Help with advanced 2 yr.old curriculum

[Homeschoolmom3]

My youngest is 22 mths old and already knows his numbers through ten, letters upper and lower most sounds, and shapes. He loves to learn and can't get enough he has learned most of his learning on his own but I am in need of something to keep him busy while i work with my older boys. Looking for stuff that takes minimum prep work so i can spend more time with them. Not sure either what i should work on next more phonics to build reading? The one thing he struggles with is colors and we are thinking he could be color blind (runs in our family) thanks for your help!

[Gentlemommy]

22 months? Give him some play doh, mud, a sand box, or a stick! I wouldn't do a thing formally...

[LittleIzumi]

My 2-year-old is similar. Now, they're still two, so I'd stay very, very relaxed. A lot of what I do is (bad mommy) let him play on the iPad while I teach the older girls. He loves all the learning games, letters and numbers and dot-to-dot and matching and now the making 3-letter word apps. Now that it's warm enough hopefully he'll play outside a lot, too. But I'm working on more actual interaction (I've been pregnant so I've been tired, lol, but I'm working on it) and I've got two approaches. One is the letter of the week type program, because he loves having something special for himself. We did apples and he wanted to have the books read to him over and over and over and over, and he wanted to play the little apple-themed games over and over and over and over, and he wanted to do the apple worksheets and cutting and such over and over and over and over, and he wanted to cut the apples to show the star and point out the seeds to me over and over and over and over, lol. I am also doing specific games, including file folder games, card-based games, and a lot of the ideas from Kitchen Table Play and Learn. I'm going outwards and into many different topics and skills (like coloring and cutting and gluing and answering questions about the books) instead of going forward with the phonics and numbers much. We also draw basic math and he's learned the names of the math symbols, and when I read short words I point out the sounds and then blend it, etc.

[Homeschoolmom3]

Thanks for your responses... i haven't tried to force or teach that stuff yet but i hated to not let himcontinue to learn it if he wants i'll try some if your ideas thanks

[FromA2Z]

Well, when my ds was that age I started Tot School with him. "Tot school" was termed by a mom at http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.net . I think all of her kids are out of "tot school" now but all of her posts and resources are available.

 

Here's what I wrote about our tot school time for that age. http://fromatoz-totschool.blogspot.com/2011/08/our-tot-school-story.html?m=1

 

My only dc were tot schoolers so it was really about them but Carissa at 1+1+1=1 has older children also. This does require a little planning as it is mostly ideas and printables if you want. It is not an open and go curriculum. But Might I also gently add that since you will have to eventually "plan" for this child along with the elders, why not start now by carving out some time for him now. (Please take this w/ a grain of salt from a mom w/ only littles who does not have the stress of teaching olders too.)

 

This was my 3 yo plan w/ my tag along 2 yo. http://fromatoz-totschool.blogspot.com/2011/08/2011-2012-tot-school-plans.html?m=1. This includes links to lots of sites with ideas for little ones. Ps I didn't use all of the printables.

 

Even though my ds was the same as yours I didn't start any formal curriculum until four and he is just now learning to read. (i could have started earlier but didn't want to. Now it is pretty easy since his sounds have been down pat for so long). But it was so nice to have different ideas and resources to use to engage my 2 yo child besides "just let them play". 2 year olds get bored with the same old same old too. I hope even just spittle was helpful to you.

[Homeschoolmom3]

Thanks..it was!

[Laura Corin]

22 months? Give him some play doh, mud, a sand box, or a stick! I wouldn't do a thing formally...

That's ideal if it works for your child. I would have loved for Calvin to 'just be a kid' at that age. Unfortunately, his version of 'just being a kid' didn't involve any interest in play doh, mud, a sand box or sticks. He wanted to explore the world by being told everything - listening to books or just hearing me talk.

 

He loved symbols (including letters and numbers, but also spotting that the 'lift door close' symbol was almost the same as the 'HSBC Bank symbol'.) So I do know where the OP is coming from. I don't know how I would have given him joy if he had not been the first.

 

Hobbes was equally bright but in a different way - lots of hands-on play worked well with him.

