1.5–2 years old: Cognitive and linguistic development

Cognitive development refers to the acquisition of skills such as memory, attention, reasoning, and planning. These skills allow children to manage their emotions, thoughts, and behaviours, in addition to helping them store information, solve problems, exercise judgment, and understand the world around them. Cognitive development also includes language development, which is a child’s ability to communicate, understand speech, and express themself verbally.

Cognitive and language development: 1.5–2 years old

Cognitive skills

At this age: 

• With your guidance, your toddler is becoming aware of the passage of time, even though this concept is still abstract for them. For example, they understand the meaning of phrases like “not now” and “when we get home.”
• They can sort objects by colour or shape.

• They can recognize and name people they know in photographs.
• They play make-believe using simple, repetitive gestures. For instance, they might take your phone, put it to their ear, and say, “Hello?”
• They’re able to build a tower by stacking four or more toy blocks.

Over the next few months, your toddler will begin to do the following:

• Experiment with one-to-one actions (e.g., one plate per person at the table).
• Gradually understand that two things can be the same.
• Become extremely curious around new people, objects, or sounds (i.e., look at or listen to them very carefully).
• Understand what two means.
• Stay absorbed in activities they like for several minutes.

Language skills

At this age:

• Your toddler understands more words than they use in their speech.
• They have an easier time understanding instructions such as, “Go get your blankie from your room,” and questions like, “Where’s Daddy?” even if the person isn’t in the room.
• They can name some of the things they see around them or in picture books, often pointing to them at the same time.
• They’re slowly beginning to construct two-word “sentences,” such as “More juice” or “Want cookie.”
• They use their own name to refer to themself.
• They occasionally pronounce the same word differently because they’re still getting used to talking, and sometimes they’re hard to understand.

Over the next few months, your toddler will begin to do the following:

• Understand and be able to answer when asked, “What’s your name?” or “How old are you?”
• Use a wide range of words, including verbs (e.g., eat, play) and articles (e.g., a, the).

How can you help your toddler progress?

Each child is different and develops at their own pace. That said, you can help foster your little one’s development by adopting the Comfort, Play, and Teach parenting approach, which can easily be integrated into your daily routine. The table below outlines small, age-specific actions you can take that will benefit your child’s cognitive development.

Scientific review: Marie-Ève Bergeron-Gaudin, speech-language pathologist, and Noémie Montminy, doctoral student in psychopedagogy at Université Laval Research and copywriting: The Naître et grandir team Updated: August 2021

Photo: GettyImages/Westersoe