My youngest currently turns everything into a 'mama' and 'baby' game.

We'll be working on a puzzle and I have to be "the mama kangaroo" while he's the "baby kangaroo" - working on the puzzle.

It's adorable ❤️

Toddlers and preschoolers often enjoy learning about babies and their parents because it aligns with their natural curiosity about the world and their desire to understand family dynamics.

Learning about these relationships in nature also helps children make connections to their own experiences with their parents and caregivers, i.e. the mama kangaroo takes care of the joey by putting them in her pouch and my mom/dad take care of me by snuggling with me in bed.

This is meaningful to them and meaningful activities are one of the best and most effective ways for young children to learn.

If your child is showing an interesting in learning about 'parent and baby', they may enjoy these four.

1. Family Photo Matching

Use photographs of your extended family members and sort them by parents and children. This is an interesting and eye-opening way for children to learn the meaning of grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. For example, your child can more easily see how their grandparents are their parents parents and parents to their aunts and uncles too.

To simplify, you could introduce this activity with photographs of your immediate family, i.e. parents, the child, and any siblings. Once the child understands how the photos are being sorted, introduce a second branch of your family tree.

2. Mother and Baby Matching: Nomenclature Cards

Print the cards and match the mothers to their babies.

For older children learning to read, cut the name of each off the card and have your child match animal name to the animal as well.

3. Mother and Baby Matching - Cutting and Gluing Activity

Cut and paste the baby cards next to the corresponding mother card.

The purpose of this activity is to help children identify the names and appearance of mother and baby animals, while also developing cutting and gluing skills.

4. Mother, Father, and Baby Sorting

Sort the animal cards into three categories - mother, father, and baby.

The purpose of this activity is to help children identify the names and appearance of mother, father, and baby animals.

If your child is really interested in learning about parents and their babies, this is a great way to teach them the names of the animals too.

It’s cute (and accurate) to say "mama horse" and "baby horse" but from birth to approximately six years of age, children are in their sensitive period for language.

This means their minds are capable of absorbing and learning all of the language around them.

They want to learn the proper names for things so don’t shy away from calling the mama horse a mare and the baby horse a foal!

We also have this cute game in the shop: Match Up Game and Puzzle: Baby and Mama