 

Laura

[Tawlas]

Don't forget about kumon books. First book of cutting, colouring, pasting, tracing etc. Both my kids really liked them. If you think he's ready for it About Three workbook is very appropriate. Is that Rod and Staff? My youngest enjoys all of these when he wants to do school like his brother - but he's three. Tot school is fantastic, we used that website a lot, still do. They also have tot books and a lot of other printables - if you do Notebooking or lab books, it's a great way to involve your younger. Also, try some things from Totally Tots?

[Staceyshoe]

It's really hard to provide hands-off education at that age, but I think it's wonderful that you are following your son's lead. I would get a set of c-rods and let him play away. Now and then, you can provide some ideas about how he could use them so that he has new things to try on his own. (Education Unboxed in my siggy has fun play-based learning with c-rods. I introduce an activity to my little guy, and then he can continue the play on his own.)

 

My advanced learner had fine motor skills that seriously lagged behind and became an obstacle for him. If he's interested in coloring, play dough, scissors, or any other fine motor skill builders, I would encourage it.

 

I'm not sure what the flow of your day is like. If either of your older boys have a little lag time, they might enjoy playing games like "What letter does ______ start with?" with him. You can get through several of these in a minute, and usually both the older and younger enjoy this interaction.

[shawthorne44]

That sounds like my little one. At about that age, She knew her alphabet, counted to 20, and learned left/right the first time we read "The Foot Book." We still work with her on not counting the same thing twice or not at all.

 

About the time she turned 2, she requested computer time, so I tried Starfall which I'd heard about. She sat in my lap in front of the desktop. The free part with the letters were entrancing, but most of the rest of it seemed to leap forward in skills. Maybe it would be great for a 5-year-old learning her letters.

 

So, I asked here, and ended up switching to ABCMouse.com. It seems to be a better fit for a toddler. I love that the matching games, being on the computer, don't allow her to "cheat" by having more than two cards upright. She has her own mouse, but most of the time she points and I do the mouse. I like her to be in my lap for computer time. We played the hamster maze a gazillion times. About a third of the letter videos have songs good enough to burrow into your brain.

 

We also recently started on All About Reading Pre.

 

We be getting the preschool bundle from Critical Thinking Company. She is ready for one of the books, but not the others, and money is tight so we are holding off.

[NoseInABook]

Lots of reading and sensory play. Maybe look into Before Five In A Row? My kids all learned their colors, shapes, numbers, letters, etc through reading and pointing things out as we went along with our daily routine. They had them all down at age 2 as well.

 

My kids do like ABCMouse.com and Starfall too. We play outside a lot and read tons of stories though which seems to work the best, imo.

[Homeschoolmom3]

Thanks everyone great ideas...and encouraging words...can't wait to check them all out..it's been awhile since I had this age...my oldest was tested as highly gifted and he wasn't near as advanced as this one so he is kinda out of the playdough phase...it was good when he was right at one yr. Thanks again!

[Homeschoolmom3]

He does love starfall but trying to limit computer time!

[Megicce]

confessionsofahomeschooler.com also has some really cute ideas for Tot School and a whole curriculum - Letter of the Week - that can be downloaded for free. It is NOT low-prep, as it's lots of printing and cutting and laminating for MOM to do, but a few activities from there might be fun! It's at least worth looking at for some ideas. :)

[KRG]

My 2-year-old is similar. Now, they're still two, so I'd stay very, very relaxed. A lot of what I do is (bad mommy) let him play on the iPad while I teach the older girls. He loves all the learning games, letters and numbers and dot-to-dot and matching and now the making 3-letter word apps.

 

I bought a tablet a few weeks ago--best money spent! My little one loves it, he's learning and it keeps him occupied while I help my oldest.

[SarahW]

Not sure how you feel about using the TV, but I found Blue's Clues to be decent enough for my kid when he was that age. It does, actually, have some solid educational theory behind it. I'm pretty sure there are episodes that teach colors. Though, about that, I think I read somewhere that colors don't quite "register" with babies and toddlers the same way they do for the rest of us. So even though he's trying to figure it out, his body might still be trying to catch up physiologically.

