Ages 19–36 Months

• Identify a blanket or other familiar objects just by touching them.
• Identify a truck when she feels it buried underneath the sand.
• Watch the lines that she makes with a marker on the paper.
• Climb more slowly as he reaches the top of the ladder.
• Press harder on a clump of clay than on play dough.
• Watch a family member draw a circle and then try to do it.
• Walk more slowly and carefully when carrying an open cup of milk than when carrying a cup with a lid.

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Enjoy rough-and-tumble play.
• Handle fragile items carefully.
• Enjoy tactile books, such as books with faux fuzzy animal fur.
• Play with sand and water by filling up buckets, digging, and pouring water.

• Allow the toddler to play with materials that have varying textures and characteristics (e.g., play dough, water, sand).
• Use bubbles and encourage the toddler to catch them.
• Provide materials and objects of various colors, smells, and sounds.
• Play catch with the toddler or roll a ball on the floor.

• Walk and run with skill, changing speed and direction.
• Kick and throw a ball, but with little control of direction or speed.
• Bend over to pick up a toy and stand up without trouble.
• Pedal a tricycle.
• Climb up climbers and ladders.
• Walk backward a few feet.
• Jump up with both feet at the same time.
• Catch a medium-size ball.
• Walk up stairs, without holding on, placing one foot on each step.

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Jump off the bottom step.
• Kick a ball.
• Ride a ride-on toy without pedals, pushing her feet on the ground to move.
• Walk up or down stairs by stepping with both feet on each step, without holding on.
• Catch a big ball using two arms.
• Jump forward a few inches.
• Walk on tiptoes.

• Have the toddler practice balance (e.g., walk on a painted line or strip of tape).
• Play games with the toddler that require physical actions (e.g., rolling, throwing, and kicking balls; going over and under objects; chasing).
• Provide large indoor or outdoor spaces to walk, run, jump, and climb.
• Provide toys that the toddler can push and pull.
• Play games that encourage movement, such as “Simon Says.”
• Provide opportunities and supervision for visits to playgrounds and parks.
• Provide riding toys (e.g., tricycle, plastic cars).

• Use child-safe scissors in one hand to make snips in a piece of paper.
• String large wooden beads onto a shoelace.
• Build a tall tower with six or more blocks.
• Turn the pages of a paper book, one at a time.
• Twist toy nuts and bolts on and off.
• Open a door by turning the round handle.
• Use one hand to hold and drink from a cup.
• Place a wooden puzzle piece in the correct place in the puzzle.
• Use thumb, index, and middle fingers to draw or write with a crayon, marker, or pencil.

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Fold a piece of paper.
• Dump a container by turning it over.
• Use a crayon to draw lines and circles on a piece of paper.

• Provide art materials like large crayons, markers, and paint brushes.
• Ask the toddler to complete simple jobs that use small muscles in the hand like wiping down tables, placing napkins for snacks, putting toys away.
• Provide toys that require eye-hand coordination, such as puzzles, shape sorters, blocks, construction toys, lacing cards, and beads to string.
• Use play dough and clay to help the toddler develop squeezing, rolling, patting, and pounding skills with his hands.

• Engage in lively movements by choice for long periods of time indoors and outdoors.
• Enjoy more complex movement activities (e.g., running, jumping, skipping).
• Initiate chasing games.
• Prefers to stand at activities rather than sit.
• Cooperate with safety instructions like holding caregiver’s hand when crossing street or touching animals.
• Use a bike helmet for riding a tricycle.
• Shows willingness to try new nutritious foods when offered on multiple occasions.
•  Expresses preferences about foods, specifically likes or dislikes, sometimes based on whether the food is nutritious.
• Sometimes makes nutritious choices with support from an adult.
• Communicates to adults when hungry, thirsty, or has had enough to eat.
• Combines phrases with gestures such as “want that” and pointing
• Can lead parent to refrigerator and point to a desired food or drink

• Spend time outdoors.
• Engage in physical activities together.
• State clear expectations for safe behavior before activities begin.
• Provide opportunities for the toddler to practice safe behavior like taking walks and being in the community.
• Teach the toddler how to brush his teeth.
• Introduce a wide variety of flavors and textures to help the toddler adjust from a liquid diet to meals.
• Eat with the toddler and model healthful eating behaviors (e.g., discuss flavors of food, try new foods)
• During mealtimes, encourage toddlers to let you know when they are full. The goal is for children to eat what they need, not to “clean the plate.”
• Provide toddler-sized utensils to encourage self-feeding. Help toddlers pour liquid into cups, as needed.
• Avoid bribing toddlers when encouraging them to try new food and refrain from praising children when they eat everything on their plate.
• Never withhold food for punishment.
• Give children the time they need to eat.

