Toys & Play Question for Early Reading Toddler

[lizbusby]

DS(3) has been obsessed with reading and letter for a year now, and is reading at 1-2 grade level, but with difficulty focusing on large amounts of text on a page. The only toys that get played with around here are various movable alphabets, flashcards, and wipe-off writing practice books. He's totally uninterested in imaginative play, costumes, puppets, etc.. (Trying to convince him to wear a Halloween costume for trick-or-treating took all month, and I even let him be a keyboard, which I figured was a shoe-in! He insisted he just wanted to be himself.) We only play with cars by making them drive in letter shapes or legos by building letters or play-dough by, again, stamping it with letter stamps.

 

Is this normal in your experience? He basically spends all day voluntarily working on his reading/writing/spelling skills, which I don't mind, but it's really hard for him to play with other kids at playgroup/church nursery etc. I'm looking for some toys that might spark his interest and help him branch out in his play for social ease reasons. (And also for variety for Momma! Only so many times that helping a 3yo spell "broccoli" can be fun.)

 

Ideas I've though of, and some comments:

1. Puzzles: Of course, he likes alphabet puzzles. Simple plug-in-the-shape puzzles are too easy, but assembling board puzzles (24 pieces I think) takes too much concentration for him to do by himself. If I help out a bit, he can do some matching on his own. What kind of puzzles work for you?

2. Legos with instructions - He doesn't like free form legos much, but perhaps he would like following instructions. Do they make those for duplo sized legos? I think his hands aren't strong enough for the small ones.

3. Math manipulatives - I have a feeling there's a way to make these into good toys for such a focused kid, but haven't quite wrapped my head around it. Any thoughts?

[Iucounu]

Does this seem to possibly apply? If so, I'd seek a consultation with a specialist.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperlexia

[MissKNG]

Aw come on. Does everything have to be a disorder?

 

Totally off topic but...

 

:hurray::thumbup::party:

 

to this quote!!

[beaners]

Aw come on. Does everything have to be a disorder? My kid read at 3 and didn't like most toys and he is just fine.

 

I really agree with this sentiment (really, really, REALLY!!!), but I'll admit that hyperlexia jumped to my mind too. As an old 3, my daughter was reading at this level. I don't know whether this child is an old 3 or a young 3. It wasn't an all-consuming thing for my child though, and we still did pretend and play. For that matter I have a 2.5 reading CVC words, but it isn't her only interest. She still feeds honey to dinosaurs and builds with blocks. It could be more of a boy/girl thing, although I usually discount those. He probably really likes letters! :001_smile:

 

Anyways, for the OP. We have tons of the duplo blocks. We also get the LegoJR magazine. Sometimes they will have pictures in them to copy. My daughters like to copy the setups on the box for the first day, but that's it. Everyone loves when I build something to copy. I'll create problems to solve too, like finding a way to build a dinosaur house without using any of the big flat pieces.

 

We are doing "box puzzles" now, but we used "frame puzzles" for our intermediate step. Some of them only have a border, and some of them have the entire page printed under the puzzle. We have some books of these (Elmo, trains, fire engines) but they always result in lost pieces here.

 

We have plain play-doh and some of the kits that go with them. I've found the kits to be a "high-value" item for my children, but you may have tried that.

 

We bought a ton of math manipulatives from Eta a few months ago. So far our hits have been Cuisenaire rods, fraction towers, fraction circles, penta blocks, and dominoes. We also spend a lot of time painting with watercolors. When all else fails I just do my own thing nearby, and eventually someone will get curious and join in. Good luck!

[Parker Martin]

That sounds exactly like my son at two and early in three. Now he's four, plays with anything, and loves to pretend.

 

We gave him a huge bin full of bath letters, letter magnets, a Magnadoodle, tons and tons of books, cars, and Colorforms. He especially liked the Cars cars, I think because learning all of their names from the packages was a bit like learning letters and doing reading. He didn't like regular puzzles, but he LOVED Geopuzzles, again, I think it was because there were country names and shapes for him to teach himself. (If you get a Geopuzzle, I'd get the Asia puzzle first and the Europe puzzle second. Africa and North America are difficult to fit together because there are so many straight lines. South America has a huge amount of ocean.)