 

Maybe if you browse Barnes & Noble you'll find some manipulatives that would interest your kid. My kid liked the ones with the shape pieces that you use to build patterns (I'm sure there's a name for it....). I think there are also some word building games. If you don't find anything in particular, jot down the name of some of the companies that at least looked interesting. They could sell different sets through more teacher-specific websites.

 

There's also youtube. Lots of videos of narrated children's books which also have the text somewhere on the screen. But that requires you check-in every 10 mins or so when the video ends. This is where I'm embarrassed to admit that my kid figured out youtube at age 3. :rolleyes:

 

You could also try asking over on the Accelerated Learners board.

[Rosie_0801]

Did anyone mention jigsaw puzzles?

[boscopup]

At age 2, I did most of our school during nap time, but my oldest was only 2nd grade. :D

 

At 3, I have been giving my youngest various workbooks to do on his own. He doesn't have to do them correctly. They're just something to make him think he's doing school. ;) He learns most things by osmosis anyway, so I'm not concerned about teaching him academics. He asks for reading lessons, so we do some of the easier pages of Phonics Pathways (which he's quite fast at now). He likes to write and has crazy good fine motor skills, so he copies words in his workbooks. Some of them are sight word books with places to write, so he writes the words he sees, and if he can, he sounds them out (like "stop"). This kid will work on workbooks for a good hour. It's weird.

 

Otherwise, I just tell him to go play. My next youngest doesn't have a lot of school, so they can play together when he's done.

 

I've found that with my advanced toddlers, I didn't *need* to try to teach them anything. They taught themselves or asked appropriate questions.

 

Oh, and for colors... I think my oldest didn't get colors until he was closer to 2.5 or so, and middle son was 3.5 when I got the R&S Adventures With Books (ABC series) and went over the colors with him using that. Within 3 weeks, DS2 knew his colors. DS1 picked up colors on his own, but he just wasn't there yet at 22 months, so it's still "normal" at this point. I think he knew all his letter sounds long before he could tell me colors. :tongue_smilie:

[Homeschoolmom3]

We try to do older brothers work during nap time but it is hard when sometimes its only and hour. :-( He does love puzzles. That is interesting about not getting colors early on, I always seemed to hear that most kids get that before anything else so that is good to know that maybe he hasn't processed it yet. Looking into all the other ideas...thanks everyone!!!

[LittleIzumi]

 

About the time she turned 2, she requested computer time, so I tried Starfall which I'd heard about. She sat in my lap in front of the desktop. The free part with the letters were entrancing, but most of the rest of it seemed to leap forward in skills. Maybe it would be great for a 5-year-old learning her letters.

 

The expanded site, more.starfall.com, has tons. Colors, math, nursery rhymes, stories, etc. Oddly enough, The Love's favorite part is simply having it read stories to him.

 

Also, blocks/Duplos/Legos!

[bakpak]

I remember finding some good threads on the Accelerated Learner forum for this topic. My daughter was voracious with the Kumon books at that age and started blending sounds and doing rhyming words around 24-26 months. Actually she was language crazy then and I found that when I introduced new foreign language material she seemed more content (or more advanced English or discussed higher level concepts). Montessori materials are great for self discovery after you initially introduce them. She was crazy about mazes and jigsaw puzzles too. And figuring out how things worked (taking apart mechanical pencils/pens).

 

In Montessori style, just put little projects in cute baskets on a dedicated set of shelves and call it his 'work' and he will be hooked :) For example you could put some different sized bolts and nuts together in a basket and he has to figure out which ones fit together. Or pouring/transferring work of some sort. Or matching small objects by rhyming (hat/cat, goat/boat). So many fun things and after the initial set-up you don't have to hold his hand the entire time.

 

Good luck!

[LittleIzumi]

Oh, foreign language! I forgot that. We do ASL.

[ebunny]

How about Audio books?

LEGO? (meant for children under 3)

Montessori material for fine motor skills? (number beads etc)

[SarahW]

Tanagrams. That's the word for the shape puzzles.

 

They're more open-ended than jigsaw puzzles, which was good for my kid, since he would only put a jigsaw puzzle together once or twice and then ignore it forever.

