How to Raise Toddlers in The Sims 4

It was a surprise to all players of The Sims 4 when toddlers weren’t originally part of the game. We were all dumbfounded that such a vital life stage was completely ignored and babies grew straight into children.

Thankfully, this wonderfully stressful stage of life was added to the game in early 2017 as a completely free update and it’s been a definite adventure ever seen.

Although we can all be hyper critical of EA at times, toddlers are one of those areas where they really hit it out of the park. These toddlers feel so realistic and are fully fleshed out with their interesting traits and skills that really give them a unique feeling and make them feel like real little munchkins.

Since they are so well thought out in the game it actually makes it hard to care for toddlers because they are a complicated life stage that require a lot of time and effort to have be successful, so this guide will help push you through this life stage and keep you on the right track of raising good kids!

Making or Adopting a Toddler

There are a few ways for you to get toddlers into your game and it really depends on your gameplay style and what your story is for your current family.

The first way to get a toddler into your sim’s household is to go ahead and create a new family in create a sim with a toddler added to it. This will allow you to fully customize the look of your toddler and choose their specific traits and vibe.

You can always use the cas.fulleditmode cheat to change the look of your toddlers at any time!

Your next option to get a toddler in the game is to have a baby age up into a toddler. This means you’ll need to get a sim pregnant by trying for baby and giving birth. Then after a few days of being a baby your sim will age into a toddler.

Your final option for getting a toddler into your household is to adopt a child and choose one of the many toddlers that are in the adoption agency. This is a great way to add toddlers to households who may be single or in same-sex relationships that are unable to get pregnant without pregnancy mods.

Adopting children in the game is done through the phone menu and will cost your sim’s 1,000 simoleons. If you adopt a child and don’t like their name or look, you can always use the full edit mode cheat to completely adjust how they look.

Toddler Furniture You Need

If you want to be successful at raising your toddlers you’re going to need to understand which furniture items are absolutely necessary and which ones aren’t. To find all of these items in the build and buy menu you’ll want to go to the children’s room tab and click on the set of toddler blocks on the floor and this will show you only toddler items.

If you can’t currently afford to purchase all of the items for this toddler you may want to use some money cheats to set your toddler off on the right foot with all of the items they need.

The very first piece of furniture you’re going to need is a toddler bed. These are specific bed types that only toddlers are able to sleep in and are separate from a child’s bed. Your toddlers will take both naps and go to sleep for the night in these beds, sometimes they may even choose to eat or hangout on their bed too!

To take care of your toddlers bladder need you are going to need to get them a potty chair so they can learn the potty skill. This potty can be left in their bedroom or you can place it in the bathroom, a bathroom is probably the better option because sometimes toddlers go ahead and pee on the floor meaning it will make a mess in their bedrooms.

The final piece of regular furniture you may consider getting for your toddler is a high chair. Do not get a high chair if you value your time! High chairs are a huge waste of time and energy because sims often don’t listen when you tell them to put their kids in these chairs and other sims will often run by and take them out.

The best way to feed your toddlers is to serve a meal and have a group serving on a table or a counter and your toddler will grab a plate for themselves and feed themselves on the floor, a chair, or in their bed instead of being annoyed by a high chair.

The last thing you’ll need to get is skill building and fun items for your toddler. This can include a bookcase filled with toddler books, nesting blocks for building your movement and thinking skill, a toy box, or other items that have come with various DLC packs over the years.

Caring For a Toddler

Taking care of toddlers in the sims 4 can be extremely frustrating but also extremely adorable and fun if you can handle a little uncertainty.

Toddlers are unable to crawl or walk up stairs until they gain more of the movement skill so an adult sim will need to carry them up the stairs until they are able to get more movement. *A single story home may be a better option for raising a lot of toddlers, carrying them gets stressful if you have more than one.

Toddlers cannot be left alone without at least a teen aged sim being on the lot. If you have to leave, the game will give you the option to either hire a nanny or send the toddlers to daycare. When you hire a nanny you can still control your children and ensure they are taken care of. Most of the time when you send them to daycare they end up coming home with low needs.

Toddlers have most of the same needs as all other sims, with the small change of social being attention. If you neglect your toddler sim’s needs it will force a social worker to come over and take custody of your child, which no one wants to happen.

