What Are Some Suggestions on How to Teach the ABC'S and 1,2,3'S ?

if you make it fun you might get her more interested. My grandkids like the magnetic letters and they can be used on the fridge while you are in the kitchen. You could even have a family night and make up questions like in a game show where the kids can win coupons for prizes like a trip to an icecream store or gramma's house, and use play money for cash prizes.

My son learned to sing the ABC's and how to read his letters by playing with the foam letters/numbers in the bathtub! He loved them. It was a fun way to practice without it feeling like work.

I would not use flashcards. My 4 yr old learned the basic's from taking walk's with me. EX; one green tree

I guess I'm an outlier - we don't avoid education at home (we read to the kids and play games that end up being educational, and do lots of verbal play just because it's fun) but we have never tried to formally teach our kids before school. I follow their cues and provide extra stuff when they seem interested, and we have a very print-rich home. But no flashcards and no monitoring of how many letters and numbers they know, etc.

Exercise their powers of observation and their ability to understand stories, make inferences, see patterns, form a logical argument, tell a fabulous story. Read signs together when you walk around the neighborhood. Practice making rhymes and eventually you'll be able to show how "cat" and "bat" share the same letters as well as the same sounds.

Memorizing letters - she'll be ready eventually and you'll be surprised because it will come all at once! My 5yo was in his second year of preschool before it "clicked".

Mom remember learning should be fun. If cards are not working try finger painting the beginning sight words or a game of concentration with the words on index cards. At four not all children have the attention or desire to learn, then all of a sudden she will take off. I the mother of three stubborn girls ages 5,6,& 10. The ten year old is still very stubborn and first like to read, so I started a book club for her with her friends. Though a lot of work I did get more reading. Best advice..... You can't be a hood teacher when you are frustrated, take a break and have fun.

Hi C. Just be patient with her. Some children show interests in learning on different levels. Have her watch Sesame Street and other children programs and she'll learn. My grandson is 3 1/2 and know all his colors, letters and shape since he was about two and he hasn't started pre-school yet. So just give both of your children time. It could be that your daughter tried from the work at pre-school and just want a broke from it when she's at home.

Hi C.. This is a great time to introduce letters and numbers to both your kids!

I use a bunch of different "ABC" books when we read at naptime or bedtime. There are so many on the market! We have one by Sandra Boynton, one by Dr. Suess, a Curious George one, and a couple of other non-descript ones. Stop by your library or book store and you'll have tons to choose from. I have also found some 123 number books, but not as many.

Children learn things at different ages and in different ways...so it's really not fair to compare your children to others -- not even to each other! For instance, my daughter learned her alphabet first (although she doesn't know the phonics yet) and is working on numbers. But my younger son kind of understands numbers but does not know any letters. You never know when it will click, so just keep reading it to them in a fun way and you'll see it happen before your eyes!

You got lots of requests, so someone may have said this already, but here is what I did. My son LOVES gum balls. So I picked one letter a day (or a few days depending on how he was doing with it). I would pay him one cent every time he discovered that letter. He needed to find it 25 times and he got himself enough money for a gumball :) When he got to 5, I'd trade him his pennies for a nickel and so on. He would find the letters on menu's, placemats, signs, cereal boxes ect. It may seem wrong to pay them, so maybe incentivize with some other reward.

I also bought a few videos for him to watch.

We are on the letter "Q" so it is working!

Some children are visual learners and some are auditory learners. I read books to my children from when they were very young. We would play games with the books like... ."find the letter A?" or what word on the page begins with "B". I played a lot of word games when we would drive in a car, like "I see something that begins with...."

My son was definitely more of an auditory learner and we would sing a lot of songs or make a beat to a drum, together, to learn colors, shapes, etc..

Sometimes, with my daughter, I would "leave" a word up in the kitchen, taped to the object, like the words, "window" "clock" "yellow" (walls) and sometimes when they would appear in a book, she thought it was cool to read it to me.