• Go to the sink and wash hands after seeing snacks being set out on the table.
• Get a tissue to wipe own nose or bring the tissue to a family member for help when the child feels that his nose needs to be wiped.
• Take a wet shirt off when needing to put on a dry one.
• Help set the table for lunchtime.

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Drink from a cup without spilling much.
• Try to put on own socks.
• Pull her shoes off at naptime.

• Provide tools that the toddler needs (e.g., stool at the sink, coat hook within reach) to allow her to begin to take care of some of her own physical needs.
• Model, demonstrate, and assist when needed, but avoid pressuring if the toddler shows resistance for learning or using new behaviors independently.
• Establish routines where the toddler washes hands and brushes teeth.
• Allow time for the toddler to practice dressing.
• Encourage the toddler to take pride in her abilities.

• Participate in storytelling.
• Tell an adult friend or neighbor about an upcoming birthday party.
• Help the teacher bring in the wheeled toys from the play yard at the end of the day.
• Ask a classroom visitor her name.

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Practice being a grown-up during pretend play by dressing up or using a play stove.
• Help parent clean up after snack by putting snack dishes in the dish bin.

• Name familiar people in photos; talk about who they are and what they are doing.
• Encourage the toddler to greet adults by name.
• Recognize new people in the room and explain to the toddler who they are and why they are there.
• Listen carefully and with interest when the toddler talks to you and expand on her message.

• Communicate with peers while digging in the sandbox together.
• Act out different roles with peers, sometimes switching in and out of her role.
• Build a tall tower with one or two other children.
• Hand a peer a block or piece of railroad track when building.

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Use gestures to communicate a desire to play with a peer.
• Refuse to let a peer have a turn on the swing.
• Push or bite when another child takes a toy.
• Engage in complementary interactions, such as feeding a stuffed animal that another child is holding or pulling a friend in the wagon.
• Join a group of children who are together in one play space and follow them as they move outside.

• Provide opportunities to play with other children in a variety of settings.
• Have duplicates of favorite toys and toys that it takes two to play with.
• Model and provide the words to help toddlers learn to share materials with each other.
• Provide space for the toddler to manipulate materials within the same area.
• Help the toddler learn some words in his peers’ home language.

• Choose to play with a sibling instead of a less familiar child.
• Exhibit sadness when the favorite friend is not at school one day.
• Seek one friend for running games and another for building with blocks.
• Play “train” with one or two friends for an extended period of time by pretending that one is driving the train and the rest are riding.

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Engage in social pretend play with one or two friends; for example, pretend to be a dog while a friend pretends to be the owner.
• Express an interest in playing with a particular child.

• Provide opportunity to play routinely with the same children.
• Recognize the toddler’s preferences for playmates and encourage their interactions.
• Ask the toddler to pay attention to who is present and missing from activities (e.g., “Was Jenny at the playground today?”)
• Read books and talk about friends and friendships.

• Do a silly dance in an attempt to make a crying peer smile.
• Communicate, “Lucas is sad because Isabel took his cup.”
• Comfort a younger sibling who is crying by patting his back, expressing “It’s okay” and offering him a snack.
• Communicate, “Mama sad” when the mother cries during a movie.
• Communicate, “Olivia’s mama is happy” and point to or indicate the illustration in the picture book.
• Get a teacher to help a child who has fallen down and is crying.

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Hug a crying peer.
• Become upset in the presence of those who are upset.

• Read books together that demonstrate how characters’ behaviors affect other characters.
• Talk about what the toddler is feeling and how other children may be feeling, such as why they are crying or are upset.
• Model comforting others.

• Name own feelings or desires, explicitly contrast them with another’s, or describe why the child feels the way he does.
• Describe what happens during the bedtime routine or another familiar everyday event.
• Move into and out of pretend play roles, tell other children what they should do in their roles, or extend the sequence (such as by asking “Wanna drink?” after bringing a pretend hamburger to the table as a waiter).
• Help an adult search for a missing toy.
• Talk about what happened during a recent past experience, with the assistance of a family member.
• Help clean up at the end of the day by putting the toys in the usual places.

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Vary play with different peers depending on their preferred play activities.
• Imitate the behavior of peers as well as adults.

• Recognize and support the toddler’s need for information about people. (e.g., “Yes your Nana visited you this week, but she went home on the airplane.”)
• Provide opportunity for the toddler to help with simple tasks (e.g., put the napkins on the table, pick up toys).
• Read about diverse families and people.
• Provide time and toys that encourage imaginative play with specific roles (e.g., cooking and eating, doctor and patient).
• Model and extend pretend play (e.g., draw in children who aren’t involved, “Would you like to ride on our train, Robert?”). 
• Demonstrate and describe how to cooperate in daily activities (e.g., talk about waiting your turn in the grocery checkout line).