 

Sounds fun. Good luck!

[Iucounu]

Aw come on. Does everything have to be a disorder? My kid read at 3 and didn't like most toys and he is just fine.

Mine was also reading by age 3, but didn't have the hallmarks of hyperlexia that the OP hints at. I guess my answer is, "No, not everything is a disorder; a disorder is a disorder, and asking for input on possible developmental issues that are valuable to know is sometimes better done of a specialist than random internet posters".

 

There's often a tendency on these boards to dismiss important developmental differences as simply the normal development of children for whom things just "click" at wildly differing ages. That sort of attitude does a vast disservice to children who can benefit from some sort of intervention. Autistic children, for example, can often benefit from early interventions.

Edited November 13, 2011 by Iucounu

[Alte Veste Academy]

Is this normal in your experience? He basically spends all day voluntarily working on his reading/writing/spelling skills, which I don't mind, but it's really hard for him to play with other kids at playgroup/church nursery etc.

 

Well, typical and normal are different things. No, this is obviously not typical of most children at this age, but it is his normal at this point. He has latched onto something fascinating and made it his primary focus. There is nothing inherently wrong with that. I will say, however, that I have a friend whose oldest child very similar to your son and she encouraged it (rightly). Unfortunately, she encouraged it to the exclusion of all else. She proclaimed him studious but unimaginative and then chose all his toys, books, etc. in such a way as to feed this preference. Now she has hindsight and regrets that, because she feels like it would have better served her son to introduce him to different types of toys and play to allow the possibility of him discovering new passions along the way and help him be well-rounded instead of hyper-focused on one type of play (her words, not mine). In short, she feels she pigeon-holed him. So, even though you probably already know this, do continue to encourage imaginative play along with the linear thinking stuff. Both types of play are extremely beneficial to kids. I do believe that our feedback and how we handle our kids' passions changes who they are.

 

I wouldn't be concerned about him playing with other kids at the age of 3, as kids that age are still typically doing co-play. If he's an older 3, he might start making advances in this area as he approaches 4, but I wouldn't worry yet.

 

I'm looking for some toys that might spark his interest and help him branch out in his play for social ease reasons. (And also for variety for Momma! Only so many times that helping a 3yo spell "broccoli" can be fun.)

 

Ideas I've though of, and some comments:

1. Puzzles: Of course, he likes alphabet puzzles. Simple plug-in-the-shape puzzles are too easy, but assembling board puzzles (24 pieces I think) takes too much concentration for him to do by himself. If I help out a bit, he can do some matching on his own. What kind of puzzles work for you?

 

DC loved the large floor puzzles from Melissa & Doug. Are those the ones you're talking about? The floor puzzles were great because each piece was large and it was a full body exercise to put one together. I remember they made a "beginning skills" one that had 48 large pieces but was actually 4 separate 12 piece puzzles. Here it is. DS8 started off with 24 piece floor puzzles at a young age and then moved on to the 48, 100 and then to smaller, more complex puzzles at the table.

 

2. Legos with instructions - He doesn't like free form legos much, but perhaps he would like following instructions. Do they make those for duplo sized legos? I think his hands aren't strong enough for the small ones.

 

DC have some great Duplo sets with instructions vs being open-ended. It looks like they've modified them but some since we bought ours but there are some still available. It's a shame they have so few. There used to be a bigger selection. DS particularly liked the castle. He followed the instructions at first but then configured it in lots of different ways.

 

DC loved the tubes set (this was the favorite), the Tech Machines set, the fire house, and police station.

 

I highly recommend Superstructs as a great toy that has instructions, is easy for little kids, and can be used as open-ended toys later.

 

3. Math manipulatives - I have a feeling there's a way to make these into good toys for such a focused kid, but haven't quite wrapped my head around it. Any thoughts?

 

Pattern blocks! If this set is too open-ended, be sure to get this.