If your daughter doesn't like flashcards, find other ways that she can learn. Don't ever try to force her to learn - let her embrace it. You can always come back to flashcards. Just keep making learning fun. You are being very h*** o* yourself - if you look closely at your daughter, you will see that you are raising a very smart, confident (and stubborn) child. These are very hard things to teach and yet, you have been successful in doing so and that is wonderful! Right now she may be very busy learning so many other valuable lessons that flashcards aren't at the top of her list. I have a son who struggled in speech, however, he had incredible large and fine motor skills, by the time he was 3 years old. Now he is 11 years old and he has an incredible mechanical ability. My daughter loved being read to, as a toddler and young child... however she was a poor reader. Flash to the present.. she is, now, a teen and she is in several honors classes. So... whatever you do, don't look at those "other", so-called advanced preschoolers and judge your daughter against their abilities (and as parents, we do!) There will be those who are advanced but will eventually plateau. Look at the big picture for your daughter. Just keep giving her positive reinforcement and expound on her abilities and keep learning fun!

You are doing a great job!

My son is 2 1/2 and his flashcards are for dumping on the ground, throwing back into the pail, and dumping on the ground again *laugh*. However, he knows his alphabet and can recognize all his letters and most of his numbers up to 20. He's lucky his mama is a teacher and, although I work with high school students, he gets a mommy and a teacher wrapped up in one!

We've been reading a few books to him nightly since he was born. Two of the books include numbers up to 10 and one of the books is an alphabet book. He also likes to watch Super Why, which is big on letters, and his favorite part of the show is when the piggy sings the alphabet (he'll sing along with piggy too!). He also got both a v-tech computer and a Thomas computer for his birthday and they have programs where a letter will pop up on the screen and then he has to type in the corresponding letter. He absolutely LOVES playing with both of those and I give lots and lots of verbal reinforcement while playing.

Point out letters and numbers in every day objects. If your shirt has words on it, ask "C., what letter is this?" or "C., where is the letter C". Point stuff out in the grocery store, on signs, anywhere - just make your discussions fun and games while including letters and numbers.

You can also find cds of music to play in the car so that you're stimulating her auditory sense of learning in addition to visual and tactile. Have fun with this, make it a game, and cheer the heck out of her accomplishments (don't do treats though...because then basic things like learning and homework will have the expectation of getting a treat).

I am a mother of 3 grown children and I help take care of my grandaughter and she is 2. I watch her 4 hours a day so its just me and her and ever since she started talking we talk alot we count things shes up to 23. Say if we are outside and we see 4 dogs we count them and we also watch seseme street she picks up alot there also and she loves money She gets all the pennies for a bank and we count alot of times the pennies and on learning abcs she says them weve taught her the ABC song and I have found a book with the letters and numbers in them so we started working on that.

I know someone already mentioned starfall.com, just wanted to say we LOVE it, it is an excellent site and my daughter sits on my lap and we do the ABC part together.
My daughter is 2, we play with the ABC's on her chalk board/easel thing, we count everything (crayons, rocks, cars, trucks) we also label everything (blue lid, red car, yellow ball, etc.). I don't do flash cards or anything, but we are constantly talking about numbers, letters, and colors.

Besides doing lots of reading, my girls LOVE starfall.com. My youngest begs for it each night. She is 20 months and already sings the song, although she doesn't know her letters yet.

You may also want to try puzzles. We have foam letters for the bathtub that are also a huge hit.

Anything interactive is better than flashcards. Your kids won't even know that they are "learning."

Leapfrog has some great videos I use to reinforce.