• Feel comfortable playing on the other side of the play yard away from the teacher, but cry to be picked up after falling down.
• Call “Mama!” from across the room while playing with dolls to make sure that the mother is paying attention.
• Call for a family member and look out the window for him after being dropped off at school.
• Communicate, “This is our favorite part” when reading a funny story with a family member.
• Bring the grandmother’s favorite book to her and express, “One more?” to see if she will read one more book, even though she has just said, “We’re all done reading. Now it’s time for nap.”
• Cry and look for their mother after falling.
• Seek the attention of Dad and communicate, “Watch me!” before proudly displaying a new skill.

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Say, “I go to school. Mama goes to work,” after being dropped off in the morning.
• Gesture for one more hug as a parent is leaving for work.

• Squat down to the toddler’s eye level when he seeks you out.
• Talk with the toddler about where you are going and when you will return.
• Make yourself available as a source of safety and security when the toddler ventures out to explore and play.
• Provide encouragement for the toddler to try a new activity while you remain close to offer support.
• Provide regular and purposeful interactions that include holding, talking, cuddling, hugs, pats on the back, and other physical touches when appropriate.

• Use pronouns such as I, me, you, we, he, and she.
• Say own name.
• Begin to make comparisons between self and others; for example, communicate, “_____ is a boy/girl like me.”
• Name people in the family.
• Point to pictures of friends and say their names.
• Communicate, “Do it myself!” when a parent tries to help.

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Recognize his own image in the mirror and understand that it is himself.
• Know the names of familiar people, such as a neighbor.
• Show understanding of or use words such as you, me, mine, he, she, it, and I.
• Use name or other family label (e.g., nickname, birth order, “little sister”) when referring to self.
• Claim everything as “mine.”
• Point to or indicate self in a photograph.
• Proudly show a neighbor a new possession.

• Support experiences where the toddler is allowed long periods of time to engage in activities she enjoys.
• Recognize the toddler’s ability to identify own characteristics, such as size, hair color or gender.
• Have pictures of the toddler and her family readily accessible.
• Provide opportunities for the toddler to interact with other children of diverse culture, ethnicities, and abilities.
• Discuss physical differences as they come up, such as differences in skin tone, eye color, and hair texture/style.

• Communicate, “I take care of the bunny” after helping to feed the class rabbit.
• Finish painting a picture and hold it up to show a family member.
• Complete a difficult puzzle for the first time and clap or express, “I’m good at puzzles.”

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Insist on zipping up a jacket when a family member tries to help.
• Point to a stack of blocks he has made and express, “look” to his grandpa.
• Communicate, “I doing this,” “I don’t do this,” “I can do this,” or “I did this.”
• Say, “I climb high” when telling the teacher about what happened during outside play time, then run outside to show him how.

• Acknowledge uncooperative or negative behavior as a sign of asserting oneself.
• Allow the toddler time to do things for self and acknowledge the actions.
• Facilitate the toddler’s success with new tasks (e.g., putting on clothes or shoes, puzzles.)
• Allow the toddler to keep favorite toys or possessions in a special place.

• Hide face with hands when feeling embarrassed.
• Use words to describe feelings; for example, “I don’t like that.”
• Communicate, “I miss Grandma,” after talking on the phone with her.
• Act out different emotions during pretend play by “crying” when pretending to be sad and “cooing” when pretending to be happy.
• Express guilt after taking a toy out of another child’s cubby without permission by trying to put it back without anyone seeing.

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Communicate, “Mama mad” after being told by the mother to stop an action.
• Use one or a few words to describe feelings to a grandparent.
• Express frustration through tantrums. 

• Share and discuss books and pictures of people showing emotions.
• Help the toddler identify feelings as they are occurring.
• Provide recognition of the toddler’s response to activities or situations (e.g., “You don’t seem to like this game.”)

• Reach for the mother’s hand just before she pulls a bandage off the child’s knee.
• Ask the teacher to hold him up to the window to wave good-bye before the parent leaves in the morning.
• Show the substitute teacher that she likes a back rub during naptime by patting own back while lying on the mat.
• Play quietly in a corner of the room right after drop-off, until ready to play with the other children.
• Ask a parent to explain what’s going to happen at the child’s dental appointment later in the day.
• Communicate, “Daddy always comes back” after saying good-bye to him in the morning.

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Continue to rely on adults for reassurance and help in controlling feelings and behavior.
• Reenact emotional events in play to try to gain mastery over these feelings.
• Use words to ask for specific help with regulating emotions.
• Express wants and needs verbally; for example, say, “hold me” to a family member when feeling tired or overwhelmed.

• Identify specific factors in the day that help the toddler understand when they may be leaving (e.g., “We are going to leave after we eat.”)
• Allow the toddler to meet their own physical needs or sucking through the use of their thumb or comforting object.
• Support transitions from activity to activity by providing preparation (e.g., “In five minutes it is time to clean up.”).
• Provide a sense of control by giving valid choices (e.g., “You can have water or milk.”).
• With close supervision, allow the toddler time to work through his emotions.

