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The Sims 4 Toddlers Guide

Toddler Parenting, Skills and Needs

By popular demand, Toddlers are now available to all Sims 4 players courtesy of The Sims Studio and EA. Toddlers have been neatly incorporated into the Sims 4 base game as though they were there from the start. They are fully animated, with skills and needs just like any other Sim, and thus fit neatly into the game as if they belonged in the first place! This time around, they have a couple more skills to level other than just walking, talking and potty. Special toddler furniture has been added to the game in order to care for and teach, so everything you need to raise them is present. Players who make a Toddler in Create-a-Sim (CAS) will find plenty of toddler clothes, facial features, and hairstyles to choose from. They even have special Toddler Traits! Let the great modding spree to add toddler clothes, toys, and furniture begin!

This guide to Toddlers in The Sims 4 will teach you everything you need to know about raising your nooboos. I'm a gameplay mechanics writer, so you won't hear about every interaction and activity. I leave discovery of those up to you, I'm focused on those that build up a skill or involve child care. Let's get started with how we can add a toddler to the game, then proceed to learning about raising them and the skill they can learn to prepare for childhood...

Making or Adopting a Toddler

Toddlers can be made in Create-a-Sim, adopted, and grow up naturally from Babies.

Naturally, Sim Babies will grow up to be Toddlers before 'aging up' to Child. Additionally, you can adopt Toddlers and add them to your household. Toddlers can also be made when starting a new family in CAS, unlike babies, which are made with Woohoo. This lets you make your little one as cute as you would like them to be, and give them toddler-exclusive clothes, traits, and hair styles. Remember, if you adopt a toddler, you can click them with an adult selected to change their outfit using the 'Toddler Care' menu. Toddlers have outfits of all kinds, as you would expect. The cas.fulleditmode cheat can even be used to change the look of your Toddler. Just don't mess with their traits, as that can be buggy.

Caring for Toddlers: Bed, Potty, & High Chair

Prepare a room for your baby to grow up in as you play the game. They'll need at least the three essentials: a toddler bed, high chair, and training potty - but you should also provide toys with which they can learn skills.

In order to care for your toddler correctly, you must own a toddler-sized bed for them to sleep in, a potty chair for potty training, and a high chair in which to feed them and give them drinks. You can find these by going into buy mode and, in sort by room, the children's room and clicking the blocks on the floor. It can also be found in sort by function > kids > and the toddler section. You'll find everything that you need to care for a toddler there, including toys that raise the five toddler skills. Blocks for movement, toys for imagination, and even a kiddie tablet computer that teaches various skills.

Reading a toddler a bedtime story gives them some skill experience in Imagination.

Naturally, you'll want to set up a bedroom for them to play in, though other items should go elsewhere in the home. The potty chair can go in the most convenient bathroom, while the high chair is in the kitchen. Where these are actually stored is up to you, it's just a suggestion. In case you get lost like I did, You always have access to flash cards that you may see mentioned in the game and will not find them in Buy Mode as far as I can tell - there's a kid's game table but you cannot use it with a Toddler. You also have access to bedtime books and the like without actually buying a bookshelf.

Toddler Needs and Basic Care

Carrying toddlers speeds up transit, and is the only way to get up stairs at first. However it does deprive them of some Movement Skill.

First, know that toddlers won't climb big staircases until they have the movement skill. They can get off the porch just fine, but not up a full stairwell. I've been told that is dangerous by very very smart people. Toddlers must be carried by a grown up. If you tell a toddler to go up stairs, an idle adult Sim will pick them up to take them there. This means one floor plans are a bit easier to manage time-wise, since they can get around by stumbling and crawling about the house.

Toddlers exhibit emotional extremes and will absolutely throw fits. It's more realistic if you play with full autonomy, letting the Sim kid make decisions for themselves about what interactions to play. It makes raising them a bit more challenging, for sure!

Toddlers have needs just like any other Sim, and failing to meet them by neglecting the kid will result in the social worker coming to take the baby. You don't want that, do you? Not after practically rioting for toddlers for two years ;) Taking care of them means meeting those needs when they arise. Unlike babies, toddlers have all the usual needs, though social is relabeled as 'Attention'. They don't exactly need deep conversations to be happy, just some love and affection. Here are the six toddler needs and how you go about filling them:

