Teaching Two Year Olds

[pbt1294]

I know, I know they are REALLY young. I don't normally formally teach 2 year olds anything but just let them play along with us. However, I might possibly have the opportunity to keep our neighbor's dd who is almost the same age as my 2 year old. She and her husband were going to put her in a private "school" for babies to school age kids (I think it is just a fancy way of saying daycare nowadays). Anyway, this would be very finacially beneficial for our family and I really do love the little girl. Is there a fun program out there for very little ones that would be easy to implement in an already busy homeschool? Something that she could have things to take home and show her parents??? I'm not much of a planner and I already have LOADS to plan out this year. It would need to be VERY open and go.

 

Just curious.

 

Thanks,

Kyle

[LolaT]

I'm trying Kiwi Crates with my DS4. I may have my DS2 do some too. They are craft/art/science projects. They require some adult help but all the materials and simple instructions are already put together so this is time saving. It is subscription based. You receive two boxes/month. You can request an "add-on" to each box for multiple kids instead of buying two. They are a bit pricey. If you use this link you can get $10.00 off the first one.

 

If you have more time to spare, you can make your own activities using Slow and Steady Get Me Ready or Janice VanCleaves's Teaching the Fun of Science to Young Learners (Grades Pre-K-2). But these will require some prep work, material gathering, and direct involvement.

[TracyP]

I haven't used it, but it seems like HOD's Little Hands would work quite nicely. I have heard it only takes about 30 min to go through the whole day, and I don't think there would be much prep.

[pbt1294]

I just thought about Little Hands. I acutally have in my possesion a copy of that. My church purchased it to use for preschool activities and I used with my DS two years ago. Might just do that!!!

[krismoose]

I haven't used it, but it seems like HOD's Little Hands would work quite nicely. I have heard it only takes about 30 min to go through the whole day, and I don't think there would be much prep.

 

:iagree:, a light trip through Little Hands would be fun. I also just found out about Flowering Baby which has a nice variety of activities, and you can buy it in 6 month segments (ex. 24-30m or 31-36m) on CurrClick.

[ByGrace3]

MFW pre-k is great too. I have a lot of the activities and plan to get the task cards for my dd2.

[SonshineLearner]

I think that asking the parents what appeals to them about the school.... Get the serious expectations down... like on paper. Then figure out if you can do them with your child, too :) If you don't have it on paper... you can't "look accomplished"... at least as much.

[sewingmama]

I just purchased this on sale for my 3yo. Yes there are similar things on the web for free but you can't beat the price for not having to spend the time searching for it all. :D

 

 

http://www.currclick.com/product/32459/A-to-Z-Toddler-and-Preschool-Curriculum?it=1

[duckens]

I did babysitting while my older daughter was 2. Usually it was just she and little boy C, who was a few months older than she.

 

We used Letter of the Week, BUT I knew that I needed to have reasonable expectations of two-year-olds if we did this.

 

Every day, we reviewed our weekly poster.

 

One can find letter coloring pages at DLTK.

 

Each day, we read the appropriate "My Sound Box" book by Jane Belk Moncure. The library may have a set you can use. Since dd was barely talking at that point, I decided to teach her the sounds. Every time I turned a page, we said the sound. If it was M week, we read the M book, and every time I turned the page, I said, "Okay, we're turning the page. [Dd2] say MMMMMMM." [[response]] "[C] say MMMMMMMMM." [[response]]

 

We also read other books with the subject of the week.

 

We also did a ton of crafts for each letter. See DLTK.

 

If you don't feel like doing a lot of footwork for crafts, check out Carol's Affordable Curriculum or Shirley's Crafts.

 

I also made picture flashcards with CVC words for the fridge. Halfway through the year, I would put 2 on the fridge each week, and the kids would spell a word (match the letters) using refrigerator magnets. We reviewed former words at lunchtime.

[Mommie_Jen]

I just purchased this on sale for my 3yo. Yes there are similar things on the web for free but you can't beat the price for not having to spend the time searching for it all. :D

 

 

http://www.currclick.com/product/32459/A-to-Z-Toddler-and-Preschool-Curriculum?it=1

 

I am thinking of Letter of the Week for my youngest who will be 3 next month, but this is ADORABLE.

[Hunter]

I was just working with a 3 year old yesterday. I've decided I love, love, love double sided tape! We made 5 greeting cards and a caterpillar out of an egg carton, using nothing but double sided tape as an adhesive. He took his creations home in a large plastic take-out container.

 

Waldorf is not open and go, but the daily and weekly and season rhythms are grounding and trendy at the same time. The grain if the day idea is pretty easy to implement.

[Hunter]

For a few years, before my boys started homeschooling I worked in a church providing childcare during morning Bible studies and meetings. I used a science/nature focus instead of a literature focus, especially since many of the children were attending lit based preschools on other days. The themes were mostly insects and plants and rocks and things we could go outside and study between books and crafts. And I even tweaked basic outside games to the weekly theme.

 

Food and table decorations and dressing up are important to this age group.

 

They like to do the same thing over and over and over again with just a new theme.

Edited August 10, 2012 by Hunter