[Homeschoolmom3]

Thanks again everyone, I had some old tanagrams from my older children and got them out while I cooked dinner. He really enjoyed it and did well I was quite suprised at his ability to get it so fast. Thanks again for all suggestions also looking into getting the workbooks you all mentioned and looking into BFIAR. Thanks!

[Pamela H in Texas]

brillkids.com has lots of ideas on their forums. Lots of people "do school" with their advanced toddlers. They still have plenty of time to get messy, play outside, etc; but they can learn to read, do basic math, etc also. I don't see the conflict, honestly. My daughter was a 3rd 4th grade level at 3. Almost every toddler I've had has left about 20 months old (why does that happen) and has been about the level of your kiddo. Had they stayed, we definitely would keep going. Map work has been a favorite here. Reading together, outside play, adding, finger plays, learning to pedal and climb and roll, etc. We try to cover everything from music to sensory play to physical activity to reading and math. I keep things broad and fun; but I definitely think they can continue linearly also.

[roanna]

My son loved puzzles so we had a good stash of those, it's a nice and quiet activity. He also loved sticker books, the kind where you have to think. Costco usually sells them. He would redo them over and over since they peel off easy. My daughter likes stringing beads and organizing buttons, separating straws by color. On the iPad she uses an app that reads books to her. Of course I read to her also, but we don't have games on our iPad.

 

Just saying play with playdoh is not always the answer. My son didnt want to touch it until he was 5 let alone sand and other "fun" things most kids should like.

[Um_2_4]

How about Critical Thinking company books? My 3 yos are loving the Mathematical reasoning beginning levels.

[Guest Szarban]

(I am going to apologize in advance. This post became rather long on me, and went from just a reply to a response/explanation/request.)

I'm happy to see that it sounds like I'm not the only one in this boat with their two year old. We' already been through the coloring, stickering, puzzle, legos, and easel doodling stage. She still does some of this occasionally, but it's not enough to hold her interest for any length of time unless it's while interacting with someone else. Playdoh and color with water only works still because I waited until this year to introduce it and only bring it out occasionally like a treat. She wants to know about everything, and she's not satisfied with simple answers. Only full strength, fact filled explanations work (and this applies to everything). Her retention is terrific (she sings entire songs, even if she has only heard them a few times, her favorites right now being from the Mama Mia and Mulan soundtracks). Her depth of understanding seems limitless and she comprehends complex concepts and even often makes the next logical step. (For example, one day we were discussing the fact that I have a baby in my tummy. She in turn asked if she had a baby in her tummy and then if daddy had a baby in his tummy. I told her that only mommies could have babies in their tummies. She paused for a moment, then told me that when she had a baby in her tummy, she would be a mommy.) She has a terrific grasp of spoken language with a large vocabulary and speaks not only in full sentences (mostly with proper grammar), but entire paragraphs, stories, and jokes (we don't always get the punchlines, but she thinks they are hilarious) and uses better manners than many adults (and isn't afraid to occasionally correct the adults on this, I've already been told not to talk with my mouth full once or twice).

 

I looked at tot school first, but most of the activities were too babyish (relatively at least for us), she already knows (and in many instances has known for awhile) colors, shapes, counting, saying the alphabet, sizes, and opposites (and probably a couple more that I can't think of right now) and has good fine motor skills (which tot school seemed to especially focus on). We started on mostly preschool work focusing on letter recognition and sounds, number recognition, early math concepts, and writing using a letter of the week style curriculum with a combination of resources from Confessions of a Homeschooler, 1+1+1=1, and several other websites trying to still include lots of fun activites, games, and projects/experiments. The printables for these sites cover a variety of skills, so you can pick and choose which to work on. No Time for Flashcards is an excellent site for educational non-worksheet based (and sometimes non-desk based) activites, many of which can be tailored to multiple age groups. We've always been reading intensive, we ritually read before nap and bed time as well as whenever she asks us to, and she likes to sit and "read" books on her own. (We even asked for a leapfrog tag system for her for Christmas so she would be able to find out word and letter sounds for herself during her independent "reading" times.) Now our reading is just geared toward whatever our theme is for the week, we usually check out between 15 and 20 books and I make sure to include a variety of styles: picture books, non-fiction, early readers, fairy tales, folk lore, poetry, legends from other cultures, etc. I sometimes also include books on cd, videos that are either fact based or of a story we also had the book for, and music that involves or reflects our theme just for variety. We of course still include large motor skill games, playing outside when the weather is nice enough, and lots of free play. She seems to be thriving with the added structure, challenge, and interest that this has been providing