Dealing With Your Toddler’s Needs

Below is an overview of the 6 toddler needs that every sims 4 toddler has and exactly how to deal with them:

1. Hunger

Just like all other sims (and humans!) your toddler sims are going to get hungry. Toddler sims don’t need to eat baby food or any special kind of diet, they can eat everything your regular sims eat if you so choose.

You have two options for feeding your toddler sims, you can either buy a highchair and feed them in the highchair, or serve a meal on the counter or on a table and the toddler can grab themselves a serving and sit on the floor or couch to eat it.

2. Attention

Attention is the toddler equivalent to the regular social and is super easy to keep high. You can gain attention by doing any interactions between your toddler sims and adults, and even their siblings. Attention isn’t easily gained when the adult is a stranger and not part of the toddler’s household.

3. Fun

Toddlers choose to have fun all the time and are constantly playing with toys, and doll houses, and playing on their Wabbit Tablet. If you let the fun bar get to red your toddler is almost definitely going to throw a temper tantrum so you better get them a toy to play with as soon as possible. They can also gain fun through the “play” interaction that they can have with adult and teen sims once they have gained a bit of movement.

4. Energy

Toddlers are only able to sleep in toddler beds or they can nap on the couch, so it’s a good idea to get your toddler a bed that they can sleep a full night in.

You can choose to tuck your toddlers in, and even read them a bedtime story that will help to build their imagination skill right before bed and will also grow the relationship between parent and child.

If a toddler doesn’t get enough sleep they are known to throw a temper tantrum where they will cry and possibly paint on the floor (which we all hate) so it’s important that you don’t let their energy need get into the red.

5. Bladder

This need can be easily filled by either going in the diaper or learning how to use a potty. If you choose to let your toddler go in their diaper you can do this by clicking on your sim and clicking “use diaper”.

If you want your toddler sim to learn how to tackle the potty chair you need to get your adult or teen sims to potty train them by clicking on the potty chair and clicking “potty train” and selecting the toddler you wish to potty train.

Once at potty level 2 your toddler can use the potty chair on their own (toddlers with the independent trait can use the potty chair on their own from the beginning). Once your toddler hits level 3 of the potty skill they will always try their best to use the potty chair before trying to go in their diaper.

6. Hygiene

If you want to keep your toddler nice and clean and not smelly, it’s important to try and potty train them as soon as possible so they aren’t constantly going in their diaper. To clean your toddler you have two choices, the first is to change the toddler’s diaper and the second is to give your toddler a bath. This must be done in a bathtub or tub/shower combo but can not do it in a shower.

Toddler Traits

When toddlers were introduced into the game in early 2017 they were also given an entirely unique set of traits to make each toddler different. These traits don’t transition with the toddler when they are aged up to children. It is important to choose a toddler trait wisely because they can seriously help or hinder your ability to raise a happy or top notch toddler.

Angelic

An angelic toddler will never throw a tantrum and can speak to strangers rather easily, no real negatives to this toddler trait.

Independent

An independent toddler needs way less attention than other toddlers and can even gain skills faster than other toddlers. They can also start using the potty on their own from day 1, which is a big bonus.

Clingy

A clingy toddler gets negative moodlets when around strangers or even when playing outside. They also don’t like when their parents aren’t around. They can easily remove negative moodlets if they are comforted by their parents.

Wild

These toddlers are happiest when playing outside and using their movement skill, which they gain faster than other toddlers. They will gain a sadness moodlet if they haven’t gone to play outside in a while. They love to move and will often have the energized moodlet.

Silly

These toddlers are more likely to gain a playful moodlet and love playing with toys and goofing around. They will also gain the imagination skill much more quickly.

Inquisitive

The inquisitive toddler loves to learn new things and will get negative moodlets if they haven’t gained any skills in a while. They are known to gain the thinking skill much faster than other toddlers.

Fussy

Fussy toddlers throw the most temper tantrums and spend a lot of their time crying if their moods get even a little bit low. If they get a lot of attention from their parents they can lose these negative moodlets and just be generally more happy.

Charmer

A toddler who is a charmer has no issues being around strangers and will grow their relationships faster with each and every sim they talk to. They are known to gain the communication skill a bit faster, especially if it’s gained from talking to other sims.

Toddler Skill Building

Toddlers in the sims 4 have an entirely unique set of skills to build that haven’t been available in any other sims game before! In past games, you only needed to teach your toddler how to walk, talk, and go potty which lead to pretty boring toddler gameplay. Especially since these skills had to be built with the parents being active.