• Bladder: This can be 'filled' by going in the diaper for a quick fix (select the toddler, click them and 'Use Diaper'), but it will put a big drain on the Hygiene need! Naturally, you want your toddler to learn to potty and that is accomplished by taking every bladder-draining opportunity to use the potty chair for potty training. An adult can help to instruct them.
• Hunger: As the day wears on, your toddler will get hungry. While they can eat on the floor, it's better to feed them a proper meal in the high chair.
• Energy: Toddlers can only sleep in toddler beds, so it's required unless you want to make your little one satisfy their tiredness by napping on a couch. Tuck them in and read them a bedtime story when you have time, you can boost their imagination skill in the process and form a bond between the parent and child.
• Fun: Toddlers get stressed out without some fun - toys of all kinds provide it, as will playing with others and getting read a bedtime story.
• Attention: This is the toddler version of the social skill. Reading bedtime stories doesn't raise this, but other social interactions with Sims should help. Sims team should fix that, getting read a bedtime story is definitely attention.
• Hygiene: Changing the toddlers diaper can go a long way toward raising hygiene, but a proper bath is in order to get them truly clean. Use a tub, as showers cannot be used to bathe your toddler. With the toddler selected, picking the bath option will let you pick which adult will bathe them. You can do it the other way around, too.

TRY to give your Toddler a full meal in the high chair, assuming they don't knock it off at only half full. They're called the terrible twos for a reason, but sometimes they can be adorable.

Sure the descriptions of these needs make them seem very easy to care for, however Toddlers have other plans for you. They will eat up Sims' time by throwing their food away, getting enraged and crying, all of that. It's pretty realistic. Getting them through a full meal is tough, but raising skills improves their behavior so that they stop doing these things so much. Making the Toddler smart is a rewarding endeavor especially when the parent Sims are short on time.

The Sims 4 Toddler Skills & Age Up Benefits

Toddlers have five skills in The Sims 4: Movement, Potty, Communication, Thinking, and Imagination. All of them unlock new abilities for the growing child and change the way the AI behavior works when you are playing with full autonomy. This is nice, as you can actually see the effects of them growing more mature and learning not to throw fits and food. All but one skill (potty) has an ideal mood, which boosts the experience gained while practicing.

Aging Up Toddler Reward Traits & Skills

Raising your toddler well results in bonus skill experience in childhood, and may apply a reward trait if you meet certain requirements.

In order to age up your Toddler to child manually, use a grown up to bake a cake and click it to add candles for $10. When you click a cake while the Sim is holding the Toddler, the option to 'Have X Blow Out Candles' will appear - make sure to pick the option specifically with the child's name or you'd age up the adult. Depending upon how you've done at leveling up the Toddler skills, you may get one of the following traits, along with some skill experience in an equivalent child skill. Thanks to Forum member Ninane for helping to speed up completion of this section by providing some tips.

When your Toddler ages up to Child they will get bonus XP for equivalent childhood skills. If you had level 3 Thinking for the Sim, you would receive bonus XP that would get you to Level 1 Mental with 94% of the bar completed, so almost level 2.

• Level 1: No Bonus XP
• Level 2: Level 1 with 44% of next level completed
• Level 3: Level 1 with 94% of next level completed - Get all skills to this level to earn Happy Toddler
• Level 4: Level 2 with 44% of next level completed
• Level 5: Level 2 with 94% complete - Get all skills to this level to earn Top Notch Toddler

Reward Traits

Aging up requires time passing or the use of a birthday cake. Doing a good job raising your toddler gives you Happy Toddler or Top Notch Toddler

Bonus Trait: Happy Toddler - Get all Toddler Skills to level 3 to earn the Happy Toddler reward trait when the toddler grows up. The happy toddler trait increases all skill gains by 10%.I did manage to do it without Potty at 3 but they absolutely have to know how to use it by themselves, which happens at level 2. This may be a bug as getting to level 2 did not give the notice that the Toddler was awarded the trait at age up, but they got it anyway.

Bonus Trait: Top Notch Toddler - Get all Toddler Skills to max level to earn Top Notch Toddler after aging up to Child, which boosts all future skill and Career gains by 25%. The same note about Potty applies here, though it makes sense in a way given Level 2 Potty indicates they know how to do it solo.

Movement: Learn to Walk

Movement is a key skill, allowing Toddlers to get around without taking ages and stopping them from stumbling so much. They can even learn to use stairs and run around the house.

The movement skill dictates how well your toddler can get around, as well as fine motor skills for basic activities. Stacking blocks will help raise the movement skill, since it requires motor control. Learning shapes teaches Thinking. This skill will rise naturally while your child walks about, as though they were a jogging Sim learning fitness. You can use the 'Wander' action by clicking the toddler with them selected, which will accomplish about the same. This helps avoid you telling the toddler to walk around the house until they get it. This should go up naturally now and then, but some focused training doesn't hurt! Playing BlicBlock Baby on the tablet teaches the movement skill as well. The ideal mood for leveling movement skill is Energized.