• Jump up and down on the couch but stop jumping and climb down when a parent enters the room.
• Experience difficulty (e.g., cry, whine, pout) with transitions.
• Begin to share.
• Handle transitions better when prepared ahead of time or when the child has some control over what happens.
• Touch a pet gently without needing to be reminded.
• Wait to start eating until others at the table are also ready.

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Begin to use words and dramatic play to describe, understand, and control impulses and feelings.
• Communicate, “Mine!” and take a doll out of the hands of a peer.
• Throw a puzzle piece on the floor after having trouble fitting it in the opening.
• Open the playground door and run out, even after being asked by the teacher to wait.
• Start to take another child’s toy, then stop after catching the eye of the teacher.
• Use a quiet voice at naptime.
• Understand and carry out simple commands or rules.
• Have a tantrum rather than attempt to manage strong feelings.
• Be able to wait for a turn.

• Acknowledge the toddler’s attempts to regulate and negotiate (e.g., “You decided to play with another doll when Maya took yours. That was a good choice.”)
• Read or tell stories about simple conflicts and how the characters solved them.
• Give clear expectations for safe behaviors and use simple rules that the toddler can understand.
• Ask the toddler where she would like to play.
• Play simple games and sing songs with directions (e.g., “Ring around the Rosie” or the simplest “Simon Says.”).
• Talk with the toddler about rules, limits, and choices and their purposes.

• Look for a stuffed bear when her mother asks, “Where’s your bear?”
• Get the bin of blocks when teacher asks what the child wants to play with.
• Show understanding of words such as no, not, and don’t, and utterances such as when the father says, “There’s no more milk,” or “Those don’t go there.”
• Know the names of most objects in the immediate environment.
• Understand requests that include simple prepositions, such as, “Please put your cup on the table,” or “Please get your blanket out of your backpack.”
• Laugh when an adult tells a silly joke or makes up rhymes with nonsense “words.”
• Show understanding of the meaning of a story by laughing at the funny parts or by asking questions.

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Show understanding of pronouns, such as he, she, you, me, I, and it; for example, by touching own nose when an adult says, “Where’s your nose?” and then touching the adult’s nose when he says, “And where’s my nose?”
• By 36 mos. Follow two-step requests about unrelated events, such as, “Put the blocks away and then go pick out a book.”
• Answer adults’ questions; for example, communicate “apple” when a parent asks what the child had for snack.

• State simple requests in English and home language and acknowledge the toddler’s responses and actions.
• Share stories, games, and picture books that are fun to look at, talk about, or read together; read with expression.
• Use hand motions and other body movements when singing or telling stories.
• Talk about what you are doing (e.g., I am going to wash off this table and then we can sit down and eat.”).
• Use fanciful language and playful approaches to add interest and new vocabulary to ordinary routines (e.g., “Let’s walk like big, heavy elephants. Tromp. Stomp.” “Would you like to walk in a zig-zag, or in a straight line?”)
• During back and forth conversations use interesting words with the toddler in contexts that make their meaning clear (e.g., “The horse is trotting.”).
• Engage the toddler in noticing and playing with sounds (e.g., words and nonsense words that rhyme with her name).

• Use the past tense, though not always correctly; for example, “Daddy goed to work,” “She falled down.”
• Use the possessive, though not always correctly; for example, “That’s you car” or “Her Megan.”
• Use a few prepositions, such as “on” the table.
• Talk about what she will do in the future, such as “I gonna get a kitty.”
• Use an increasing number of words. (18 mos-approx.15-25 words, 24 mos -approx.50-75 words, 36 mos approx.300-1,000 words)
• Use the plural form of nouns, though not always correctly; for example, “mans,” and “mouses.”
• Express, “Uncle is coming to pick me up.”
• Behaviors leading up to indicator:
• Tend to communicate about objects, actions, and events that are in the here and now.
• Use some words to refer to more than one thing; for example, “night-night” to refer to bedtime or to describe darkness.
• Use many new words each day.
• Begin to combine a few words into mini-sentences to express wants, needs, or interests; for example, “more milk,” “big doggie,” “no night-night” or “go bye-bye.”
• Start adding articles before nouns, such as, “a book” or “the cup.”
• Use own name when referring to self. (18-24 mos.; Parks 2004)
• Ask questions with raised intonations at the end, such as “Doggy go?”
• Communicate using sentences of three to five words, such as “Daddy go store?” or “Want more rice.”

