Abc's and 123'S

Hi N., Just in time for Xmas I have the perfect gift - Fisher Price Fun2Learn Laughtop!!! It looks like a laptop computer w/a little mouse & has the ABC w/graphics and phonics (about $30) I bought this for my son's 2nd Bday in October & he recognizes his letters now & Says B for Boat, etc. It is such a cute toy too. Also have you tried the LeapFrog Fridge Letters/Phonics? My sister used them for her daughter ( & passed them on to me) and she was recognizing her letters in no time.
Good luck, as you know it's just repetition!!

Let me just begin by saying she will pick it up when she is ready!!!

Try not to make a big deal out of it. I incorperate things like counting, numbers, shapes and colors into things we are doing everyday. Like when picking things up we count them, say color etc.

We aren't quite ready to visually pick them out, other than colors and shapes but he is spitting them out w/o me even prompting! lol My guy is only 2.

What I try to do is if one day he really seems into one thing we just take it and go with that one thing, I truly believe that if the child WANTS to learn it they will RETAIN it much better than if they HAVE to learn it. Then they just forget after.

I have things always aval for him to do, so he can just get it and go! I put some links I have used for idea's, the universal preschool one is great along w/the printables! HTH.

http://www.sesameworkshop.org/parents/

http://www.ooeygooey.com/mary/resources/

http://www.openwaldorf.com/

http://onlineplaygroup.com/

http://www.universalpreschool.com/

http://www.preschoolrainbow.org/preschool-rhymes.htm

http://www.kinderart.com/littles/index.html

http://www.learningplanet.com/index.asp

http://www.mothergoose.com/Rhymes/Azrhymes.htm

http://www.dltk-kids.com/

http://www.davisfarmland.com/fun/funsound.htm

Hello N.,

Have you tried letting them watch the "Letter Factory" from Leap Frog. You can let them watch it while you get breakfast, luch, snack, or dinner ready. At first, it's best for you to watch it entirely with them and be as animated as possible. Soon, it'll be easy and fun for them. Both of my children have learned their alphabets at 18 months old (currently 3yrs old and 20months old). We are working on spanish and making words. Learning is so much fun for them and me as well... give it a try.

We work on a letter, number, shape and color a week and get activities for them for that special letter, number, shape and color. There's so much FREE lessons that you can get online as well. I'm a childcare provider and love teaching children. Besides those letters, numbers, shapes and colors... we also have weekly themes to expose the children to the world. They love it and so do I.

Have a blessed day.

L.
____@____.com

Hi N.! My name's K.... and my little boy just turned 2. When he turned 1, we got him the Little Leap Frog fridge letter whammer and the barnyard one since it does animals and colors. The letter whammer has 26 letters that you put in one at a time, and when you push on them it sings a little song about that letter. He loves them both so much we just got him the lower case expansion set and the word whammer. It seems to really have helped. By the time he was 18 months he was pointing out letters on signs as we drove past them.
Good luck! :-)

It's been said before, but I just wanted to praise the Leapfrog Fridge-Phonics, Word Whammer (same concept, but it allows them to make 3-letter words) and their "Letter Factory" DVD. Neither of our boys (1 & 3) seem to get tired of playing with them!

Hey N., I haven't read if you've gotten any responses so excuse me if I repeat. I am a former teacher and now tutor out of my house. First and foremost, shes only 3. Don't worry she is not behind. Here are some fun things to try to do with her to help her....Always make learning fun and NEVER show frustration with her as it will only turn her off to it. Start out with a letter a week. Draw it on a piece of paper everyday and have her color the letter and maybe even stuff that starts with it...the next week move on to the next letter, but still review the letters from the week before. When you are reading to her, point out the letter that you've been discussing. At this age, they want to have fun and I say let them....they have so much school and work when they turn 5, its ridiculous...If she doesn't seem interested, wait a couple days and try again...

Hope this helps,
R.

(Dont' know where you live, but if you live in Lakeland, Teacher's Exchange is a great place to go for kids' learning books.)

N.,
Children develop at different rates. Don't be concerned but do persevere. Use everyday opportunities like traffic signs, cereal boxes, etc to point out letters and numbers rather than quiz your child. Also make it a game, buy/make letters/numbers cards. If your child can identify it they "win" the card if they cannot they lose the card. The person with the most cards wins. If your child likes video games try a leapster, they have a letters and numbers game. My three year old learned her letters and sounds before I knew it. It is basically a song and video. I warn you though, she played it over and over again. She loved it!

