This is going to seem like an odd question. My daughter, who just turned two in July, speaks (and understands) very well. She speaks in long sentences, uses pronouns, and understands simple reasoning, etc. Her vocabulary and usage are probably about a year or so ahead of "typical" development (I know there's really no such thing as typical for development, every kiddo is different). My question is this: how do I continue to foster more complex and abstract language development while still treating her as an average two year old? She definitely acts two! =) But, it's difficult to teach her complex concepts without "school-type" activities. What do all you creative moms do? I guess what I need are good ideas for creative language activities that are at a higher language level but lower physical/emotional level. Tips on learning her ABC sounds would be good too. Thanks in advance!
Thanks for all the great suggestions! We're constantly reading at home, but I hadn't thought to get books on a particular theme or anything like that. She's been interested in llamas lately, and a friend of ours actually owns a couple of them, so I think we'll check out books on llamas, and then we'll go see them! I'll also try and let her help in the kitchen more often. She loves being at counter level, but the only problem is she eats everything before she puts it in the bowl. LOL You mamas are great, thanks!
The BEST thing that you can do is to read read read to her. Trips to the library and pick books that have a level above where she is speaking....just keep moving up as she progresses. There are no need for 'drills' or anything of the sort....just keep it natural by reading different things to her.
Congrats on your lil' sweetie.
What has been working very well in our house is explaining almost everything I do to our daughter and why. I have really noticed that it helps.
I agree -- reading is the best way to foster this. also, don't ignore the everyday (and to us adults -- insignificant) things like going to the grocery store or any place and talking about it. Every opportunity is a learning opportunity. Don't feel you have to buy a curriculum or stick her in front of a dvd (think of all athe great thinkers before us who didn't have tvs) in order to get this quality education. This is a great opportunity and time for her to be a child. Follow her interests and don't get caught up in things. I think these early years are best for unschooling. They'll have plenty of time for more a more rigid / organized education.
Both of mine were early talkers as well. I also had to remind myself that the little tot who just spouted off a paragraph was just a "baby" :-)
I'll echo the comments about reading. We can never get too much of the library. You can also pick books on a theme that will give you an opportunity to look at something more in-depth. For example, get a bunch of books on or about cows. You can talk about where cows live, what they eat, what their babies are called, body parts, etc (it was great to point out hooves... then see the kids notice that sheep and deer had them too!).
You can carry the theme further with a video about farm animals, and find a simple craft online, drive out to a near-by cow pasture (how very Texasn that there's never one far away) and look at the cows, and make a trip to Chick Fil A and see the big cow cut-out...
You can find great ideas for theme-based learning at www.letteroftheweek.com. It's a free online preschool curriculum.
The other thing is just to narrate your day for her and involve her in whatever is reasonable. If you're making pancakes, let her help get the ingredients out and pour things into a bowl, tell her what everything is and how you're going to use it.
For letters, a trip to the grocery store is great. The cereal isle in particular. Also, there's a super Leap Frog video called Letter Factory. I mean SUPER. I don't normally leave educational experiences to the TV, but this DVD is amazing. Run through it a couple times and she'll know the alphabet and sounds.