• Encourage the toddler to “talk like a big girl/boy” and use words to resolve conflicts.
• Recognize that children who are English language learners may mix words from different languages in the same sentence; repeat what the toddler says using all words in the same language.
• Support the toddler’s development and use of their home language by including books and tapes in the language in the listening area, learning a few phrases in the language to use with the toddler.
• Make room for the toddler’s participation when telling, singing, or reciting stories and songs.
• Engage the toddler in back and forth conversations. Listen patiently and carefully, pausing for their responses.
• Promote use of nonverbal communication when language delay is present (e.g., use of movements, signs, sounds, and facial expressions).
• Supply the name of an object that the toddler is looking at, playing with, or pointing to.
• Ask the toddler to repeat a word(s) or to show you what is meant, if you can’t understand what she is saying.
• Accept the toddler’s grammar and pronunciation. Focus on what she is trying to say, not how it is said.

• Persist in trying to get a family member to respond by repeating, speaking more loudly, expanding on what the child said, or touching the adult.
• Repeat part of what a parent just said in order to continue the conversation.
• Make comments in a conversation that the other person has difficulty understanding; for example, suddenly switch topics or use pronouns without making clear what is being talked about.
• Answer adults’ questions, such as “What’s that?” and “Where did it go?”
• Begin to create understandable topics for a conversation partner.
• Sometimes get frustrated if a family member does not understand what the child is trying to communicate.
• Participate in back-and-forth interaction with adults by speaking, giving feedback, and adding to what was originally said.
• Behaviors leading up to indicator:
• Ask and answer simple questions, such as “What’s that?”
• Say, “huh?” when interacting with his grandmother to keep interaction going.
• Repeat or add on to what she just said if teacher does not respond right away.
• Engage in short back-and-forth interactions with an adult friend by responding to comments, questions, and prompts.
• Respond almost immediately after a parent finishes talking in order to continue the interaction.
• Get frustrated if a neighbor or friend does not understand what the child is trying to communicate.
• Attempt to continue conversation, even when the adult does not understand him right away, by trying to use different words to communicate the meaning.
• Sustain conversation about one topic for one or two turns, usually about something that is in the here and now.
• Respond verbally to adults’ questions or comments.

• Ask questions.
• Provide opportunities to engage in conversation with another peer or within a small group.
• Recognize and validate conversation styles and dialects that may be different and rooted in the toddler’s culture or personal experience.
• Acknowledge the toddler’s contributions to the conversation, and then build on them by offering questions, information, and extensions of their ideas.
• Resist the temptation to rush or interrupt the toddler as he thinks of how to say something.
• Use alternate ways to communicate when needed (e.g., sign language, gestures).
• Frame conversations around the toddler’s interests.
• Provide materials that encourage face-to-face interactions (e.g., books, puppets, dolls, mirrors)

• Enjoy both being read to and looking at books by himself.
• Pretend to read books to stuffed animals by telling a story that is related to the pictures and turning the book around to show the picture to the stuffed animals, just as the teacher does when reading to a small group of children.
• Talk about the trip to the library and ask about the next trip.
• Recite much of a favorite book from memory while “reading” it to others or self.
• Try to be careful with books.

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Move behind the teacher in order to look over her shoulder at the pictures, when there are several children crowded around.
• Turn the pages of a book one by one.
• Listen as a family member reads short picture books aloud.
• Ask a question about a story; for example, “Bear go?” while turning from one page to the next.

• Choose books that invite interaction (e.g., textures to feel, flaps to lift).
• Model excitement for reading.
• Ask the toddler to name the people and things in the pictures.
• Provide board books for the toddler to handle and “read” herself.
• Ask the toddler to select a book for you to read together.
• Read books with rich, descriptive pictures and vocabulary, including books in the toddler’s home language.
• Help the toddler make connections between the stories and pictures in books and their own experiences.
• Read together daily, one-on-one or with others.
• Help the toddler to care for and respect books.

• Communicate, “She misses her mommy” when a child cries after her mother leaves in the morning.
• Make a prediction about what will happen next in the story when asked, “What do you think will happen next?”
• Answer a grandparent asks, “What do you think your mom’s going to say when you give her your picture?”
• See a bandage on a peer’s knee and ask, “What happened?”
• Walk quietly when the baby is sleeping.

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Roll cars of different sizes down the slide.

• Help the toddler understand the effects of actions on others (e.g., “Jasmine is sad because you pushed her. How can we make her feel better?”).
• Provide many opportunities for the younger toddler to observe and practice cause and effect (e.g., push and pull toys, busy boxes, jack-in-the-box, rolling items down a hill or tube).
• Provide materials that make sounds (e.g., containers with rice or beans, maracas).

• Encourage experiments with cause and effect (e.g., “How many blocks can we stack before the tower falls over?”).
• Monitor and limit the amount of screen time for children under two. Use technology together and comment on what the child is doing and seeing.