[Alte Veste Academy]

There's often a tendency on these boards to dismiss important developmental differences as simply the normal development of children for whom things just "click" at wildly differing ages. That sort of attitude does a vast disservice to children who can benefit from some sort of intervention. Autistic children, for example, can often benefit from early interventions.

 

Well, it goes both ways. It seems half the people here immediately supply a possible diagnosis and the other half say no biggie. I guess the advice averages out in the end. :tongue_smilie: In all seriousness though, this is such a hard place to get and give advice, because what we can type out is maybe a mere 1% of what we observe and know of our own children.

[Iucounu]

Well, it goes both ways. It seems half the people here immediately supply a possible diagnosis and the other half say no biggie. I guess the advice averages out in the end.

It doesn't if someone scoffs at a person suggesting that a child may have autism, the OP buys it, and an autistic child goes undiagnosed for years as a result. I would have already broached the subject with a medical professional instead of unqualified internet posters, since it's simply not normal to focus on reading to the practical exclusion of all else.

 

I guess the real question is, what's the harm in following up re: autism or other causes for the behavior? What's to be gained from putting full stock in people who would tend to discount the possibility of autism etc., except for a possible failure to diagnose? Is a child's health in such unusual circumstances worth risking over the cost of a co-pay? How does avoidance of doctor visits help anyone?

[MissKNG]

My small girl (who just turned 3 TODAY!!) loves pattern blocks and uses this book.

[Grover]

My little guy was just like this too... he used to line alphabets up all over the house. No hyperlexia / autism or any other labels (but he is profoundly gifted). He's five now and over the last year or two has come to a "sort of" imaginary play - it's still not really what you'd expect but he is using his imagination.

 

We really encouraged him to keep working on his physical skills so lots of ride ons, bikes, climbing frame, balancing, hanging, etc (even if he did like to write the letters on the trampoline so he could jump on them... at least it was physical!) and we spent a lot of time at parks and playgrounds. I'll put in a second vote for geopuzzles. Playing with those prompted him to learn Yakko's "Nations of the World" song, which was a change from singing the alphabet. He liked lego and k'nex but only to follow the instructions. The fine motor part might be ok - DS used to need me to provide final 'pushes', but otherwise was ok. To get some 'arty' type exploration going I gave him alphabet stamps and different coloured stamp pads, and stickers too. We built him a house out of large cardboard boxes and let him have at it with markers and stamps. He got interested in flags which was a bit of variety for me! I also showed him how to play his xylophone "properly" about then and he got interested in music and playing little tunes. He REALLY liked marble runs too, and we had a set called "brainy blocks" that was like the pattern blocks above. He also loved board games - we played many hours of snakes and ladders and checkers, and I introduced him to rush hour and some of the other solo think fun games.

 

Hope that helps, I've got my DH here too, trying to remember what DS liked back then!

[Alte Veste Academy]

It doesn't if someone scoffs at a person suggesting that a child may have autism, the OP buys it, and an autistic child goes undiagnosed for years as a result. I would have already broached the subject with a medical professional instead of unqualified internet posters, since it's simply not normal to focus on reading to the practical exclusion of all else.

 

Well, what you are describing is selective hearing with a side of denial. If half the people say it is worthy of a diagnosis and half say no biggie and the poster chooses to only listen to the no biggie people, that is not the fault of the people giving the no biggie advice. And frankly, some of the people giving the no biggie advice are those who have walked this path and had things work out just fine. Is it wrong to state that experience? Should a poster keep quiet if everything worked out fine and, as it turns out, they were worried over nothing? :confused:

 

It can be normal to focus on one thing--one developmental discovery--at a time, especially in the early years. Pet projects are completely normal for kids. And again, the OP is telling us what some concerns are. If she's like most parents, she focuses on what scares her most and does not present the whole picture. She is not (couldn't possibly be) giving us a complete picture of her son.

 

I guess the real question is, what's the harm in following up re: autism or other causes for the behavior? What's to be gained from putting full stock in people who would tend to discount the possibility of autism etc., except for a possible failure to diagnose? Is a child's health in such unusual circumstances worth risking over the cost of a co-pay? How does avoidance of doctor visits help anyone?

