Up on the Shelf

from 12 months · 5-10 min · Quiet & calm

What you need

Put a toy your toddler loves somewhere clearly in view but out of their reach. Anything that fits through a toilet roll tube is too small.
Stay close, get down to their level, and wait with an interested, expectant face.
The moment they point, reach or make a sound towards it, say what it is, 'ball!', and hand it straight over.
Put it back up and let them ask again as many times as they want to.

A toy they can reach gets grabbed. A toy they can see but can't reach is the one that needs you, and asking you for it is the whole skill.

Asking with a gesture: A point that gets an answer teaches them that a hand can do the job of a word they don't have yet.
Bringing you in: Noticing they need another person, and telling that person, is the part that makes it communication rather than reaching.
Waiting a beat: A short pause before you help leaves room for them to start it, which is where the asking comes from.

Watch for them looking from the toy to your face and back. That glance is them checking you got the message.

Hand it over the first time they ask, however they ask. Making them do it again, or better, teaches the opposite of what you want.

Easier: put the toy close enough that a stretch nearly works

Harder: put it further across the room so the point has to travel