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Every room in your center gets full access right away, so the young toddler team can start the same day.
Few rooms change as much in one year. At 15 months, most children are taking a few steps on their own and trying a word or two. By two, most are running, kicking a ball and putting two words together, like “more milk.” Your teachers often have both in the same room at once, plus a child still finger-feeding at lunch next to one who has mastered the spoon.
On top of that come tearful drop-offs, a bite over a toy, diapers, naps and a group that drifts away after a few minutes. A plan written for “toddlers” in general falls apart here. Each young toddler lesson in LBP is short, repeatable and easy to scale up or down, in the spirit of our structured activities for 12- to 18-month-olds.
Watch a teacher pull up today's activity for new walkers in seconds, with no printing and no planning period.
Look through 52 weeks of activities for children between first steps and single words and running and word pairs.
Walk through your young toddler room with our team: your schedule, your age mix, your staff.
Young toddlers learn by moving, copying and doing the same thing again and again. Their teachers need a plan they can read in a minute, coaching for the moment an activity stops working, and training that fits around diapers and naps. LBP puts all three in one place.
Activities are short, hands-on and built to repeat across a week, the way children this age practice. Near the first birthday they lean on exploring, carrying and naming everyday things. Closer to two, they add copying, simple pretend play and word pairs.
A 13-month-old wants to mouth the scarf. A 22-month-old is done in thirty seconds. ELBY sits inside the lesson with a simpler version, a harder one, a swap for a material you don't have, and an idea parents can try at home.
A teacher moving up from the infant room, or brand new to the field, gets 49.5 hours of professional development woven into the lessons. Each activity explains why it matters at this age, not just what to set out.
The lesson lives online, not in one teacher's notebook. A float teacher covering naps or a sub on a Monday sees the same activity and the same tips as the lead.
Instead of filling the morning on the fly, a teacher has two or three planned activities, ways to adjust them, and routines to lean on when the group gets restless.
@Home Connection newsletters tell families what their child did that day and how to keep it going at home, in English or Spanish.
Teachers note first steps, new words and play moments in LBP's observation tools, then share them with families or use them to plan next week.
Every room in your center gets full access right away, so the young toddler team can start the same day.
The lead teacher reads the short setup, checks the materials against what is on the shelf, and asks ELBY for a swap if something is missing. Then they sit on the floor and begin.
They plan one activity and adjust it on the spot. Each lesson comes with ideas for making it simpler or more challenging, and ELBY, our virtual instructional coach, can suggest more. A sorting activity might mean dropping objects into one bin for a new walker and sorting by color for a child closer to two. Same materials, same circle, different goals.
Biting is a normal part of toddler development, often tied to teething or to big feelings without the words to express them, as ZERO TO THREE’s guide to why toddlers bite explains. LBP lessons include social-emotional activities and teacher talk prompts, and our list of toddler social-emotional learning activities covers naming feelings and calming down. Your own biting policy and family conversations still lead.
Separation is hard at this age. ZERO TO THREE recommends a short goodbye ritual and never sneaking out, so children learn that the person who leaves comes back. LBP’s toddler guidance adds a warm greeting by name and peekaboo-style games, and the weekly plans carry social-emotional prompts teachers can repeat each morning, so the first minutes of the day feel familiar even when a child is upset.
Only a few minutes at a time. Young toddlers drift off quickly, and a child who walks away is simply finished. LBP activities are short and meant to be repeated across the week, so children can come back to them. Teachers run them with small groups or one child at a time, during play, meals and outdoor time, rather than holding the whole room in a circle.
Each activity lists what to gather, and LBP publishes a quarterly materials list just for young toddler rooms. Teachers check every item against your program’s safety rules before setting it out. If a material is not right for your group, ELBY can suggest a safer swap. You can also order materials through our Lakeshore Learning portal on the curriculum materials lists page.
Routines are part of the plan. Children go from feeding themselves with their fingers to trying a spoon around 18 months and eating with one by two, according to the CDC milestones at 18 months. LBP’s toddler planning approach treats meals, handwashing and arrivals as learning time, with a consistent cue, like a clean-up song, for each transition.
Young toddler lessons align to the Head Start ELOF infant and toddler domains, all 50 states’ early learning standards and CLASS®. LBP publishes state-by-state alignment documents, most with their own 13–24 month band, on our state curriculum alignments page. That helps you document coverage for licensing visits and quality rating reviews.
Yes. LBP is a digital, cloud-based platform that runs in the browser of any phone, tablet, laptop or desktop, with no app to install. Most young toddler teachers keep it on a phone, because their hands and laps are usually full. The setup is short enough to read in a quiet moment and come back to mid-activity.
Nothing extra. LBP is one yearly, school-wide subscription that covers every classroom from infants through pre-k. ELBY, professional development and Spanish content are included, with no per-teacher or per-room fees. You can try it first with a free 30-day trial across the whole center, young toddler room included.
Yes. All lessons and family materials come in English and Spanish at no extra cost. Teachers can also type a question to ELBY in their own language and get the answer back in that language, which helps when writing a quick note home about a child’s first words.
Sensory, language, and attachment-focused lessons for ages 0–12 months.
Independence, early language, and mobility activities for ages 12–24 months.
Creativity, communication, and social growth for ages 24–36 months.
Standards-aligned, play-based lessons for children ages 3–4 years.
Kindergarten readiness and school-preparedness for children ages 4–5 years.
Center Director, Pirates Den Daycare
Each young toddler activity lines up with your state's infant and toddler standards and the Head Start ELOF.
Run the young toddler plan in your real room for a month before you subscribe.
Centers and family child care homes in every state use LBP, from the infant room to pre-k.
Curriculum by state
Every state and Washington, DC has its own page naming the early learning standards our lessons are mapped to. Pick yours on the map.
Every room, including young toddlers.
Tour the 12–24 month lessons with our team.
Infant through pre-k in one yearly subscription.