Good luck

I'm in a different boat, my son started picking it up on his own, knew all 26 letters (not in order) by about 19 months, and numbers 1-20 by sight by 22 months, counting to 15 on his own. We never pushed him; once we realized he knew a couple of letters, we just worked with him on the rest. Just throughout the day, with books, food packaging, signs at the store or at the park, we'd use all opportunities to point out letters & numbers and ask him what they were. We also had a set of refrigerator magnets and the foam bath letters, and we played with them all the time. Of course we were fortunate - it was easy since he was already interested, and for that we can thank Sesame Street. Seriously!
Since she's really resistant to the flashcards, maybe you can make learning letters into a game when you're out and about. Such as, ask her how many "A"s she can find while you're in the checkout line, or how many "S" she can count on street signs while you drive. Or if that doesn't work, maybe offer her a nickel or sticker for every letter she can correctly identify while you're at the store. You could offer a big reward when she learns all 26, and then something more when she can say them in order. It could give her something to look forward to, and then maybe she'll be eager to learn. Every kid has something that will encourage them to do it - just find your daughter's incentive, and I think it will come.

Good luck to you, I hope this helps!

Flashcards can be boring to kids unless you become creative. Lay the cards in a circle on the floor and turn some music on. Have your children walk around the cards and when you turn off the music they have to stop and tell you what letter they are by. If they get it right they can pick up the letter. Pick a letter card of the day and all day find things that start with that letter.
When reading point out the letters of the title of the book. You can do this with cereal boxes also.
Play ABC Bingo and have small prizes like stickers.
Cut out a large letter from paper and cut out pictures that start with that letter and have your child glue the pictures on. You can over time do their whole name.
Numbers: count, count, count!!! Count everything fruit snacks, how many stairs you walk up or down, cheerios, towers of blocks.
Show your child the date on the calendar each day.
Make a number game.Play hopscotch.
Put numbers on index cards and have your child put that amount of stickers on the cards. This can be done for each holiday with holiday stickers.
Use a ruler and measure how tall they are,their feet, hands, toys etc...

Most of all be creative and incorporate every day activities into learning.

Use everyday situations to interest her. For instance"can you push the button that begins with the letter p". It was play on her dvd, but she learned this letter and at 2 she knew most. By 2 1/2 she knew all. The grocery store, driving down the road can all present learning opportunities. If not, maybe try computer software.

My kids hated flashcards. I made some up for their math classes last year. "Mom, flashcards = BORING!" Okay , I took the hint. I played games with my kids. Singing songs about the letters helps. We had a video that went through the letters by singing. They also liked finding animal names and talking about the letters. Make it fun. You can also incorporate letters into teaching your son the colors. Colors start with letters. You can ask him what color start with P for instance.

When my son was 4 he would tell people he liked to plus. 2 plus 2 is 4, etc. he was proud and confident of himself and that is what matters

C.--

First of all you are on the right track since you want to teach your kids but you need to do it in the mommy way--not a elementary school way. Ditch the flashcards. Kids learn through play. Start with having your daughter find the letters of her name throughout the day. When you are at the grocery store hand her a box of cereal and see if she can find an E (my daughters name is Emma so we are working on those 3 letters first). Praise her. This also gets her finding it in different fonts--something good readers can do but is difficult for some kids. Another idea is to key into what the letter of the week is at preschool--if they do that--or pick your own letter of the week. Another key is to read with her. My daughter is convinced that she can read Brown Bear, Brown Bear. Building her self esteem is key at this age. As for your son. Colors are exactly what he should be focused on. Again see if he can find the red car, or green dinosaur--whatever he is into.

I am a former teacher and currently a rep for Discovery Toys. I would love to come out and teach you have to use age appropriate, educational toys with your children. If you are interested you can contact me at www.discoverytoyslink.com/gsnyder

