boo. Or they can tell you exactly where they are hurting. You can incorporate body parts while they are having their morning routine as they are washing their face or during bath time.
Counting 1-20 This can be easily done and it’s great for your toddler to learn so they can begin counting different objects on their own. It’s also great for focusing during stressful situations such as Doctor visits. Counting can also be a helpful tool to assist your toddler with falling asleep. Once they get the hang of counting it will also help them to explain how many they want of something such as food. There are cool ways to make counting useful, be creative!
Phonics Many of us knows the best way to get your child to read is to have them learn phonics. I suggest teaching them ABCs first then phonics. Some suggest the reverse. I believe it helps if they first identify what the letters are and what they look like and then learn their sounds. That way you can say “What letter is this…A… ok and what sound does the letter A make?
Animals & Sounds Learning about animals and their sounds is simply fun. Old McDonald never gets old and it’s totally unmatched.
7 continents Knowing the continents is the first step to knowing geography and it’s the easiest subject to start with. Especially if you like to travel with your toddler or plan to in the near future. It’s really cool when you explain to them where you’re traveling to and from while they make the connection.
Site words Site words are the words that young children learn by memory because it’s not something you can sound out. So if your child is learning phonics when they are ready to read books with sight words they can have a better experience with reading.
Shapes Once your kid learns shapes they will start to point them out everywhere and it’s great if you make an effort to do so too. Learning shapes helps your kids feel connected to the outside physical world. Pretty much every object your toddler will see is a shape they are learning about. They love to make connections which helps them to start understanding the bigger purpose of why learning shapes are important.
Object identification flashcards Object identification cards keep your toddler sharp on everyday objects they see and also objects they don’t get to see. It’s really all about making that connection to everyday life that helps your toddlers feel empowered.
Planets You may want your child to know the planets because it’s well… pretty cool. My daughter knew all 9 planets including the moon by the time she was 2 years old. It’s also a great step in the right direction for them to expand their mind and stretch them to understand macro concepts along with helping them to pronounce and use more complicated words.
Hygiene Hygiene is something that should be instilled while your child is young and this is the best age to start but especially having them do it on their own. This helps them to establish a habit of taking care of themselves and to see the value of hygiene and why it’s important.
House Cleaning-On amazon you can find play cleaning kits that kids love. But it’s a whole other level when you get them to help. This is another basic life skill that is important to establish young so when it’s time for them to start doing chores for real it’s not a fight to get them to clean up after themselves. Have them do this and make sure it’s consistent throughout their life.
How to use a book As parents and mamas we read to our children and love it however, when they read themselves it’s even more special. Who cares if they don’t get the words correct? Let them just flow, you can correct them at the end. Have them read today so they won’t feel out of place when it’s time to go to school.
Laundry I still hate folding and putting away clothes to this day. Maybe if I had made a habit of it when I was two I wouldn’t have such an issue with it today.
Manners This is one of my favs to teach your child – manners. I’ve learned the best way to train your child to respect others is to respect them. Say “thank you” and “please” to your toddler, I bet they will start to do the same to you and everyone else.
Identifying Emotions This is one that is extremely important now as we see more adults struggle with mental health. One of the most common struggles with getting through mental health problems is not being able to identify our emotions. Having kids identify their emotions helps them to explain how they are feeling to back up why they are doing such actions. This will help your communication with your toddler and does wonders as they grow older.

Overall, simply knowing the purpose behind learning these basic learning skills is the key. As I always say the simplest things are the deepest things – and the most impactful. As a SAHM you have such a unique opportunity to instill great things into your toddler while they are the most impressionable. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, Mama! You got this at the end of the day – follow your heart and always have the best intentions.