 

Are you extrapolating here from your own personal experience? Because this is very emotional. If so, I get that. There is not necessarily any harm in following up. But that wasn't what the OP was asking.

[Alte Veste Academy]

(Trying to convince him to wear a Halloween costume for trick-or-treating took all month, and I even let him be a keyboard, which I figured was a shoe-in! He insisted he just wanted to be himself.)

 

I find it interesting that my DS5, who is constantly pretending to be someone else now (this very second, he is a Star Wars Jedi) refused to dress-up for Halloween two years running when he was 2 and 3. I just told everyone he was going as a Headstrong Toddler. :tongue_smilie:

[jennynd]

DS also a early reader and didn't have like any toys when at that age with exception of puzzles. He will sit there try to finish a 300 pieces-500 piece puzzle at that age.

So, I think puzzle worth a try.

 

DD is also a early reader. I will say she is around 1st grade level now. But does like her toys...

 

I don't think it has anything to do with reading. Just different personality

[Iucounu]

Well, what you are describing is selective hearing with a side of denial.

That's a good way of describing the advice given by some people in this thread, who don't have experience with autism.

 

If half the people say it is worthy of a diagnosis and half say no biggie and the poster chooses to only listen to the no biggie people, that is not the fault of the people giving the no biggie advice.

Of course it is. One shouldn't give advice on a topic where one has no expertise or direct personal knowledge. An absence of autism in one's normal child does not give one direct personal knowledge of autism.

 

It can be normal to focus on one thing--one developmental discovery--at a time, especially in the early years.

It is not normal to focus on letters and words to the exclusion of practically all else, and to require letters to be integrated into every activity, nor is it a "pet project". It's actually quite unusual. For you to use words like "can be normal" does not change the fact that it's not normal; those words simply represent your value judgment that it's not anything to worry about.

 

There is not necessarily any harm in following up.

Then you shouldn't be arguing that the OP does not need to follow up.

 

Your advice that the advice will "average out in the end" and all the rest is simply inaccurate and may contribute to harming the OP's child. It might have been accurate if autism affected 50% of the population, which it does not. But even then, your advice suggests that it would be fine for the children in that averaging calculation not to be diagnosed.

 

When a child has some other worrisome symptoms pointing to a possible life-long condition, we don't avoid doctor's visits on the principle that things may "average out". This is no different. Erring on the side of caution is sometimes advised; erring on the side of throwing caution to the winds, on behalf of the children of others, based on no relevant personal or professional experience, is simply bad advice-giving.

[La Condessa]

1. Puzzles: Of course, he likes alphabet puzzles. Simple plug-in-the-shape puzzles are too easy, but assembling board puzzles (24 pieces I think) takes too much concentration for him to do by himself. If I help out a bit, he can do some matching on his own. What kind of puzzles work for you?

 

When my daughter hit that point where the chunky toddler puzzles were too easy and those larger board puzzles were too hard, I happened upon a library that was selling it's ancient wooden puzzles in favor of newer, shinier toys--for 10 cents each! I suspect these puzzles must be older than I am, but they are perfectly challenging for where my daughter is now. They have about 12 to 20 pieces, no picture behind to match up to, and the pieces are wooden and are cut to the shapes of parts of the pictures. The heavier wooden pieces stay in place better and a far less frustrating for her than the cardboard kind. I'm sorry if that's not very helpful, since I don't know where to find more puzzles like that.

 

I also second the pattern blocks, and you can find free patterns online to print out. I find it helps to put the paper pattern on a cookie sheet and hold it down with magnets, so it doesn't slide around as the kid is using it.

[Alte Veste Academy]

That's a good way of describing the advice given by some people in this thread, who don't have experience with autism.

 

Of course it is. One shouldn't give advice on a topic where one has no expertise or direct personal knowledge. An absence of autism in one's normal child does not give one direct personal knowledge of autism.

