Teaching Your Two Yr Old

my 2 1/2 year old has learned shapes, colors, her alphabet (capital letters only so far) and counting to 10. There may be other things in there, but those are the things I can think of that I actively work on with her. We started out using books that illustrated those things as a way to introduce each topic.

There are wood puzzles out there that you can get that have the alphabet. My now 4 yr old loved those kinds of puzzles. My now 1 year old loves them already. Melissa & Doug makes them, you can get these at almost any retail store. Another thing you can get is the magnetic letter for the frig then sit down on the floor and play with him. There is a little farm piece that you put the letter in and it say the letter as well.

All evidence shows that all learning should be play based till at least 5 if not 7. Finland bests us in tests and they do not do "school" till 7.

My point, play with your child. Don't do work with him. Find teachable moments in the play, and when he is interested in something, run with it. The more you let his own self-interest guide his activities, the more educational it will be.

The most important thing you can do is read.

There are so many things parents can do.

Read to your child. Make a routine of two or three times of day when you do this.

Go to the library to check out books. Ask the librarian for suggestions. Libraries usually have toddler reading groups, too.

Do your daily chores, but include your child while you do them. Measure flour. Stir batter. Rake leaves.

Play rhyming games with your son.

Engage your son in conversation. Studies show kids absorb more vocabulary and information when parents do.

If possible, try a weekly class for parents and kids, like Kindermusik, for socialization with other kids and the music.

Go to the playground to build gross motor skills and to visit with other kids (and moms).

Provide paper and crayons. At some point provide tape, scissors and glue sticks. Draw. Provide a box and other items. Build. Provide watercolors and paint. (My daughter's first painting experience was while visiting the Botanical Garden, and an adult there who was painting one of the flowers provided my girl paper and a brush so she could do the same. A great memory.)

Go for walks and take your time to see nature. Look under rocks for bugs. Collect leaves. Build snowmen. Notice the birds, and find a book to identify them.

Visit your local museums, parks, zoos, botanical gardens, pumpkin patches, farms. Don't expect to stay long or see these places as an adult would. Bring crayons and paper to copy works of art on display or draw favorite animals at the zoo.

Find some good CDs and dance.

I've found a spot on a wall and have made floor to ceiling murals out of construction paper with my daughter as a decoration / project.

Get a book on science experiments and do the ones geared toward your son's age.

Get letters for the bathtub and the fridge.

Label items in your home with signs so your son sees the name of the item.

Enjoy!

Children this age learn by playing and being involved in the world around them. Take him on walks in nature and point out the birds, plants, animals, snow, clouds, etc. Talk about what colors they are, count them, talk about what order they happen in. He should have toys that encourage creative play - blocks, duplo lego, things he can build with, or put in an order or whatever he wants to do with them. Go to the museum (doesn't really matter which kind, kids are sponges - and look at the paintings, sculptures, dinosaurs, rocks, etc).

Read to him and let him see you read on your own time - he will learn reading is a pleasure, not a chore. Sing songs together - songs are a great way to remember things (most 2s can sing the ABC song, whether or not they can recite the letters from memory without the tune).

I would STAY AWAY from video games and television - whether or not they are labelled educational. Screen time discourages independent creative play and promotes inactivity.

Social play with other children is extremely important when kids are young. Do you go to play groups or invite other moms and kids to your house on occasion? Learning sharing and taking turns and how to play nice are other things your child should be learning besides academics. If it were me I would read a lot to him and leave it at that. When he is 4 I would start with the name spelling/abcs. He is too young now to think of that in my opinion.

He may be a bit young to start on spelling or the alphabet, unless you can turn it into songs that he enjoys. That helps the pattern get into the brain through multiple routes, and depending on his learning style, that may help him.

But don't be so eager for him to learn that it becomes work. A child learns primarily through play for his first few years, and not only academics, but physical skills, social understanding, emotional control – all more appropriate for the actual stages of development that he'll be going through in these early years. Remember, he's still a new person, and he has a lot to figure out before he needs to read or do mathematics.

Please don't compare him to other children. That tends to backfire, and there will always be kids who do better or worse than your child in various areas. It's nice to give a little head start if children are eager for it, but even children who start school with no reading skills whatsoever are usually functioning on par with early readers by the time they are in third grade.

Help your son the most by keeping whatever learning he does fun. If he's uninterested at this age, it's because he hasn't yet made the cognitive connections that make this type of learning possible, and you don't want to discourage him. And keep reading to him – that's the number one way to help kids learn to love reading.

Well, how did your older 2 kids learn?

I never just sat down with my daughter at that age to "teach" her - she just seemed to naturally pick it up, no flashcards, drilling, or DVDs or computer programs. We have the alphabet magnet letters and tub letters and wooden blocks. I read to her twice a day, sometimes more (still do!). She had some simple board books about the alphabet, numbers, colors, shapes. She watched some TV like Sesame Street and Super Why and Blues Clues. I talked to her all the time, and pointed out things like yellow bananas and red apples. By the time she was 2, she could recognize all the upper case letter, numbers 1 to 9, most colors and most shapes. She knew most of her body parts. She was also understanding "in", "out", "over,", "under", etc. At 3 she knew both lower case and upper case, more colors and more shapes. She could draw a very simple person with a face, eyes, mouth, nose, arms and legs. She knew the seasons. Closer to 4 she was writing the letters in her name. She is also learning days of the week and months of the year. Preschool at 3 and 4 really helps too!

Don't make it seem like school..... the best thing is to just incorporate activities into what you already do.

If you want to work on letters, pick one letter every few days, and start pointing out things that start with that letter.