• Hand the big truck to a peer who asks for the big one.
• Use words such as big and little.
• Put together a puzzle with three to four separate pieces.
• Get the serving spoon off the tray when asked for the big spoon, even though there are small spoons on the tray.
• Stack rings onto a post with the biggest ring on the bottom and the smallest ring on the top, without much trial and error.
• Point to a peer’s stick when the teacher asks which stick is longer.
• Understand requests that include simple prepositions; for example, “Please put your cup on the table” or “Please get your blanket out of your back pack.”
• Move around an obstacle when going from one place to another.

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Complete a puzzle of three separate cut-out pieces, such as a circle, square, and triangle.
• Fit many pegs into a pegboard.
• Turn a book right-side up after realizing that it is upside down.
• Fit four nesting cups in the correct order, even if it takes a couple of tries.
• Assemble a two-piece puzzle; for example, a picture of a flower cut into two pieces.

• Provide the chance to play with sand, water, and containers to pour, fill, scoop, weigh, and dump.
• Chart and talk about changes in the toddler’s height and weight.
• Use words related to size and position when describing objects.
• Provide things for the toddler to crawl through, get under, and hide behind, using prepositions and other spatial vocabulary when he does so.

• Reenact the steps of a family celebration that the child attended last weekend.
• Pretend to get ready for work or school by making breakfast, packing lunch, grabbing a purse, and communicating good-bye before heading out the door.

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Repeat the most important word of a sentence that a parent has just communicated.
• Imitate the last word or last few words of what an adult just said; for example say, cup or a cup after the caregiver says, “That’s a cup” or say, “Daddy bye-bye” after the mother says, “Daddy went bye-bye.”
• Copy several actions that the child cannot see himself doing, such as wrinkling the nose.
• Say, “beep, beep, beep, beep” after hearing the garbage truck back up outside.
• Act out a few steps of a familiar routine, such as pretend to fill the tub, bathe a baby doll, and dry the doll.
• Imitate words that the adult has expressed to the child at an earlier time, not immediately after hearing them.
• Imitate two new actions of a family member; for example, put one hand on head and point with the other hand.
• Imitate the way a family member communicates by using the same gestures, unique words, and intonation.

• Encourage imitation and pretend play by providing toys that can be used for pretend play (e.g., dolls, dishes, cars, trucks or blocks).
• Encourage imagination by joining the toddler’s make-believe play (e.g., take on a role and follow the toddler’s directions; make suggestions).
• Provide opportunities for the toddler to safely explore and practice tasks that he has watched (e.g., dishes, sweeping, feeding a doll).
• Model sounds that animals or cars make when playing with toddler.

• Pick out one object from a box or point to the picture with only one of something.
• Reach into bowl and take out two pieces of pear when their mother says, “Just take two.”
• Start counting with one, sometimes pointing to the same item twice when counting, or using numbers out of order; for example, “one, two, three, five, eight.”
• Use fingers to count a small number of items.
• Look at a plate and quickly respond “two,” without having to count, when an adult asks how many pieces of cheese there are.
• Hold up two fingers when asked, “Show me two” or “How old are you?”
• Identify “more” with collections of up to four items, without needing to count them.
• Use more specific words to communicate how many, such as a little or a lot.

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Get two cups from the cupboard when playing in the housekeeping area with a friend.
• Look at or point to the child with one piece of apple left on his napkin when the teacher asks, “Who has just one piece of apple?”
• Give their grandmother one cracker from a pile of many when she asks for “one.”

• Practice counting with the toddler by pointing to items in number books.
• Use numbers in everyday speech and routines (e.g., “Do you need one shoe or two shoes to go to the park?” or “Would you like one or two crackers?”)
• Use number words from the toddler’s first language.
• Sing songs and recite nursery rhymes and fingerplays that include numbers.
• Take opportunities to count with the toddler and point out the number of things in the environment.

• Identify a few colors when they are named; for example, get a red ball from the bin of multicolored balls when their mother asks for the red one.
• Make three piles of tangrams in various shapes, such as a circle, square, and triangle.
• Pick two big bears from a bowl containing two big bears and small bears, even if the big bears are different colors.
• Sort primary-colored blocks into three piles: a red pile, a yellow pile, and a blue one.
• Point to different pictures of houses in a book even though all of the houses look different.
• Put all the soft stuffed animals in one pile and all the hard plastic toy animals in another pile and label the piles “soft animals” and “hard animals.”
• Call all four-legged animals at the farm “cows,” even though some are actually sheep and others horses.