HI! I am a reading specialist and have raised 3 kids to degreed adulthood...One is even WEALTHY from his smarts...
Teaching is not flashcards...it is everyday education and observations of all that is around us...What shapes do they see in the clouds? Can they do puzzles? Part to whole and whole to part are basic concepts that lead to reading and writing..so are listening to books being read...over and over and over again....Observing the owrld around us...Can they recognize the McDonalds sign or Target sign? That is the beginning of reading..Can they count the animal crackers or cheerios? Stringing them on a new shoestring is good manual dexterity that leads to better penmanship later...How about playing Fish or other simple card games...? Cut up the word off the favorite food boxes to make your own flashcards...and start with matching like words together even if they might be bigger or smaller than one another...Write a simple menue in BIG print with a colored marker...Just be sure to use all the same color for one word...Then read to them the menu ..We are having
grilled cheese sandwiches with carrots and milk today...
4 animal crackers for dessert...with yogurt to dip...
Do you count out loud when you are getting ready to go out...or pulling weeds or doing dishes? Kids will do what a parent does to imitate and be grown up...if a child is not ready do not get upset...Just say, " When you're grown up you will want to count or learn abcs etc...Do they sing the ABC song? learning is a game of fun and silliness not intensity and seriousness....Get some easiest workbooks and do them together...Most are tracing letters with a big colorful marker and matching the dog to the doghouse and the fish to the fishbowl...Teach opposites...and body parts...Give stars and stickers for all...Good lcuk! Mom J

Hi C.!
My first born LOVED to watch Baby Einstein videos. He would watch them all day long (which, of course we didn't let him). They have them on colors, numbers, letters, etc. He is now in second grade and is doing exceptionally well in school. My daughter on the other hand would turn the tv off when we tried to get her to watch them. We would teach her the more traditional way. She didn't seem as interested in learning as her big brother, but she is doing great in school also. The Baby Einstein series is geared toward babies, but I'm sure there are other DVDs out there geared toward older kids. (They would be good for your 1 1/2 year old). Also, my 4 year old received a "Spider Man laptop" for a birthday present. It goes over the ABCs and he loves it!
A.
http://www.CareerAtHomeNow.net

I suggest making it fun. You can use her/him favorite fruit snacks to teach her/him their color's and how to count and when they get the correct answer they could eat the snack. Play with colorful paint and while they are painting give them complioments like" I like the way you made a cicrle with the red pain" etc. You might have to think outside of the box.
Don't get frustrated children can feel your frustration.

From birth to age 6 yrs learning is natural. Age two and interest in colors is wonderful. Just talking about them is teaching. "Where is your green truck?" "May I play with your red car, while you play with your blue truck?" "This car has a grey stripe!" Brown, grey, black and white are usually the last to be learned because people focus on the primary or bright colors. Reading books and continued talking about what you see or about what you see them doing and asking questions about what they are doing are all ways of parent teaching.
ABC/123: Try a sand or sugar box. You can color it to make it more fun or they have colored sand at most garden or teacher stores now. Put it in a large flat container (rectangle is usually best with low sides) and I would get two because when your son sees you doing it with your daughter he will want a turn. Put the sand/sugar in the container. Like 1/2 inch or so. So that when you rub your fingers in it you can see the displacement of sand and the bottom of the container. (This is where the color is helpful to see a bit better.) Using two fingers (first finger and middle finger) trace a letter in the sand and say its sound and then its name. (The sound the letter says is as or more important for reading then the ABCs themselves. Also, don't worry about order learned. If there is something that your children are interested in at the moment use that!! You do it first and then let your child try. (First let them trace your letters, don't expect them to create it themselves.) But following the child is the most important thing. The key to a kid who likes to learn and is a lifelong learner is that it is fun and natural and they are the one in control of their learning. Also use lower case letters because when you read only a few of the letters are capital and it is important to see the lower case to help them start to sound things out when they look at books by themselves. Start with their names.
Put labels on objects in the house. (lower case letters) Or even just things in their room. Bed, door, window, closet, etc. (But this is really when reading starts at 5 or 6 yrs) at 4 you would be working on Rhyming books and rhyming words. Word play. The ability to hear rhyme is one of the first steps to reading. Also, matching objects is a pre-reading step. Putting two things exactly the same together. Target has had in their $1 animal cards. Get two packs and do matching. (There are 100s of uses for those cards.)
Oh, 123, the important lesson at 4 is not only identifying numbers but also their value. So one of the easiest ways is counting stairs. (My 2 1/2 yr old can count two 25 and I never taught her.) We count the stairs up to the child section of the library as we step on each one. If they just count the numbers they know, don't correct, just you say them in order and as you step on the stairs. (At this age correction often does more harm than good because it will hinder or destroy natural confidence. You are setting an example and they will get it. We count train cars (up to 120 sometimes) so they hear the numbers in order. We would count flags we passed everyday that were on a fence for a fair. I just counted until we couldn't see flags anymore so they could hear numbers in order. Car ride can be the most teaching times. Talking about what you see, pointing out signs with big letters. The kids know S.T.O.P. stop and G.O. go and red light/green light. Just spell every time you do those things. Playing eye spy whenever you are outside the house. You can play with letters and numbers too, not just colors. Mix it up and practice taking turns, color for your son and number or letter for your daughter. (Teaching two skills when you include turn taking.)

