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> I had a whole lot of stories that follow the pattern of "how in hell did you know these items belong together?!" Do share! This is interesting for two reason

> I had a whole lot of stories that follow the pattern of "how in hell did you know these items belong together?!" Do share! This is interesting for two reasons: how adult and toddler perception might differ, and how we design everyday objects to be maybe discoverable to a toddler.

TeMPOraL 6y ago
In my experience, toddlers do not have a need for discoverability of everyday things, as they don't seem to figure objects out on their own, beyond trying to push, pull, bite or throw them - but they do pay close attention to what others do with various objects and try to replicate the behavior. So, for instance, my daughter figured out twisting and untwisting of bottle caps in a manner of days, and it was a clear progression from observing us handling various bottles, trying it on the same bottles she saw us use, and then picking up on some pattern (round shape? grooves?) and trying to unscrew new things - but only ones that fit the pattern. Or the other day she escaped into the kitchen while my wife was unloading the dishwasher, silently grabbed a fruit peeler and an apple, approached my wife and tried to peel the apple herself. We've maybe ever used the peeler once in our daughter's presence, but that was enough for her to both associate the two objects and remember how one is operated on the other. I'm not sure if this was goal-oriented behavior (i.e. whether she wanted to eat an apple) or just "look at me, I'm doing the same as you".
- sangnoir 6y ago
  > In my experience, toddlers do not have a need for discoverability of everyday things, as they don't seem to figure objects out on their own, beyond trying to push, pull, bite or throw them Toddlers are preternaturally patient - they will try all possible combinations of push, pull, bite and/or throw until they find a combination that works. Also, they can easily transfer skills that may not be seem related to an adult - I encouraged a toddler to understand how carseat buckle works (they wanted to "help"): unfortunately, those skills are directly transferable to defeating buckle-based child-proofing products <facepalm>

TeMPOraL 6y ago

In my experience, toddlers do not have a need for discoverability of everyday things, as they don't seem to figure objects out on their own, beyond trying to push, pull, bite or throw them - but they do pay close attention to what others do with various objects and try to replicate the behavior. So, for instance, my daughter figured out twisting and untwisting of bottle caps in a manner of days, and it was a clear progression from observing us handling various bottles, trying it on the same bottles she saw us use, and then picking up on some pattern (round shape? grooves?) and trying to unscrew new things - but only ones that fit the pattern. Or the other day she escaped into the kitchen while my wife was unloading the dishwasher, silently grabbed a fruit peeler and an apple, approached my wife and tried to peel the apple herself. We've maybe ever used the peeler once in our daughter's presence, but that was enough for her to both associate the two objects and remember how one is operated on the other. I'm not sure if this was goal-oriented behavior (i.e. whether she wanted to eat an apple) or just "look at me, I'm doing the same as you".

sangnoir 6y ago
> In my experience, toddlers do not have a need for discoverability of everyday things, as they don't seem to figure objects out on their own, beyond trying to push, pull, bite or throw them Toddlers are preternaturally patient - they will try all possible combinations of push, pull, bite and/or throw until they find a combination that works. Also, they can easily transfer skills that may not be seem related to an adult - I encouraged a toddler to understand how carseat buckle works (they wanted to "help"): unfortunately, those skills are directly transferable to defeating buckle-based child-proofing products <facepalm>