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Point to or indicate the realistic-looking plastic cow when their father holds up a few toy animals and says, “Who says, ‘moo’?”
• Sort three different kinds of toys; for example, put the puzzle pieces in the puzzle box, the blocks in the block bin, and the toy animals in the basket during clean-up time.
• Show understanding of what familiar objects are supposed to be used for, such as knowing that a hat is for wearing or a tricycle is for riding.
• Pick a matching card from a pile of cards.
• Point to or indicate all the green cups at the lunch table.
• Call the big animals “mama” and the small animals “baby.”
• Help their parents sort laundry into two piles: whites and colors.
• Put the red marker back in the red can, the blue marker back in the blue can, and the yellow marker back in the yellow can when finished coloring.
• Match one shape to another shape.

• Provide toys or collections that can be organized and sorted (e.g., plastic animals, blocks, shape sorters, nature items, balls).
• Encourage sorting and matching by pointing out the similarities and differences in items (e.g., “This piece is blue. Let’s find another piece that is blue.”).
• Provide simple shape puzzles with inserts that match the puzzle piece.
• Use words to describe objects that relate to their color, shape, texture, and size.
• Play matching games and ask the toddler questions about similarities and differences.

• Assign roles to self and others when playing in the dramatic play area (for example, “I’ll be the daddy, you be the baby”), even though the child may not stay in her role throughout the play sequence.
• Line up a row of chairs and communicate, “All aboard! The train is leaving.”
• Use two markers to represent people in the dollhouse by moving them around as they were walking.
• Stir “cake batter” while holding an imaginary spoon or serve an invisible burrito on a plate.
• Communicate with self during pretend play to describe actions to self; for example, “Now I stir the soup.”
• Plan with other children what they are going to pretend before starting to play; for example, “Let’s play doggies!”
• Pretend to be a baby during dramatic play because there is a new baby at home.
• Build a small town with blocks and then use the toy fire truck to pretend to put out a fire in the town.

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Use the stuffed animals to play “veterinarian” one day and then to play “farmer” the next day.
• Communicate “Time for night-night” to a doll while playing house.
• Complete three or more actions in a sequence of pretend play so the actions have a beginning, middle, and end, such as giving the baby doll a bath, putting his pajamas on, and putting him to sleep.
• Pretend that the doll or stuffed animal has feelings, such as making a whining noise to indicate that the stuffed puppy is sad.
• Make the stuffed animals move, as if they were alive, during pretend play.
• Engage in extended pretend play that has a theme, such as birthday party or doctor.
• Use abstract things to represent other things in pretend play; for example, use dough or sand to represent a birthday cake and sticks or straws to represent candles.

• Provide opportunities for pretend play with simple make-believe toys, such as dolls, stuffed animals, dishes, and blocks.
• Try acting out different pretend roles during play, such as encouraging the toddler to cook make-believe food and everyone pretends to eat it. 
• Encourage the toddler to use other objects to substitute or represent the real thing, such as using a stick for a fishing pole or a jacket for a pillow.

• Ignore the stick that is much too short to reach a desired object and choose a stick that looks as if it may be long enough.
• Stack only the cubes with holes in them on the stacking post, ignoring the cube-shaped blocks without holes that got mixed into the bin.
• Place the triangle piece into the puzzle without first needing to try it in the round or square hole.
• Ask for help with the lid of a jar of paint.
• Ask a peer to help move the train tracks over so that the child can build a block tower on the floor.
• Ask or gesture for a parent to help tie the child’s shoelace.

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Use a stick to dig in the sandbox when unable to find a shovel.
• Use a tool to solve a problem, such as using the toy broom to get a car out from under the couch, using a wooden puzzle base as a tray to carry all the puzzle pieces to another place, or using the toy shopping cart to pick up the wooden blocks and move them to the shelf to be put away.
• Move to the door and try to turn the knob after a parent leaves for work in the morning.
• Imitate a problem-solving method that the child has observed someone else do before.
• Tug on shoelaces in order to untie them.
• Complete a puzzle with three separate cut-out pieces, such as a circle, square, and triangle, even though the child may try to put the triangle into the square hole before fitting it in the triangle opening.

• Wait until the toddler indicates need for help before helping, and help only as much as needed.
• Talk aloud about how you or the toddler solved a problem.
• Provide a secure environment and support the toddler’s attempts to solve problems.
• Allow the toddler to show his creativity and imagination by solving problems in his own way, such as allowing materials or toys to be used in unconventional ways.
• Show delight in the accomplishments, new skills, and abilities that the toddler has developed.
• Ask open-ended questions that encourage the toddler to predict what may happen or to think of other solutions.

• Communicate, “Big slide” after a trip to a neighborhood park.
• Tell a parent, “Today we jumped in the puddles” when picked up from school.
• Recall an event in the past, such as the time a family member came to school and made a snack.
• Identify which child is absent from school that day by looking around the snack table and figuring out who is missing.
• Act out a trip to the grocery store by getting a cart, putting food in it, and paying for the food.
• Get her pillow out of the cubby, in anticipation of naptime as soon as lunch is finished.