 

I, too, have been debating over adding more phonics, reading, and math instruction into our work. My daughter has been showing reading readiness signs for a least six months to a year, but I've been afraid to push too soon. It also seems like she is already teetering on the edge of that next step in math reasoning, but once again I've been unsure whether or not to take it. Advice, anecdotes, and suggestions for resources or information to read would be great (preferably free, extremely cheap, or available at the library as we are on a very tight budget).

[mumto2]

At that age I read to them huge numbers of library books.

 

I visited all the garage sales near my home. Between retiring elementary teachers and the fact that people (non home ed) sell off educational toys cheap I accumulated a great collection of manipulatives and board games. I also bought every vaguely interesting puzzle I could find.

 

Both kids loved jigsaw puzzles. Dd could do a hundred piece one during ds naptime.

 

The only formal books we did was Building Thinking Skills. It used linking cubes and a couple others, maybe pattern blocks throughout the book. We had some Pathway reading materials which she loved. She also had a set of math counters and books called Funtastic Frogs. These were really great.

 

The biggest thing is to have fun. Lots of library books and a good supply of colored paper and markers can create great learning activities at that age.

[Tanikit]

I find that at this age most learning stuff cannot be done while I am busy with my older child - I feel that teaching should be about instruction and time spent with my younger one, so what I do is give her something to do first or with my older child - she's 2 but can do painting and other craft activities. I have been teaching her to read which gives her her own time and she loves it cause it is like her big sister - I have also found my older child has had to learn to be quiet and patient while I work with her older sister.

 

My youngest does not nap which means I would do nothing with my elder if we had to wait for nap time. So I do something with the younger then leave her with some toys to play with and switch to the older and back and forth all day. If I do math with the older then I will do some counting or shapes etc work with the younger when it is her turn. If its reading for the older then on to reading with the younger. Then we have breaks where both girls have tea parties together or play outside or swing. My elder one's one on one instruction does take longer than the younger one's so she does have to be patient at times and sometimes when she gets fed up waiting I just put her on my lap and give her a cuddle while still teaching the older or let her page through books while on my lap too. When the demands get too much I just stop everything and make myself a cup of tea (while my 2 year old helps) and then try again with the elder.

[jmomma1203]

My youngest is 22 mths old and already knows his numbers through ten, letters upper and lower most sounds, and shapes. He loves to learn and can't get enough he has learned most of his learning on his own but I am in need of something to keep him busy while i work with my older boys. Looking for stuff that takes minimum prep work so i can spend more time with them. Not sure either what i should work on next more phonics to build reading? The one thing he struggles with is colors and we are thinking he could be color blind (runs in our family) thanks for your help!

 

 

Your son and my daughter could be twins, except that she's 31 months now and we know she isn't color blind.

[bakpak]

 

I, too, have been debating over adding more phonics, reading, and math instruction into our work. My daughter has been showing reading readiness signs for a least six months to a year, but I've been afraid to push too soon. It also seems like she is already teetering on the edge of that next step in math reasoning, but once again I've been unsure whether or not to take it. Advice, anecdotes, and suggestions for resources or information to read would be great (preferably free, extremely cheap, or available at the library as we are on a very tight budget).

 

 

Usually when I have the feeling that my daughter is ready and I'm just holding her back, I've found that's exactly what's happened. It's my fear of some preconceived pushing, not my daughter's lack of readiness. You daughter will thank you if you just try to keep up with her ;) My DD was ready for reading CVC words at 27 months. She even wrote her first CVC word around that time too - fox! I remember waiting months after when I thought my DD (2.5 at the time) was ready for long vowels (silent e words), and when I finally introduced them, she just accepted it calmly and acted like it was no biggie. I was the one making it a big deal in my head. That's usually been the case. In the rare instances when I've introduced a concept that she wasn't ready for, she just walked off, not interested. It's been pretty obvious.

