Color and cut out adorable baby animal masks featuring the Touch Magic monkey, hippo and tiger.

You can use these finger puppets to create your own finger plays. Or, you and your child can make up a story.

Toddlers are great at finding differences. Noticing differences is the foundation of classification.

Tracing simple objects helps young children practice their pencil control.

This printable activity is a fun classification game. Ask your child to point to, circle or color all the bones.

Activities that integrate movement—like cutting, coloring and crawling around on all fours—help develop motor skills.

This printable spiral maze provides a fun opportunity to practice pencil or crayon control.

Scout and Violet want to wish you a very happy birthday with lots of wags and kisses!

Here's a classic party game that's sure to get tails wagging.

Bring the carnival into your living room to play games that build muscles and coordination.

Toddlers love to "help" their caregivers with mundane tasks like laundry and sweeping. Even if it's not really helping YOU, this type of play is enormously beneficial for your toddler!

Dancing builds flexibility, strength and coordination. And it's too much fun!

Your toddler follows you around all day. Turn it around and let him lead!

At this age, toddlers are more interested in experimenting with paint than creating "artwork."

Simple games like this one help your toddler learn new words while providing important bonding time.

Turn laundry time into learning time, and get your child dressed in a fun way.

Learning can be messy—but it’s also great fun!

With his eyes closed, have your child use his other senses to identify familiar objects.

Parts of the body and face are some of the first words many babies learn. Play this little game to help your toddler learn new words, and have some silly fun!

When cleanup time comes, encourage your child to create a toy display.

Playing games with everyday objects helps children distinguish their common attributes--the fundamentals of classification.

Can toddlers really measure things? In a way, yes. While their attempts at measurement do not look or sound like that of adults, toddlers are beginning to understand the difference between big and small and long and short.

Play a sorting game with your child’s own toys. Familiar categories might be dogs, cats, farm animals and those exciting jungle animals (wow, an elephant!).

Your child's own toys can be a handy tool for helping him control his toddler tantrums.

Being able to follow directions and perform specific actions help children learn to listen and can increase coordination.

Fingerplays are great for giving toddlers an opportunity to coordinate fingers motions and words.

There are many types of pretend play, and the structure and learning behind them change throughout the early childhood years.

From the time they are in the crib, boys and girls demonstrate differences in their learning styles. Discover these differences in learning styles and how to identify your own child’s preferred style of learning.

They grow up so fast! Here are several key areas of infant learning, broken down to help you understand your child's amazing development process.

While it is uncertain whether listening to Mozart will increase your child’s IQ, early exposure and active involvement with music will increase your child’s musical intelligence. Here are some tips for fostering your child’s musical intelligence.

The early wiring of your baby’s brain sets the stage for future development. Here are some tips to enrich your child's early experiences.

Rules about behavior and civility are both written and unwritten—and abiding by them is essential to success.

Use these criteria to help select a good toy for your child.

Help your child practice life skills so that she learns to take care of herself.

Children of all ages can benefit from soothing music.

From walking and talking to problem solving and pretend play, your child is experiencing the world in a brand new way. His constant exploration and discovery is preparing him for preschool and beyond.

It might look like a whole lot of silliness, but what's going on in your toddler's developing brain as she goofs off is more than child's play.

Creative children aren't just good artists--they're good writers, problem solvers and thinkers.

What are motor skills? You might hear about the development of fine and gross motor skills while in the pediatrician’s office, in a parenting magazine or baby development book. What exactly are they?

Plan a stress-free play date with these helpful tips.

Between 18 and 30 months, children should be able to communicate feelings and engage in emotional interaction. Understand the heart’s connection to a child’s emotional and intellectual well-being.

Any time you are with your child, talk about the colors of things.

Provide variety in your child’s life to promote brain growth.

Reinforce the names of colors, shapes, and the concept of size using everyday opportunities.

Persuade a reluctant bather by adding an element of fun to bath time.

Ease the transition to bedtime with some soft, instrumental music.

Respect and treasure your child’s play, even if you don’t understand it.

This simple activity will help your toddler learn colors, shapes and sizes.

Support your child as she begins to make sense of the world.

Talk about the various sizes of things, and encourage your child to point out size differences.

At twelve months, your baby’s brain is developing rapidly. Toys that promote problem-solving help develop new skills.

Encourage your child’s physical development by asking him to pick up his toys after playtime.

Keep your toddler engaged by pointing out things that match.

Give your child choices as often as possible.

Toys now begin to play a bigger part in your child’s life. Researchers suggest that toys that are responsive to your child’s actions are helpful at this age. What does this mean?

Changing diapers can seem like a chore. Older babies and toddlers want to get back up and do what they were born to do—move! How can we make this easier on babies and parents?

At two and three years old, children become interested in drawing and writing. They may not produce recognizable letters and pictures, but this is, nonetheless, an important step on the road to learning how to write and draw.

Go ahead, let him push your buttons…and flip your switches.

Caring for your child's gorgeous new teeth can sometimes be a challenge. Singing along makes everything a little more fun!

Have you noticed a bit of pretend play going on in your house? Toward the end of a child’s second year, toddlers are pretending in a variety of ways.

Listening to rhythmic clapping or drum beats is a good beginning in helping toddlers recognize one-to-one correspondence and patterns. Plus music can encourage toddlers to move their bodies in rhythm, or set the mood for dancing or napping.

Have you been warned about the “terrible twos?” Don’t believe it. What's really happening in your child's brain is quite remarkable.

Toddlers can feel very autonomous. Reminding them that they are less than four feet tall and that only two years old doesn’t seem to help much (actually, it doesn’t help at all!). So, what can be done to foster this independence without letting them run amok?

How do children develop gross motor skills? Researchers frequently use what is called a “dynamic systems approach” to describe these evolving abilities in children (and adults!).

Children’s development is influenced by their physical capabilities, environment and the demands of the activity in which they’re engaging.