For example, for several days, use "D" ...... point out every dog you see in a book or magazine and tell him that Dog starts with "D"..... find other things around the house... "Door" and when you go in and out the door, remind him that "Door" starts with "D". Eventually, start asking him if he remembers what letter "Door" or "Dog" start with.... Find everything around the house that starts with "D" and incorporate it into what you do that day.....

Pick a color of the day, and use that throughout the day.... give him food of that color, if you can..... put him in a shirt of that color.... start asking him what color the item is....

Don't try to introduce too many new items at once, though... it can overwhelm and confuse the little ones.

For counting.... give him a pile of pennies and a small bank.... have him drop the pennies in the slot, and count them as they go in....... find other things in small amounts that you can count with him. ("How many apple slices do you have in your bowl for lunch? Can you help me count them?)

The more you do this during the day, the more natural and constant it will become.

Dana K hit the nail on the head!!! Way to go Dana!! He has a plenty of time to learn his ABC's and there is so much more to learn in his surroundings, then a paper and pencil can provide. Sit on the floor and built castles with him, read to him, encourage creative play.

You don't really have to "teach" a toddler, in a formal sense. Definitely don't get any workbooks, high tech toys, or flashcards to help him. Those are all worthless at his age.

My boys were both really successful (and ahead) when they got to kindergarten, and it wasn't because of any formal teaching, but because of the way we raised them.

We started reading to them daily when they were a few months old. We went to the library regularly to get new books, and we had a lot of books at home. When our boys were two, they had a lot of really great board books. (Quality matters; spend your money on really good books, and not on ones that are supposed to teach moral lessons, or that advertise commercial characters. Those books are never worth reading more than once.) When our younger son was a toddler, he would sit in his high chair after meals, and "read" through a whole pile of board books. Our older son definitely learned the alphabet (and numbers, colors, and shapes) from the books he read when he was little.

Also, TALK to him. A lot. He will learn more vocabulary if his parents talk to him a lot, and little vocabulary if you don't. It makes a HUGE difference. Talk to him about what you are doing, what you see, how you feel, where you are going, what he is doing, how he is feeling, what he sees....And take him interesting places, where there will be lots to talk about (zoo, nature centers, gardens, farms, museums, etc.).

Encourage him to play, and to pretend. Play is critical to his development, and pretending builds the basis of creativity, which he will need his whole life.

Enjoy!

when my kids were that age we started drawing shapes and using colored pencils and crayons. you can talk about using the red one, the blue one etc, make big circles on the paper make straight lines but thats about it lol. you can count things as you do them lets pick up the blocks 1 , 2 , 3 etc

He's not too young for the alphabet...he can learn to say the alphabet, recognize letters, and "draw" them. He can also learn to count to 20, and understand what counting is. He can learn his colors and shapes. He can learn to measure using nonstandard measurements...for example, the crayon is three jelly beans long, etc. Critical thinking.

I taught my oldest all this and more by the time she was 2, 2 and a half...and we made it fun. The key is to only work on it for a few minutes at a time, but maybe a few times throughout the day. That will keep their interest.

Spelling, I wouldn't tackle right now. He has to learn that each letter is an individual idea, and needs to know what sounds they make, etc. I taught my daughter to write her name when she was three, and that's also when we started phonics, sight words, simple addition and subtraction, and a few more complex ideas.

Kirsten R and Julie are right. Don't teach. Let him experience. Get messy, indulge in "pretend," be silly!

Later on, when he is developmentally ready, you and his teachers can introduce reading and math skills. Boys pick up on reading later than do girls--like age 7.

The danger in pushing kids (esp. boys) toward skills that they're not ready for is that you turn him off completely toward reading or writing. Then they learn to "hate" school, an attitude that can carry through the next 15 years.

Teachers tell me that a kid who is reading at age 4 doesn't necessarily get the highest grades at age 18 when it counts.

Kids that age learn by playing. Just get some high quality toys (books, puzzles, blocks, cars and trains, Duplos, toy kitchens, etc.) and get down on the floor and play with him. My boys used to make toy train layouts, take them apart and make a new one. We had "picnics" with our plastic food and toy kitchen. Toys that require them to use their creativity and imagination are perfect. Read to him all the time. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is a really fun book and great for learning the alphabet. I wouldn't worry about writing or spelling his name for some time. Have fun playing with him. (Years ago my now 12-year-old taught himself to read when he was 4 just by me reading to him A LOT. I did nothing to teach him to read except read, read, read to him.)

My oldest (and 2 younger ones) were SPONGES for music at that time. I pretty much skipped the kid stuff and my daughter memorized "Country Roads, Take me Home" by John Denver by age 2 1/2! Lyrics and melody are GREAT teachers. My youngest (2) is speech delayed, barely talks, but can sing songs. Even a few French ones! Play lots of music, sing along.

Engage him in your day. Talk to him constantly. All mine picked up vocabulary stuff and colors and EVERYTHING that way. Reading is always great. Miraculously, love and attention is really the best teacher. Structured stuff is better for older kids-you don't want to burn him out on that before pre school age! Sounds like he's doing great, keep up the good work, talk to him like he's and adult, read him things a bit beyond his level, and keep him close. OH!, and I felt sort of bad for putting them in front of PBS mornings while I did some work, then one day, from watching Word World, my son knew his whole alphabet, and I didn't teach him! So a little educational TV never hurts!

www.letteroftheweek.com has some good age appropiate things that you can start with your little one. You should check it out if you get a chance!

As someone else said, during play my daughter picks up on position words, like over and under, in and out, left and right. We talk about shapes while she plays also. And whenever she draws I write her name on the paper as a label and eventually she asked about it and now she tries to spell her name, it is adorable.