A child is respon­sive and learns from stim­u­la­tion dur­ing crit­i­cal period.

Boys ang girls develop male and female sex­ual char­ac­ter­is­tics respec­tively dur­ing ado­les­cent growth spurt. Andro­gens con­trol the devel­op­ment of mas­cu­line char­ac­ter­is­tics in boys, while estro­gens are respon­si­ble for the devel­op­ment of fem­i­nine char­ac­ter­is­tics in girls.

Activ­i­ties add fun, learn­ing and enrich­ment to your toddler’s life, and toys will inspire cre­ativ­ity and engage her imag­i­na­tion. Choose activ­i­ties and toys to pro­mote growth and school-readiness skills.

Tod­dlers love to play, and learn by direct instruc­tion, imi­ta­tion and sen­so­ri­mo­tor exploration.

Tod­dler­hood is about devel­op­ing a sense of self, and show­ing a desire for inde­pen­dence with auton­omy. She may expe­ri­ence sep­a­ra­tion anx­i­ety, and her emo­tions are apparent.

Inter­nal assets focus on the inner life, and guide an individual’s choices and actions. Com­mit­ment to learn­ing, pos­i­tive val­ues, social com­pe­ten­cies, and pos­i­tive iden­tity are the four inter­nal cat­e­gories of human development.

Exter­nal assets are pos­i­tive devel­op­men­tal expe­ri­ences. The social­iz­ing sys­tems of the com­mu­nity should pro­vide chil­dren with sup­port, empow­er­ment, bound­aries and expec­ta­tions, and con­struc­tive use of time as pos­i­tive devel­op­men­tal expe­ri­ences of human development.

The Search Insti­tute devel­oped a frame­work of forty devel­op­men­tal assets for the first decade in a child’s life. Fam­i­lies, neigh­bor­hoods, schools, busi­nesses and other orga­ni­za­tions are respon­si­ble for the pro­vi­sion of build­ing blocks for healthy child devel­op­ment. Car­ing for chil­dren or the shared vision of healthy child devel­op­ment reflects the society’s health.