 

In general, with young, bright ones, you can get around the age/maturity issue by introducing advanced concepts in very small chunks casually and they just absorb without doing much repetition. Repetition can kill the enjoyment, so keep it light and fun, don't quiz too much. They're information-absorbing machines, don't make them perform. Checking to see if they learned the concept, and practicing it occasionally, goes much further than going down a long list of words/math problems that follow the same pattern (BORING!).

 

So for phonics stuff, I keep it light and in context. For example, if we're talking about something that's grabbed my DD's attention, I might write the word on the chalk/dry erase board. Or write some words to a fun, easy poem. Or if we're reading a book that's over her reading level, if I come to a word that's her level, I stop and let her read that one (if the font is large enough) and she's interested. Sometimes she's not interested in reading like that, so I just happily continue reading aloud (I DON'T push her then. She just wants mommy cuddle time right then. Other times she wants to show off her reading skills and practice and it's equally obvious.) I get ideas for new concepts from OPGTR, which I've picked up from the library before, but finally bought my own copy as it's a fabulous resource.

 

As for math, just start playing with manipulatives and adding/subtracting. Fingers are fine, as are legos, dolls, cuisinaire rods, grapes, etc. Skip counting is fun in the car, especially if you sing-song/chant it and they repeat it. I start off with her repeating every number, then doing it by two numbers, then the string of numbers gets longer, until wow...she just skip counted 10-20 by twos by herself. The 10s are easy and good for thinking above 10.

 

There's lots of info on these boards (see the Accelerated Learner board especially) for kids ready to move ahead of their age. IMO, generally just follow your child's interest and ability and forget their age in terms of what they're supposedly ready for. Remember their age for emotional/social/endurance issues and you'll be fine. I think it's mostly about listening to your child, and following their interests, adding in educational moments in context to their love of panda bears, or race cars, or throwing sticks in the stream. Generally you just need a few guides to help YOU feel steady, not specific curricula.

 

FYI, my DD LOVED workbooks at age 2. She raced through so many Kumon books I thought I might go crazy or broke. They were easy, paced correctly and gently for her. But she hit 3 y.o., and now might pick one up once or twice a month. She might then choose to do 20 pages of telling time, but then that's it for months. So what I'm saying is that find what interests your daughter and support her while she's actually interested in doing 'whatever the thing is she's interested in'. At 2, my DD loved puzzles too, so I went along with the puzzle craze for 6 months, then she was ready to move to something else. I just kept buying her more advanced puzzles until she finally topped out at 50 piece jigsaw puzzles at 2.5. Same with mazes. She then switched to more imaginary play around then.

 

Good luck. Be courageous and believe what you know in your heart :)

[Uff Da!]

nm

[AngelBee]

What Colton has been/will be using:

TONS of sensory and Montessori activities off of pinterest.

Www.starfall.com

The Letter Factory DVD...LOVE this!!!

Www.educationunboxed.com and free play with c rods

Pattern blocks

Puzzles

Coloring

Play dough

HOD LHTH guide

AO 0 booklist

FIAR and BFIAR book list

Videos from Discovery Streaming

Lots of time helping around house

Lots of time outside

Random youtube videos

Dance lessons

 

 

Most of this is free or extremely inexpensive :)

[Chris in VA]

Don't forget block building and dramatic play.

 

Want to make it more academic?

 

Ok--Well first, there are stages of block play. First is exploration--just fiddling around with them. Next comes towers--stacking one on another. Then multiple stacking, then enclosures (making enclosed spaces). Multiple enclosures and "decorations" (putting little blocks all around the top, for example) as well as more complex towers, come next.Some stages appear simultaneously for some kids.

 

So to make it more involved...

 

--Add textures--green and brown felt makes lovely grass/dirt/towns. Got one of those doormats that is green plastic and looks like grass? Clean it and cut it up and add to the play. Add scarves for a soft "lake or water." Or sky!

--Add a block signs basket--hot glue a clip (clothespin or bag clip) to a block so it can stand up. Add sentence strips or strips of plain paper (2X6 is a good size) and a marker to the basket, and a small clip board. After child builds, ask, "Would you like to make a sign for your building?" They can write whatever they want on the paper and clip it to the special block, and Mom can take a picture. Look for a linear scribble if your child is not forming letters or writing words--they will be, soon!