In The Sims 4, Toddlers have 5 skills to learn: Imagination, Communication, Movement, Potty, and Thinking.

The best part about toddler skill building in the sims 4 is that the more skills you build, the more your toddler can evolve. Toddlers will choose to do different things when they have higher skills!

It’s just like toddlers in real life, you can see them mature and grow up a bit and will learn how to take care of themselves more as time goes on.

Each of the 4 main skills (excluding potty) leads to a corresponding child level skill:

Toddler Skill	Child Skill
Thinking	Mental
Communication	Social
Movement	Motor
Imagination	Creativity

1. Movement Skill

The toddler movement skill in the sims 4 controls how easily a toddler can move around their home (i.e., walking up and down stairs, dancing, etc). This skill is one of the easiest to gain because it will increase whenever your toddler is moving, so if they are walking to go to bed they are gaining the movement skill.

If you want to increase movement with ease, try and work on it when your toddler is feeling energized. There are a number of ways you can increase this skill easily. You can click on your toddler sim and click “wander” and your toddler will walk around the house and gain the movement skill.

You can also grow the movement skill by playing Blicblock on the Wabbit Tablet that you can purchase for $500 in the toddler section of build mode. You can actually get all skills (except potty) by playing games on the wabbit tablet which also helps keep your toddler’s fun up.

The final way to grow your movement skill is to play with nesting blocks and get your toddler to stack blocks. You can also gain the thinking skill from nesting blocks when you raise the skill high enough.

Let’s break down what each level of the movement skill gets your toddler:

Movement Level 1

First level of the movement skill where you begin to develop the skill. Your toddler will be stumbling a ton and will take a long time to get around the house. At this point toddlers are unable to climb up stairs.

Movement Level 2

Your toddlers now have the ability to climb up a flight of stairs and no longer need the help of your adults. They can also now play with adults and will be thrown around in the air quite a bit, looks fun!

*Will give your sim one skill level for the motor skill when aged up to a child

Movement Level 3

Your child now has the ability to dance to music, this is one of my favourite ways to build the movement skill because they do an adorable wiggle. They will also start to move a lot quicker around the house.

*Will give your sim one (almost two) skill levels for the motor skill when aged up to a child

Movement Level 4

At stage 4, your toddler now has the ability to run around the house and can even use the nesting blocks to build a tower.

*Will give your sim two skill levels for the motor skill when aged up to a child

Movement Level 5

At level 5 your toddler will be moving extremely quickly (for a toddler) and can climb up stairs with ease.

*Will give your sim two (almost 3) skill levels for the motor skill when aged up to a child

2. Communication Skill

Communication is the skill that will help your toddler sim learn how to talk and truly communicate what they need to their parents. Your toddler sim will start out babbling and as they continue to grow their communication skill they will begin to speak simlish.

To gain the communication skill your sim can babble to themselves or babble to other members of the household and eventually have full on conversations with their family members.

They can also babble to teddy bears and other stuffed animals in game, and use the Wabbit Tablet to watch toddler videos which will increase their communication skill.

Let’s break down what each level of the communication skill means for your toddlers:

Communication Level 1

The first level of communication is when your toddler will be babbling ton and won’t be able to actually communicate their wants and needs to their parents. As they increase the skill and grow up they will learn a ton of different social interactions and eventually learn simlish!

Communication Level 2

At this level of the communication skill your toddler will now know how to hug and hit different stuffed animals like Blarffy! You can also have your adult sims teach them different animals using flash cards.

*Will give your sim one skill level for the social skill when aged up to a child

Communication Level 3

Toddlers will now be able to fully speak simlish and will no longer be babbling. They can now ask their parents for dessert! Toddlers at this level can talk about different things with their family members, like toys, and trucks and they can also say nonsense and yell at other members of their family.

*Will give your sim one (almost two) skill levels for the social skill when aged up to a child

Communication Level 4

At level 4 of the communication skill your toddler will now be able to talk about parties, and tell knock knock jokes! They can even speak to their family members about their favourite animals. At this point, your adult sim can teach your toddler using flash cards using the “learn objects” option.

*Will give your sim two skill levels for the social skill when aged up to a child

Communication Level 5

At this level of the communication skill, your toddler will have fully developed verbal abilities which is awesome! They can now completely speak to their family members including telling stories, and talking about dinosaurs.

