About Toddler Daybook

Free family app: a daily toddler play plan (12-36 months) shared by every caregiver, with short activities based on CDC, AAP and WHO guidance. No login.

Why Toddler Daybook exists

Many toddlers spend the day with more than one adult: a parent in the morning, a nanny or grandparent in the afternoon, another parent in the evening. Everyone wants the time to be good for the child, but ideas, progress and the small details of the day end up scattered across messages and memory.

Toddler Daybook gives the household one plan for the day and one place to note what happened. Each caregiver sees their own block, picks up where the last person left off and adds to the same record, so the plan for tomorrow reflects what the whole family saw today.

Who it is for

Families with a child between 12 and 36 months, especially when care is shared between parents, nannies, grandparents or other relatives. It works just as well for one caregiver who wants a calm daily plan and a simple record of progress.

The program: Observe, Join, Model, Pause, Respond, Expand

Every activity and every coaching tip in the app is written around one short loop that a caregiver can run dozens of times a day, inside ordinary play, meals and walks:

1

Observe

Watch what has caught the child's attention before offering anything.
2

Join

Get down to their level and play with the same thing, their way.
3

Model

Show or say it once, simply: one word, one action.
4

Pause

Wait a few seconds and give the child a real turn to try.
5

Respond

Answer whatever they offer, a look, a sound or a gesture, warmly.
6

Expand

Add one small step: a second word, a new place, a little less help.

The planner follows the same idea over weeks: it offers the least help that works, changes one thing at a time, and treats a single "not yet" as information, never as a verdict.

The method

The plan follows what pediatric and public-health guidance supports for this age, and the activities are written to these rules:

Follow the child's attention: observe, join in, model once, pause, respond and expand. No flashcards, quizzing or drilling.
A few short focus activities of 5 to 15 minutes per block, inside meals, outdoor time, books and helping, never a school timetable.
At least 180 minutes of varied movement across the day and protected sleep, following WHO guidance for children under 5.
One small step beyond what the child does now: the least help that works, and one change at a time.
Corrected age until 24 months for children born early, as AAP and CDC advise.
Safety first: every activity lists its precautions, from choking-size objects and falls to water, cords and button batteries. No water beads.

How the pages are made

Every page is generated from one original dataset written for this site: activities, everyday skills, household materials, milestone checklists paraphrased from CDC, and sample schedules. The family app reads the same library, so an activity page and the plan in the app always agree. Each activity states how strong its evidence is and which sources it rests on; a correction is made once in the data and every page that uses it is rebuilt.

Today the library holds 207 activities, each with written safety precautions. The family app and the corrected age calculator use the same data.

Seasonal Toddler Activities: Holidays and Seasons: 27 pages
Toddler Activities by Age: 12 to 36 Months: 25 pages
Toddler Activities by Domain, 12-36 Months: 207 pages
Toddler Milestones by Month: 12 to 36 Months: 25 pages
Toddler Schedules by Age: 12 to 36 Months: 25 pages
Toddler Skills: Ladders, Timing and Activities: 67 pages
Toddler Activities with Household Materials: 41 pages
Corrected Age Charts by Weeks Born Early (3-16): 14 pages

The sources

Activities, schedules and checklists rest only on these public sources. The sources page explains what each one supports and how the dataset is checked. Read it on the sources and method page.

What it is not

Not medical advice, and not a substitute for your pediatrician.
Not a screening or diagnostic tool: milestone checklists are for monitoring and conversation.
Not a race. Offering the next step is enrichment; it is not an expectation, and a single "not yet" means nothing on its own.
Not screen time for your child: the app is for the adults, and the activities use ordinary household things.

Other ways families do this

Families also use subscription development apps with video lessons, play-kit subscriptions that ship age-matched toys, and activity blogs with paid curricula. Each has its strengths. Toddler Daybook is narrower on purpose: a free plan for the people already caring for your child, built from household materials, with progress kept private to your family.

Who runs it

Toddler Daybook is an independent site, built and run by one developer who makes free, single-purpose web tools. Operated by Deljan Bregasi, Salem, Massachusetts, USA. It is not affiliated with CDC, AAP or WHO. No clinician wrote or reviewed the activities: they apply the public guidance listed here, each with its precautions, and they do not replace your pediatrician's advice.

How the site is funded

The family app and every page are free. An optional one-time Family Pro upgrade will pay for the site. There are no display ads and no sponsored activities or products. See the pricing page for what Family Pro will add and the privacy policy for what is and is not collected.

Spotted an error?

If an activity looks unsafe, a milestone is worded wrongly or a source does not say what we claim, please tell us through the contact page. Safety reports are fixed first. Contact us.

Plan tomorrow with every caregiver.

Start your family plan

Updated November 7, 2026