--Make your own block people by taking full-body pics of your family, cutting out and laminating (contact paper). Takes about 15 mins, depending on the size of your family. Attach the pics to the clip-blocks and they can add the dramatic play aspect to blocks. You can buy people blocks, too, but there's something fun about playing with your own family!

--Make a book of pictures of what they have built, and ask for a narration of the building--write it under the picture and put the book in with the blocks.

--Put out some architectural pictures/famous landmarks (Taj, Eiffel, Sidney Opera House, etc) right on the bookshelf

--Mix blocks--unit blocks are GREAT, and you can add other smaller blocks

--Make your own bricks (goes great with SOTW 1) and build with them (outside if they are messy)

--Make LARGE bricks out of paper bags, or milk cartons, or ice....

--Get NAEYC's The Block Book to really understand how blocks teach a multitude of skills thru block play

 

Dramatic play? Beyond the kitchen set and dress up--Oh, so many directions you can go!

 

But I'll save that for another post.

 

So many homeschool moms jump right into workbooks for their 2s and 3s. There's a vast array of things you can offer that teach real skills without going there. I would love to see more moms do those sorts of things. I know lots of kids LOVE workbooks, but I bet they'd love the other stuff, too.

[Peaceful Isle]

Oh, wow. I hadn't even though of my two year old, in terms of school yet! I'm just happy when he is busy and happy so I can teach the others. :)

[Tanikit]

Recently I made my two year old bottle cap letters - since she knows the alphabet and their sounds I get her to get me certain letters to spell words and then blend the word for her slowly and fast - she can blend sounds now. Th reason I am using bottle cap letters (with my other DD when she was 3 we could just use large written letters in a book) is that at 2 they are more tactile and enjoy playing with things.

 

If you want a curriculum you can look at www.abcjesuslovesme.com - naturally religion is a heavy focus, but you can leave it out and still follow the curriculum. You can also pull from each age group and put your child where she is ready - mine uses mostly the 2 year old curriculum for activities but some of the 3,4, and 5 year old curriculum for more advanced skills. Jigsaw puzzles are great at this age as you can keep giving bigger ones til you reach the correct level for your child. Both my 2 year olds were/are doing 35-48 piece puzzles at a young two.

 

The other thing I find works very well for a 2 year old is to take them for walks around the neighbourhood - slow walks, where you point out everything and tell them as much as you can, let them pick up whatever they want (take a bag if they like having treasures), point out numbers on houses, street names, stop signs, teach them safety, tell them about drain pipes and various house structures, if there is any building going on let them watch, do math sums with numbers you see on the road if they are ready for it, let them find the alphabet or numbers in order, find items in different colours and teach pale and dark colours too, pick flowers if you are allowed to. Take any older children along too as walking is good for them and they can point things out to the younger ones. Point out animals in people's garden. Use all your senses and if the voacbulary and speech is there get them to describe what they see, hear etc. Point out various shapes that are seen around her including 3D shapes (cones, spheres etc) Teach about rubbish removal and keeping the environment clean. If there are puddles teach the water cycle, if there is a sprinkler on and you can see a rainbow in the water then teach about that. Point out familiar words in your environment. It doesn't have to take long - a 10-15 minute walk is more than enough.

 

Play games in the car - as part of creative writing with my 5 year old we play "5 things/topic" in the car - either I choose a topic for her or she chooses her own topic and then must say 5 things about it - it is used for teaching so we have certain rules that change depending on what is being taught. My 2 year old now wants to play - she is not yet speaking in full sentences but can manage to give 1-2 ideas per topic - usually I let her choose her own topic at this age though.

[ThoughtfulMama]

I always vowed that I would never be a flash card mom, and then I ended up with a flash card kid. Some little ones are just drawn to learn, and it sounds like you've got one of those. I'd just have stuff around that he is interested in. My little guy at that age would beg us to do letter books and flash cards with him, so we did spend time on that. I wouldn't say that there was a curriculum, but we had a Melissa and Doug alphabet puzzle, vtech letter fridge magnets, flash cards with colors, words, letters numbers etc., and lots of board books. He ended up teaching himself to read before he was 3 with minimal input from us aside from having the stuff around the house for when he wanted it.

