Parent tip
Start before you overthink it. No-prep activities work best when you begin while the moment is still recoverable.
Then-and-Now Photo Tour
Sit with your toddler and look through photos of when they were tiny — talking about how much they've grown and how they used to need cuddles, milk, and naps just like a little newborn.
Activity details
Instructions
- Sit on the sofa with your child and your phone or a photo album.
- Find photos of your child as a tiny newborn.
- Point at one. 'Look how tiny you were here. This was you.'
- Talk through what you used to do for them — feeding, rocking, nappy changes.
- 'And now look at you. You can run, you can climb, you can talk.'
- Connect to the future arrival: 'Soon there'll be a tiny little brother or sister who needs the same things.'
- Let your child ask questions — 'Did I cry?' 'Did you cuddle me?' Answer honestly.
- Save a few favourite photos to revisit on hard days.
What success looks like
A few quiet minutes together without pressure. If your child relaxes even slightly, that’s self-regulation building.
Pull up photos of your toddler from their first months and look through them together. 'Look how tiny you were! You used to drink milk every two hours. You used to sleep in a tiny basket. You couldn't even hold up your own head.' Telling the toddler their own newborn story builds the cognitive bridge they need to understand what a new little one will be like — and crucially, gives them ownership of being the older child who knows how it works.
Why it helps
Zero to Three guidance on preparing a first-born for a new sibling describes the central problem clearly: 'The concept of an actual human coming out of a belly is very abstract to a young child. The more you make the unknown known, the less anxiety there will be for the child.' Looking at the toddler's own newborn photos collapses the abstraction — they can see what tiny looks like, what care looks like, and feel the warm pride of having grown so much already.
Variations
- Print one or two of the photos and stick them on the fridge so your child can revisit them anytime.
- Make it a sibling activity — show photos of you and your siblings as little ones too.
- At bedtime, retell the story of the photo your child has just seen rather than reading a book.
Safety tips
- Skip the photo tour on days your child is already feeling displaced — pick a settled moment.
- Don't show photos that compare siblings unfavourably — keep the tone celebratory.
- Avoid lengthy birth-story details that may worry a young child; keep it focused on the cuddles.
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