*Will give your sim two (almost 3) skill levels for the social skill when aged up to a child

3. Imagination Skill

The imagination skill is built easily by letting your sim play with toys and dolls as well as by reading toddler books to your sim and eventually letting them read the book on their own when they grow their skills.

You can also use the Wabbit Tablet to play draw with llama which will grow your imagination skill. If you want to grow your imagination skill quicker, you should try and develop it while your sim is feeling playful.

Let’s take a good look at the different stages of the imagination skill:

Imagination Level 1

At this level, toddlers haven’t really developed their imagination skill much. As they increase their skill you’ll notice that when you’re controlling your toddler sims you can see their imaginations running wild.

Imagination Level 2

Once your toddlers are at imagination level 2, they can start looking at the pictures inside toddler books on their own and still love being read to by their parents or other family members. They are now also able to play with other sims at the dollhouse.

*Will give your sim one skill level for the creativity skill when aged up to a child

Imagination Level 3

Toddlers can now name all of their toys, including stuffed animals which makes their interactions a bit more fun since most kids do name their toys. You may also start to see their imagination running above their head as they play.

*Will give your sim one (almost two) skill levels for the creativity skill when aged up to a child

Imagination Level 4

When your toddler sim hits imagination level 4 they now have the ability to read toddler books entirely on their own which develops this skill quickly and can also increase their fun.

*Will give your sim two skill levels for the creativity skill when aged up to a child

Imagination Level 5

At level 5 your sim now has a fully developed imagination and if they’re playing with a toy of family member and you’re controlling them you’ll definitely be able to see their imagination running wild above them.

*Will give your sim two (almost 3) skill levels for the creativity skill when aged up to a child

4. Thinking Skill

The thinking skill is the toddler equivalent to the mental skill and can really make sure your toddler is extra sharp. As your toddler grows their thinking skill they will become a lot more mature and their temper tantrums will decrease slowly. They also won’t be as defiant when asked to do things like taking a bath.

You can increase your thinking skill by learning shapes with nesting blocks or using the Wabbit Tablet to play Sim Shape.

Let’s take a look at the different stages of the thinking skill and what this means for your toddler sim:

Thinking Level 1

When your toddler increases their thinking skill, they are going to stop throwing temper tantrums as frequently and will get so much better and taking care of themselves on their own.

Thinking Level 2

As your toddler hits level 2 of the thinking skill, they can now learn the skill on nesting blocks and they will be defiant toward their parents much less often, so it’ll be much easier for you to parent.

*Will give your sim one skill level for the mental skill when aged up to a child

Thinking Level 3

At this level your toddler will throw fewer tantrums, but still be a little defiant but way less often. Now your toddler can learn numbers from flash cards with a parent and may even sleep way better through the night.

*Will give your sim one (almost two) skill levels for the mental skill when aged up to a child

Thinking Level 4

At this point your toddler is getting really close to the end of the thinking skill and will not play in the toilet nearly as much as they used to. They can also “ask why” to their family members which is a question we all ask everyday!

*Will give your sim two skill levels for the mental skill when aged up to a child

Thinking Level 5

At this point your toddler has a full thinking skill which means they are much more rational and will not throw temper tantrums any longer. They will even sleep through the night and not wake their parents up when they’re scared. They can also now learn letters using flashcards.

*Will give your sim two (almost 3) skill levels for the mental skill when aged up to a child

5. Potty Skill

This is the only toddler skill with only 3 levels and I would say it’s the simplest of the bunch. If you choose for your toddler to be independent, your toddler will be able to use the potty chair on their own from the beginning. However, if your toddler has any other trait they will need an adult or teen sim to help them go potty until they are able to reach level two.

To get your toddler potty trained you can either click on the potty controlling the toddler and click “ask for potty help” or you can click on the potty controlling the adult and click “potty train” and choose your sim of choice.

Let’s take a look at the 3 stages of the potty skill and what happens during each:

Potty Level 1

At this level of the potty training skill your sim will probably pee in their diaper anytime they need to go. You must get your adult or teen sims to potty train the toddler (unless the toddler is independent). Toddlers using their diapers to go to the bathroom makes it so they get very dirty, very quickly, so I’ve learned that potty training is better than constant bath time.

Potty Level 2

At potty level 2, your toddler now has the ability to use the potty chair on their own and no longer needs an adult to help them. Your toddler may still pee in their potty if they don’t make it to a potty chair in time.