 

It is not normal to focus on letters and words to the exclusion of practically all else, and to require letters to be integrated into every activity, nor is it a "pet project". It's actually quite unusual. For you to use words like "can be normal" does not change the fact that it's not normal; those words simply represent your value judgment that it's not anything to worry about.

 

Then you shouldn't be arguing that the OP does not need to follow up.

 

Your advice that the advice will "average out in the end" and all the rest is simply inaccurate and may contribute to harming the OP's child. It might have been accurate if autism affected 50% of the population, which it does not. But even then, your advice suggests that it would be fine for the children in that averaging calculation not to be diagnosed.

 

When a child has some other worrisome symptoms pointing to a possible life-long condition, we don't avoid doctor's visits on the principle that things may "average out". This is no different. Erring on the side of caution is sometimes advised; erring on the side of throwing caution to the winds, on behalf of the children of others, based on no relevant personal or professional experience, is simply bad advice-giving.

 

I am utterly dumb-founded by your over-the-top reaction. Nowhere in the OP's post does she even ask about testing or autism. She asked if this was normal. The fact is (and yes, I said fact!) that some of us have had experience with kids like this who are not autistic. Personal responsibility for your own child and decisions is not absolved by reading about the experiences of others. It is merely information that can assist in making decisions. Sometimes immediate testing is necessary. Sometimes watch and wait is OK. Only someone with complete and intimate knowledge of the child is capable of making that call. It's not your call to say, "TEST! IMMEDIATELY!" and it's not my call to say no biggie. We're all just telling about our personal experiences here.

 

You are obviously emotional about this topic and have strong opinions. Nowhere did I say do not have this kid tested for this or that. Nowhere. I responded to the questions that the OP posted.

 

You certainly read a great deal into my post. As a matter of fact, I am an MSW who has worked within public schools and county MHMRs. I do, in fact, have some expertise in autism, not to mention direct personal knowledge. You don't know me. You don't know the OP. You are turning this into a personal argument where you presume to know more about posters and their ignorance than is possible.

 

You should consider stating your own case and experience as passionately as you defame others. It will earn you more respect, and perhaps the ear of the OP, which is clearly what you want all to yourself here.

[Grover]

I just remembered - we got the boy a "BopIt" for the Christmas he was 3... it was an exercise in extreme frustration for him, and an excellent lesson in persistence, patience and LISTENING. He used to struggle with it for ages, mustering scores in single digits. The day he made double digits he was SO excited. He still plays with it and his sister (2) is using it now too - I'd say it's been one of the best presents we ever got him.

[abbeyej]

No, in my experience it isn't "typical" for a reading 3yo. That doesn't mean it's necessarily a "problem" either. Kids are different, and their interest in toys varies wildly at 3 (or any age), regardless of whether or not they're early readers.

 

That said, I think the suggestion to skim some information about hyperlexia and see if it appears to apply is wise. You may read it and think, "Nah, not my kid at all" or you may think, "Huh, there are some similarities here that might be worth investigating further".

 

I would certainly expect a 3yo to have interests beyond reading. Some might play with building toys (blocks, Legos or Duplos), imaginative toys (pretend kitchen, cars, animals), physical activity toys (tricycles, scooters, balls, stilts), puzzles (jigsaw puzzles with pictures, pattern blocks)...

 

Pattern blocks along with a book of pictures to fill in with the blocks might be a good place to start.

[lizbusby]

To address the suggestions about hyperlexia/autism/LDs, thanks for the advice and I appreciate the information. But that's really not what I'm worried about with my son. He doesn't have comprehension problems beyond the usual gap between ability to decode words and actual experience with what words mean. He doesn't have problems producing original language. (He loves to make up songs as he plays.)

 

I think the language obsession is more a result of his focused personality. Before 18 months, he wasn't much interested in language. Back then, he was dead set on motor skills. Instead of playing with toys at 9 months, he spent all day walking from one piece of furniture to the other practicing walking until one day he took off running and hasn't wobbled since. After that, he practicing jumping all day until he figured out how to do it. That's the kind of kid he is: always with a new goal that he'll spend every second to achieve.

