What your toddler (12 - 36 months) needs for best possible motor development

This article is part of a collection inside The Possums Sleep Program called Deeper Dive, which explores the more complex scientific, historical and social contexts in which families and their babies or toddlers live and sleep. You don't need to read Deeper Dive articles to be helped by The Possums Sleep Program.

You don't have to do exercises with your toddler or have your toddler receive bodywork treatments to support her best possible motor development.

However, if your child was born prematurely, or has a neurological or medical condition, it's likely that your little one does require special support for motor development. Please continue talking with your toddler's GP, paediatrician or paediatric physical therapist if this is the case.

Three areas of development interact together as your small child grows. These are

• The sensory input your toddler experiences from the environment

• Your toddler's motor system

• Your toddler's social communications.

It's not really possible to say that one of these comes before the other. Instead, these systems stimulate each other, and co-evolve together to create flourishing cascades of development.

Healthy development of your child's motor system happens without you having to worry about it, if you're

• Sensibly and lovingly responding to your child's communications as best as you can. Of course, your little one might be quite the chatter box and you don't need to respond to every word! A relaxed and kind intention to develop a pattern of back and forth communication over time is what matters, with lots of opportunities for your toddler to initiate and have you respond.

• Living a physically active life with your toddler, which you both enjoy

• Out of the house, interacting with the world around you, including with other people and with other children a lot of the time

• Offering rich opportunities for play, including creating as many opportunities for nature play as you can.

You can find out more about how to support the flourishing of your toddler's brain here.

Recommended resources

The holistic NDC or Possums 8 step approach to supporting baby's motor development (0-12 months)

How to nurture the flourishing of your baby's or toddler's brain.

Selected references

Franchak JM, Adolph KE. An update of the development of motor behavior. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science. 2024;15:e1682. doi: 1610.1002/wcs.1682.