Potty Level 3

At this point your toddler has maxed out the potty training skill and is a potty master, good for you toddler! They will always choose to go use the potty chair if they need to use the bathroom, unless they are unable to access it.

Reward Traits for Toddlers

Happy Toddler

If you get all of your toddler traits to at least a level 3 you will gain the happy toddler reward trait when you age your sim up to a child. Getting the happy toddler trait means that your sim will gain skills a little bit faster throughout the rest their life which can really change up and help your gameplay.

Top Notch Toddler

If you get all of your toddler traits to level 5 (and potty to level 3, as it only goes up to 3) you will gain the top notch toddler reward trait when you age up your sim to a child. Getting the top notch toddler trait means that your sim will gain skills a lot faster throughout their life.

Hiring a Nanny For Your Toddler

When the sims 4 was originally released hiring a nanny was not an option, but then again, neither was having a toddler! Now that we have nannies in the game, you can use your cell phone to call for service and click hire nanny.

Your nanny will be any random townie that is a young adult or elder and can take care of your babies, toddlers, or children.

When your sim goes to leave the lot you’ll be given the option to either send your baby to daycare or hire a nanny. Although hiring a nanny does cost money it is usually the better option because your sims are still controllable and you can build their skills at this time.

A nanny in the sims 4 will cook meals for your sims, help children with homework, and do basic baby and toddler care. You can also get your toddler to ask for things like food, baths, or drinks from the nanny and the nanny will do so.

Alien Toddlers

If you have The Sims 4: Get to Work, you can have a toddler who happens to be an alien. Unfortunately, alien toddlers only look weird, they aren’t any different from a regular toddler. They will not be able to use their alien powers until they are teens but they can still wear a disguise to hide from every regular ol’ sim.

You can create an alien sim in create a sim, or give birth to one with a set of parents, or a male sim can give birth to an alien sim if he’s been recently abducted by aliens. If you have two aliens and they try for baby, they will always give birth to an alien, however, if an alien and a regular sim give birth to a baby it will be an alien/sim hybrid. To create an alien toddler in create a sim you can simply click the “create alien” button.

Vampire Toddlers

If you have The Sims 4: Vampires, you can have a toddler who is also a vampire. Vampire toddlers can be born either through creating one in create a sim, or possibly having one through woohoo if one or both of the sims are a vampire.

There is also a “On Dark Ley Line” lot trait which increases the chances of your sims having vampire babies. If you have two vampire sims who are having a baby, it is guaranteed that they will have a vampire baby. However, if a regular sim and a vampire sim try for baby you will have a 50% chance of your child having vampiric powers.

Just like aliens, vampire toddlers don’t actually have any of their powers until they are at least a teenager.

Aging Up Toddlers

If you’re ready to get your toddlers aged up to be a child, it’s time to get an adult or teen to bake a cake for you to use as a birthday cake. You can click on the cake and add candles which will make it possible for you to age up your toddler sim.

Once the candles are on the cake you can click on the cake as either an adult or the toddler. If you click while controlling the toddler you will be able to “Ask For Help Blowing Out Candles” and will be given the option to choose an adult to help you. If you click while controlling the adult sim, you can choose “Help Blow Out Candles” and they will pick up the toddler and assist.

If you’ve done enough work growing the toddler’s skills you may get either the top notch toddler or happy toddler traits to add to your sim. You can also get bonus child skill points to start with so you aren’t starting at 0.

Toddler Stuff Pack

On August 24, 2017 EA released a toddler themed stuff pack so you can have more interactions with your toddlers and even throw toddler play dates with other toddlers you may know.

The officially description for The Sims 4: Toddler Stuff said: Give your toddlers new ways to express their personalities, burn off energy, and make friends with The Sims™ 4 Toddler Stuff. Dress your little Sims in a variety of adorable outfits and cute hairstyles. Use colourful décor to build an outdoor play space where toddlers can enjoy the slide, crawling tunnels and ball pit with friends.

This pack added a few extra fun items for you to have your toddler sims play with, like awesome outdoor jungle gyms, and some really adorable clothes for them to wear as well!

Final Thoughts

In The Sims 4, Toddlers were an amazing addition and have added so much colour and realism to the game. What’s your favourite part about having a toddler in the sims 4? Be sure to leave a comment down below and let me know.

If you could change one thing about The Sims 4 Toddlers, what would it be? I’m so curious how other people feel about toddlers.