 

Reading through my original post, I guess this wasn't as clear as I've intended. I'm not in a panic mode about anything: we don't really have a problem, per say. DS (who is just barely 3 as of last week) loves to be with other children, but is bemused by his lack of common interests with them. He doesn't understand why none of them read or spell all day.

 

I'm looking to expand his play options as a way of helping him relate better to his age peers at church, playgroup, and eventually school (or not). I'm also looking for Christmas ideas to tell my relatives, since the usual trucks, dinos, and other toddler toys have been non-starters and I don't need more un-played-with toys taking up my basement.

 

Sorry for unintentionally starting a heated discussion about diagnostic problems. An interesting discussion in its own right, but if we want to continue, could we take it to another thread?

[lizbusby]

Oh you haven't seen heated. :D

 

True, I have seen much worse on other boards on other topics. (Don't get Harry Potter fans started on Harry/Hermione versus Ron/Hermione. :D)

[quark]

To address the suggestions about hyperlexia/autism/LDs, thanks for the advice and I appreciate the information. But that's really not what I'm worried about with my son. He doesn't have comprehension problems beyond the usual gap between ability to decode words and actual experience with what words mean. He doesn't have problems producing original language. (He loves to make up songs as he plays.)

 

I think the language obsession is more a result of his focused personality. Before 18 months, he wasn't much interested in language. Back then, he was dead set on motor skills. Instead of playing with toys at 9 months, he spent all day walking from one piece of furniture to the other practicing walking until one day he took off running and hasn't wobbled since. After that, he practicing jumping all day until he figured out how to do it. That's the kind of kid he is: always with a new goal that he'll spend every second to achieve.

 

Reading through my original post, I guess this wasn't as clear as I've intended. I'm not in a panic mode about anything: we don't really have a problem, per say. DS (who is just barely 3 as of last week) loves to be with other children, but is bemused by his lack of common interests with them. He doesn't understand why none of them read or spell all day.

 

I'm looking to expand his play options as a way of helping him relate better to his age peers at church, playgroup, and eventually school (or not). I'm also looking for Christmas ideas to tell my relatives, since the usual trucks, dinos, and other toddler toys have been non-starters and I don't need more un-played-with toys taking up my basement.

 

Sorry for unintentionally starting a heated discussion about diagnostic problems. An interesting discussion in its own right, but if we want to continue, could we take it to another thread?

 

I wanted to respond earlier but refrained after reading the more heated posts. I know nothing about autism or hyperlexia so am answering with just my own personal experience. After reading your post above, I wanted to add that our son was the same. He really had not many interests other than reading and figuring out word puzzles at that age. I would cringe each time someone gave him a lego set or construction toys because he wouldn't play with them and they'd just take up space in our already very space-challenged apartment.

 

I strongly recommend pattern blocks too. I bought plain wooden blocks and tangram puzzles (2 ways to use math manipulatives) for him to create larger patterns/ shapes/ words on the floor and he still plays with these at 9yo. At one point, we bought our son a bunch of straws (drinking, colorful variety) and craft sticks out of frustration and running out of ideas (I know it sounds crazy but he found ways to have fun with these--something he couldn't with legos).

 

As for relating to age peers, might I humbly suggest to not set up your hopes too much on this? We only managed to find like-minded friends for our son (and yours sounds very similar) after he turned 6 by enrolling him in some extracurricular activities like sports and science classes.

[Dmmetler]

My DD went through a period where she was simply obsessed with letters and the fact that they'd fit together to make words. She LOVED puzzle-type things where you could fit words together and make sentences. I can't remember the brand anymore, but it was something I could find at a teacher's store. She also really loved an Aleph-Bet Hebrew puzzle and coloring book at that time (although it fizzled because I don't know any Hebrew) and we began Spanish about then.

 

For us, this obsession lasted about 6 months, and then she began broadening out (I think My Little Pony was the next big thing). She still wrote and read a lot, loving books about her favorite things, making books and newspapers for her toys, but moved more into regular play, just with a more literary twist (that was the age of "I'm going to be Jack, and you can be Annie, and the jungle gym can be the magic tree house so we can go to Greece!!!"-and then getting upset with the poor preschooler who had no clue what she was talking about).