• Movement Level 1: Begin to develop the skill. As they level they will gradually stumble less and gain more abilities.
• Movement Level 2: Toddlers can now climb stairs and play wrestle with adults.
• Movement Level 3: The kid will start to walk faster and may now dance to music.
• Movement Level 4: At this phase, the toddler can now run and may build towers out of blocks.
• Movement Level 5: They become much better at climbing stairs.

Communication: Learn to Talk

Toddlers can learn to communicate by talking to their parents and, of course, teddy bears and other stuffed animals.

Communication gradually allows the child stop babbling and start speaking Simlish, after which their ability to articulate their thoughts will greatly improve. They can babble to themselves to gain skill, talk to teddy bears and other stuffed creatures, and watch Toddler Videos on the tablet to level Communication. The ideal mood for leveling Communication is Happy.

• Communication Level 1: As the Toddler levels Communication, they will gain more advanced socials and gradually break out of the baby babble
• Communication Level 2: Toddlers learn to hug and hit. They can also learn animals from flash cards with adults.
• Communication Level 3: Toddlers can now talk. They can talk about toys, trucks, yell at, or say nonsense. They can ask for dessert as well. They can learn other socials by increasing other Toddler Skills.
• Communication Level 4: Toddlers can talk about parties, favorite animals, and tell knock knock jokes! They can begin to learn objects from flash cards.
• Communication Level 5: Fully developed verbal skills at this level. They can now tell story, tell goofy story, and talk about dinosaurs -- it's hard to say tyrannosaurus!

Potty: Learn to Use the Toilet

Potty Training a Toddler in The Sims 4.

This is absolutely the most straightforward skill. At first, you need the parent to help - which can be accomplished easily by picking the Toddler and having them select the chair then an adult to take them. After gaining a level, they can do it by themselves. Though it should probably be focused given how long the kid sits on the potty, there isn't an ideal mood for the Potty skill other than "I need to go, NOW, or I'm doing it in my diaper and letting you deal with it!"

• Potty Level 1: As the kid learns to use the potty, they won't need to use the diaper nearly as much which is a save for the parent. When on free will mode, an untrained child will not use the potty chair, but levels in this skill make them gradually prefer that over the diaper.
• Potty Level 2: At this level, the Toddler can use the potty chair without an adult standing over them.
• Potty Level 3: Mastered potty training. At this point, they will autonomously always prefer the potty chair to the diaper.

Thinking Skill

Learning shapes with blocks is a good way to level the Toddler's Thinking Skill. The other mode (stacking) raises Movement.

Learning shapes with an adult on the Nesting blocks should help to raise the Thinking Skill, as well as the tablet when you use the SimShape game. This is a pretty important skill, as it makes the child more reasonable and mature as they level it. Great for struggling parents! The ideal mood for leveling Thinking is Happy.

• Thinking Level 1: As toddlers learn thinking, they will throw fewer tantrums and be more capable of autonomously taking care of themselves. It kind of improves their AI on free will mode.
• Thinking Level 2: Can now study shapes on the nesting blocks and will defy parents less often.
• Thinking Level 3: The Toddler can now learn numbers from flash cards with adults and will sleep better through the night.
• Thinking Level 4: Can now 'Ask Why' to other Sims. They'll also stop splashing in the toilet so much.. thankfully.
• Thinking Level 5: Fully developed thinking skill. They will sleep through the night and not defy their parents in childish tantrums. They can now learn letters from flash cards and practice spelling with the nesting blocks.

Imagination Skill

The doll house is a great way to learn the imagination skill, but so too are reading and playing with other toys. This kid got angry and decided to smash his dollhouse, but dad or mom can repair it, gaining handiness skill in the process.

Reading to your Toddler is a great way to level the imagination skill, as is simply letting them play with toys and dolls. Playing Draw with Llama on the tablet will also raise Imagination. The skill simply unlocks extra interactions for your toddler. The ideal mood for leveling the Imagination Skill is Playful.

• Imagination Level 1: Imagination skilling teaches Toddlers to read and create fantastical worlds with their toys.
• Imagination Level 2: At this level, they can at least look at pictures in toddler books and play with others at the dollhouse.
• Imagination Level 3: This skill level allows Toddlers to name their toys, dolls, and stuffed animals.
• Imagination Level 4: The Toddler can now read toddler books.
• Imagination Level 5: With a fully developed imagination, the kid can view art.

Parenting in The Sims 4

Babies, Adopting, and Pregnancy
Toddlers and Learning to Walk, Talk, and Potty
Childhood, School and Children's Aspirations

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