This is a lot. I have a 4 yr old and a 2 1/2 yr old and am a Montessori Teacher. I have been home with the kids for 4+ years and am not getting back into the classroom as a sub. If you would like any more ideas of things to do around the house, I would be glad to give some more ideas.

My son loved to watch Leapfrog letter factory! He wasn't the flash card type of kid either.

C.,

My children were learning ABC and numbers (1-25) by age 2. I bought flash cards with letters and numbers, and made a game out of it. I played with with both children at the same time. One game is I laid the letters on the floor and played match game. I would go to one child and say, find me lower case a and capital A. The child would search and present me the two cards. Then ask the next child another letter. I would reward with stickers, or some little item that they liked to have. In the beginning make it easy like start from A-Z then when they get good, mix it up. The trick is make it fun to learn not just sit them down at the table. I also bought clay or playdough and asked them to make the letters and numbers out of the clay or playdough. I usually play with them so that they felt I was playing with them.

When I was teaching I liked to play the game "memory" with colors or letters. You could either buy 2 decks of flash cards or make your own with index cards. Other games you can play are:
go fish - with numbers, color, or letters
war- great for who's number is bigger
candy land is GREAT for colors.

We started singing the ABC song when they were old enough to talk. Along with twinkle, twinkle, little star, patty-cake, and itsy bitsy spider.

Go to the library and get the doctor seuss book ABC and any other books of the same kind. Once you have something concrete to show them you can work on sounds while at the park, in the car, in the store. Everywhere there are learning opportunities.

See the dog? Dog starts with 'd'. What other things can you think of that start with 'd'? Daddy starts with d and diaper and donut. Those are great fun. As they get better at it, you can add does car start with d? No, car doesn't start with d. Car starts with C. Once they get distracted, it's a good indicator that they are bored or over-worked. Do something else then.\

Good luck and remember each child is different and learns at different speeds.

My son will be 2 on Sunday and we taught him his ABC's this spring and summer with sidewalk chalk! He loved playing with it so I just turned it into a learning experience. He knows all his letters and the sounds they make.

I think the key is to find something they love and try to find a teaching opportunity within it. And really try to start slow - we did 2 letters a week and did not move on unless he really showed comprehension. My son also likes the flashcards, but they are secondary to the chalk! Maybe use painting or some other type of art meidum and make posterboards with the letters and numbers that you can hang up in her room to work off of? Just a thought...

Good luck!

make it a part of everyday activities. not many 4year olds want to sit and do flash cards. make it fun!! while driving, say, "oh, a stop sign. it's red. S-T-O-P" and then the next time you see one, ask her the color, or letters. point things out as you see them. everything around you can be a teaching tool. i'm not a "teacher" but if you get the kids excited about their environment, they won't even know that they are learning.
Great places include: grocery store for shapes, counting and colors and shopping malls for letters and numbers on store signs. i'm sure they can regognize "TARGET" or "HOME DEPOT" and it's just a matter of saying the letters out loud so that she can hear them and associate them with the written letter.
Hope this helps

Flahscards? BORING!! Find fun activities that you can incorporate learning into. Count fruit snacks...tell them they can have 8 fruit snacks for a snack and help them count them out. Just an example, but there lots of different ways to learn to count. Have them work on spelling their names. Also have them find items around the house that start with certain letters. Like ask them to find something that starts with the letter "B" and make the sound for them. Work on the sounds that the letters make. But most of all, make it FUN!