Hi.
I have a now 4 year old that suffered from speech delay and was/is boarderline autistic. I created hundreds of resources and games to help him visualize the basics. Here's a link on Ebay of some pictures. They are used by thousands for pre k, Kindergarten and special needs.
I only charge since I have it as an immediate download and I'm charged three different ways to list them to share with others.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=002&...%
3AIT&viewitem=&item=120083219153&rd=1&rd=1

Sincerely,
K. Roman

Hello N.,

My daugter is 3 as well, I work with her alot with counting and her letters, for some reason the letters were the hardest for her to grasp. I resently bought leap frog's "letter factory" dvd, Its only $10 and she loves it, watches it over and over again. She only gets to watch TV for 1hr a day. so I try to use educational videos. She loves Dora, which has a lot of counting exersizes, even in spanish. We also count things everywhere, steps on the stairs, grapes, carrots, toys as we are putting them away.

We go over one letter a week, for recognition, I make construction paper cut outs and have her go through her flash card to look for words the start with that letter. It helps that she is very excited about learning.

I hope this helps
God Bless,
S.

My son is three as well, and for the longest time he just seemed stubborn about learning to count. I implemented a "Counting Game" with M&Ms. We just made him repeat the numbers slowly as we count out M&Ms and then he has to say them back to us on his own and he gets to eat them. Let me tell you, he picked up counting very fast after that! Since it is candy, we'd only do it once or twice a day, but it really stimulated his desire to count everything, and now he seems to grasp the meaning behind the numbers as well. I guess you could substitute raisens or cheerios or something, but the treat of M&MS was really the kicker for him.

As for the ABC's, I wouldn't stress over it too much. That's a much more difficult concept to grasp than numbers, and even if they can repeat the letters doesn't mean they understand the idea behind letters. Just let her figure it out at her own pace. But I highly recommend the book "Dr Suess's ABC", that book is great!

Good Luck!

I agree with i believe it was Lynn who said it, when she's ready, she'll just do it. My son is 4.5 y /o and he's got the numbers down, had for a long time now, but the abc's are just starting to come to him. It is a much harder thing to do, and also remember, kids learning with their parents may not be as inclined to pay attention as if you have your child in school or pre-k... my son stays home with me until next year, but i know when he's with other's and they ask him for something like abc's or whatnot, he spits it right out, but not for me! Anyway, i had concerns with this as well, and i learned that it's best not to push to hard because he/she will lose interest (my son did) as it wasn't fun anymore. Your child will get to it when he/she is ready.

I have a puzzle with the letters and numbres on them. As we sing, i point to the letters. She is 3 and will sing for me but in school, she never voiced it. At home she is more comfortable doing it. She can dump all the pieces out and put them in the right spot very quickly. the first time, it took forever. I would just try to Say the letter/ number while pointing to it. Also workbooks helps. A tip- i used page protectors. Rip out the pages of hte workbook, put them in sheet protectors in a binder. Get dry erase markers. Just wipe it off and ready for next use. You can spend a fortune on those 1 time workbooks.
S.

My son is 4 1/2 and is just now beginning to recognize numbers and letters. I see a big difference in him over the past 6 months as far as his interest in learning the alphabet and his numbers. His preschool teacher tells me that he is on target for kindergarten next year.
I would not be too concerned about your daughter at this age; I think that number and letter recognition is somewhat of a developmental concept, and when her brain is ready she will be able to remember and recognize them.
Maybe more appropriate for her age are shape and color recognition, and counting...
Here's one counting exercise that I liked from my son's pre-school, and you could have your daughter try this.
You will need small stickers or a bingo blotter.
On a blank piece of paper, make a 5 square by 5 square grid with the numbers one through 5 written at the top. Under each number there should be 5 empty squares. Starting at one, show her that the number one gets 1 sticker underneath, the number two gets 2 stickers, etc. This is a great way for her to begin to grasp the concept of what numbers really are, and it will help with number recognition as well...
Good luck!

Hi N.,
My disclaimer is that I'm currently *going to UCF* to become a speech language pathologist, so I'm only a student. However, I've taken the required classes on childhood language development, and I have an inkling of what could be going on. Believe it or not, speech therapists deal with a lot of issues kids have like the one you have described.

What you are describing could be a warning sign of problems with the storage and recall of visual stimuli. In other words, she has a hard time recognizing highly visual stimuli, and it could be a precursor to problems later on with memory and comprehension.

Your best bet is to call the elementary school she is zoned for and ask to speak with the speech therapist. When you speak to her/him, ask for a referral for a speech and language screening. Most times the cost for these are very inexpensive.

I hope this helps you, N.. I've learned the hard way over the past two years that trusting my gut is key to knowing when something isn't right and not just basing my feelings on what everyone around me says to reassure me.

Warmly,
A.