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Say “meow” when an aunt or uncle points to the picture of the cat and asks what the cat says.)
• Give another child an object that belongs to her.
• Remember where toys should be put away in the classroom.
• Find a hidden toy, even when it is hidden under two or three blankets.
• Express “mama” when the teacher asks who packed the child’s snack.

• Provide photos and picture books of past family events, commonly seen animals, or things of interest to the toddler.
• Provide flexible, but predictable routines and daily schedule.
• Reread favorite books and sing favorite songs repeatedly to help the toddler remember the words.
• Reminisce with the toddler about a special event she enjoyed. As you retell the story, use questions and pauses to encourage her to fill in details.
• Play hide-and-seek games with the toddler.

• Realize, during clean-up time, that he has put a car in the block bin and return to put it in the proper place.
• Search for and find a favorite book and ask an adult family member to read it.
• Pound the play dough with a hammer while talking with a peer.

Behaviors leading up to indicator:

• Play alone with toys for several minutes at a time before moving on to different activity.
• Sit in a parent’s lap to read a book together.

• Keep toys and objects in specific places so that the toddler can search for and find particular things.
• Offer a few toys at a time supporting the toddler to engage in longer periods of play with a single toy, allowing better focus to explore and play more creatively.
• Allow adequate time for the toddler to explore and get involved in activities.
• When the toddler’s attention wanders from a story, puzzle, or other activity, gently bring him back to the focus with an engaging question or comment.
• Invite a toddler with a short attention span to play with a child who has a longer attention span in order to encourage more sustained focus of play.

• Begin to manage and adjust actions and behavior with the guidance of familiar adults using words or signs such as “Stop” or “No” during conflict with a peer instead of hitting.
• Lets the adult know when they are hungry or tired.                     
• Participate in and follow everyday routines with the support of familiar adults.
• Communicate verbally or non-verbally about basic needs. Manages short delays in getting physical needs met with the support of familiar adults.
• Learn and follow some basic rules for managing actions and behavior in familiar settings, such as holding an adult’s hand when crossing the street.

• Prepare toddlers for transitions between activities by giving a five-minute warning and letting them know what will happen next (e.g., that it will soon be time to clean up).
• Give toddlers simple choices like, “You may have apple slices or orange.” Make sure the choices you offer are ones that are acceptable no matter which one the child chooses.
• Ensure the environment supports the toddler’s behavioral self-regulation (e.g., safe and appropriate toys, materials, and equipment within children’s reach; duplicates of favorite toys; enough space for active play; places for one or a few children).

• Prepares for or starts some activities without being directed by others, such as getting ready for the next activity or bringing a ball to a new child at the playground.
• Engages others in interactions or shared activities.
• Demonstrates initiative by making choices or expressing preferences.
• Attempts challenging tasks with or without adult help.
• Shows eagerness to try new things.
• Participates in new experiences, asks questions, and experiments with new things or materials, such as collecting leaves and pinecones in the fall.
• Asks questions about what things are, how they are used, or what is happening.
• Experiments with different ways of using new objects or materials.
• Shows awareness of and interest in changes in the environment, such as changes in room arrangement, weather, or usual activities.

• Provide an environment and materials that are safe for a toddler to explore.
• Offer open-ended toys, like boxes and blocks, that can be physically manipulated in a variety of ways.
• Let toddlers do things their own way. Attempting something, failing, and sometimes becoming a little frustrated supports exploration and acceptance of trial and failure.
• Encourage toddlers to participate in routines as much as possible (e.g., pull up their pants when getting dressed).
• Introduce new materials and let children explore them on their own.
• Ask open-ended questions and keep the rich conversations going.

• Combines objects or materials in new and unexpected ways. Shows delight in creating something new.
• Pays attention to new or unusual things.
• Shows willingness to participate in new activities or experiences.
• Uses language in creative ways, sometimes making up words or rhymes.
• Uses imagination to explore possible uses of objects and materials. Engages in pretend or make-believe play with other children.
• Uses pretend and imaginary objects or people in play or interaction with others.
• Uses materials such as paper, paint, crayons, or blocks to make novel things.

• Organize the environment and provide props and open-ended objects to support imaginary play. For example, introduce objects that can be used to represent real-life items (e.g., using a small wooden block as a phone).
• Connect toddlers’ imaginary play to familiar plots from story books and real-life situations.
• Engage in pretend play with infants and toddlers. Extend pretend play by asking questions such as, “What happens next?” or “Oh look, here is a shell. I wonder if we can use this in our story?”
• Provide safe, engaging materials toddlers can use for creative expression (e.g., simple rhythm instruments, scarves, crayons, chalk, finger paint, different types of paper to paint on, play dough, collage materials).
• Scaffold emerging social skills, by modeling taking turns and cooperation during play with toddlers.