We sing the ABCs when we wash our hands. Also, just counting out loud to cross the street or how many times you stir something - it doesn't have to be formal, just incorporate in your daily routine. Makes it less "forced" and more "fun"

Hi C.,
You are so right about the messages parents are getting from everywhere about being their child's first teacher and then not receiving some practical guidance for everyday learning activities. I used to be a preschool teacher and child development researcher specializing in children's problem solving (before I became a stay at home mom). There are LOTS of easy and fun activities you can do at home to encourage basic academics that your kids will love and I'd be happy to email you a handout that I've prepared for some free educational presentations I've given on the subject to local mom's groups in my communities. Email me at ____@____.com and request the "Learning Games Handout". Math, reading, writing, memory games,creative language, etc. starting as early as 9 months (no flash cards used, all are fun games).

Too many activities to list here.
Good luck,
S.

Another thing you can do is help her learn to write her name. She's starting to get coordinated enough with a marker that you can help guide her hands. At my son's preschool they have name cards for all the kids with a picture of the child and their name written neatly next to it. First the child learns to visually recognize his/her name, and then he can work on making some of the letters. In the 6 months my son (3 1/3 yrs old) has been going to his school he has made huge progress on this. He also knows a lot of the letter sounds now. The other thing we do is play lots of rhyming games, which doesn't specificly work on ABCs but is important for literacy. Some other early literacy skills include story telling and being able to dictate coherent sentences. You can do this with your daughter now - sit down with some paper and have her dictate and you write EXACTLY what she says. Then read it back to her. When she's done, she can draw a picture to go with her story.

If your daughter is not into flash cards don't force it. Turn it into a game, play I spy the letter when you are out shopping. Spell things to her and have her guess what the word might be. Read to her at least a bit every night there are some amazing alphabet books out there with the most wonderful pictures. I am sure the childrens librarian at your local libarary can help. There are also some wonderful kids programs for the computer Reader Rabbit ect also web sights from PBS kids that teach making learning fun. If you need any more ideas feel free to contact me.
Best wishes Peggy
P.S. if your daughter is having fun chances are your son will want to play too.

Life in general should be fun and playful, there are so many games available that teach colors, letters, numbers, animals, whatever. Remember we learn new things too, so if you find what your kid has fun doing, if it's coloring or reading or singing or swimming or swinging or running, turn that into a game that you invent with them and see what becomes of it. Kids are sponges, so they are absorbing everything, you don't want them to see you pressured about it, if its not fun, try something else.

We so love Starfall.com at our house! My daughter plays on it every day.
I used to sing the ABC song with my daughter every day. Eventually she learned it and began singing along with me. I also pointed out letters every chance I got. Same with numbers. I counted everything- crackers, items in the shopping cart, etc. We also read ABC and number books (my daughter's favorite was the Dog Counting Book by Sandra Boynton). Like another poster said- puzzles, books, anything fun that has ABCs and numbers is a great way to "slip in" learning. We also have the magnets for the fridge that are letters and numbers.
Good luck!

My daughter learned her ABC's from Super Why on PBS. It doesn't help with numbers, but it does help with ABC's, writing words and letters, and sometimes rhyming or opposites. We didn't even know she knew her letters until she started pointing them out on signs. Then we started working with her pointing more out and helping with a few she didn't know. We also have a sesame street game for the computer that helps with shapes, letters, numbers, amd colors. It's called sesame street first steps and we got it from target. It also helps kids learn that when you hit a key on the keybord something happens, as well as how to use a mouse. Both my kids (just turned 4 and 2) love it!

i think u must find out first what ur kid's area of interest. also they respond to what kind of teaching methods. like my 5 yr old loves rhymes and now i ve penned 50 rhymes to teach her everything and sumtimes i feel i am singing all the time but she is responding and learning. young kids take time to settle and sit down to learn. so find out worried mom. they will themselves give u the clues