[acurtis75]

 

I think the language obsession is more a result of his focused personality.

 

I think for me this is what I got out of your original post. By the time she was 3 one of the primary things I noticed was "different" about dd was her ability to focus on tasks for a really long time compared to peers. This isn't necessarily a bad thing and she's the same way today at 6. I think the desire to help him relate to peers is a legitimate one and something to work on eventually but I wouldn't worry about it much for a few more years. As a pp mentioned at 3 most kids play in the same room but not together. Those skills will start to develop eventually. It's doubtful that he won't continue to be confused by the lack of common interests in peers though because he's probably going to continue to be somewhat ahead.

[vonfirmath]

My son is NOT reading at the 1st-2nd grade level. But he is fascinated with letters and always asking me to spell things, etc.

 

But at 3, his favorite toys were:

Imaginext Fire station (and in fact, this is the first toy I've seen Imaginative play with. And that not until 3.5 or so. He branched out to make his cars talk to each other after that. But that's about it)

 

He creates charts with pencil and paper

He plays with his Melissa and Doug magnetic pattern board

Wedgits (the larger ones)

Duplos

 

 

Puzzles:

M*D large floor size 24pc and 48 pc puzzles

M&D small 12-pc puzzles (4 in a box)

Beleduc Your Body puzzle

M&D 24-pc board puzzles

Patch (?) Puzzles that are 24-pc each. I found these in 2-3pks at Walmart, etc. MUCH cheaper than the M&D stuff

 

Basically, he was good at puzzles that had a tray around them and you put the pieces inside if the pieces were not too small. The floor puzzles were good for getting him to actually look at what was on the pc to decide where to put it instead of just matching the sticking out pieces to the holes they fit in.

 

Automoblox are sorta like 3-D puzzles.

[musicianmom]

12-piece wooden puzzles from Melissa & Doug --a great transition from toddler puzzles into regular puzzles

 

Bambino Luk (Timberdoodle sells these) -- wonderful mental exercises that the child can do independently and don't involve reading

 

Mighty Mind -- sort of like Tangrams, but it starts very simply using just 2 pieces, then increases in complexity

 

Dot to dot workbooks

[serendipitous journey]

We invested in the educational duplos

machines

gears ("early simple machines")

tubes

 

during birthdays and christmases 'round that age, some from the grandparents when they asked what he'd like. I did a project a day with him for each set, until we were through all the suggested projects, and that got him going. Duplo also has trains and train tracks which we bought from the Lego site. This was more 'cause he was craving Thomas and I didn't want to get sucked into the endless wooden train collection -- many Duplo trains are Thomas themed -- but he's just loved it. He loves planes too so I got this insanely expensive Duplo jetliner which was a total waste of money, it is super non-repurposable and gets very little play.

[imagine.more]

My ODS was like this too about 1 year ago he just didn't want anything to do with non-reading related things, it was weird, lol!

 

Anyway, it was just a phase, he outgrew the hyper-focus on letters and developed other interests. Just think of it as a normal phase for an early reader, just like many girls go through a barbie phase and a princess phase and later a tomboy phase. To help him branch out, go for stereotypical boy things. For us trains were the magic ticket, we read ODS the Polar Express, watched the movie, and he pretended he was the boy from the movie for ages and still loves all his trains. Now he's expanded into Thomas Engines, and cars and planes as well. And we signed him up for soccer and he's very into that now.

 

Maybe a book on a new topic, and a toy and/or movie to go with it would be a good introduction. We even rode a real train for ODS's 3rd birthday this summer and he was fascinated.

[Angela Beshears]

For puzzles, we have this set: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Discovery-Toys-Progressive-Puzzles-/150699581607?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item23166520a7

 

but you can also buy a similar set new: http://www.amazon.com/Misty-Friends-Progressive-Puzzles-Pieces/dp/B000GUXEPC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321404402&sr=8-1

 

I love how they gradually get more difficult.