[Mom-ninja.]

Ah, I just posted a similar situation. I'll pass these ideas along.

[Guest cwm9]

I used sandpaper letters with my 2 y.o. Use the sounds of the letters and not their names, and trace them together. Don't push it -- if the kid wants to go do something else, let him. It's more of a familiarization thing than anything else.

 

Everyone thought I was crazy, but now he's 3.5 and reading very well already. We're currently doing All About Spelling since he's already pretty much got reading down.

 

You should also count with him. Count everything. Count fingers, count toes, count Cheerios, spoonfulls of dinner, lines in the road... don't don't stop at 10. Keep counting. Up and up and up. It doesn't matter that he doesn't understand yet -- again it's more of an exposure thing. I used to count swing pushes to 100... sometimes 200!

 

Teach the formal shape names. Don't stop at circle, square, triangle -- do rhombus, trapazoid, rectangle, pentagon, elipse. I wouldn't go beyond pentagon though, without the ability to count sides it's very hard to identify the polygons above that.

 

Teach hiim the difference between 2d and 3d shapes. Show him a circle, then show him an orange -- say the orange is a sphere, not a circle. A block is a cube (or rectangular prism/parallelipiped), not a square, an egg is an ovoid, not an oval. (BTW, 'oval' and 'ovoid' are imprecise words -- it just means "egg shaped", unlike an elipse or elipsoid which has a rigerous definition.)

 

I also taught the names of the bones. That's a fun lesson because you can do it anywhere and play tickle games at the same time. Cranium, mandible, humerus, radius, ulna (you can tell them apart because when you point our thumb up the ulna is the bone that is "under",) femur, tibia, fibula, sternum, spine.

 

He used the iPad Geography app by Montiorum to learn all of the countries in North and South America at two as well.

 

Just talk about whatever it is you know. Don't worry about how "adult" the conversation is. I'm a physicist, so we'd talk about electrons and gravity and inertia. Every time he fell down I'd say, "uh oh, gravity got you!" It's not about what the child retains, it's about what she is exposed to.

[ebunny]

I used sandpaper letters with my 2 y.o. Use the sounds of the letters and not their names, and trace them together. Don't push it -- if the kid wants to go do something else, let him. It's more of a familiarization thing than anything else.

 

Everyone thought I was crazy, but now he's 3.5 and reading very well already. We're currently doing All About Spelling since he's already pretty much got reading down.

 

You should also count with him. Count everything. Count fingers, count toes, count Cheerios, spoonfulls of dinner, lines in the road... don't don't stop at 10. Keep counting. Up and up and up. It doesn't matter that he doesn't understand yet -- again it's more of an exposure thing. I used to count swing pushes to 100... sometimes 200!

 

Teach the formal shape names. Don't stop at circle, square, triangle -- do rhombus, trapazoid, rectangle, pentagon, elipse. I wouldn't go beyond pentagon though, without the ability to count sides it's very hard to identify the polygons above that.

 

Teach hiim the difference between 2d and 3d shapes. Show him a circle, then show him an orange -- say the orange is a sphere, not a circle. A block is a cube (or rectangular prism/parallelipiped), not a square, an egg is an ovoid, not an oval. (BTW, 'oval' and 'ovoid' are imprecise words -- it just means "egg shaped", unlike an elipse or elipsoid which has a rigerous definition.)

 

I also taught the names of the bones. That's a fun lesson because you can do it anywhere and play tickle games at the same time. Cranium, mandible, humerus, radius, ulna (you can tell them apart because when you point our thumb up the ulna is the bone that is "under",) femur, tibia, fibula, sternum, spine.

 

He used the iPad Geography app by Montiorum to learn all of the countries in North and South America at two as well.

 

Just talk about whatever it is you know. Don't worry about how "adult" the conversation is. I'm a physicist, so we'd talk about electrons and gravity and inertia. Every time he fell down I'd say, "uh oh, gravity got you!" It's not about what the child retains, it's about what she is exposed to.

 

 

Excellent post!