Bored two year old

[puddleduck]

My two year is so ready to learn. I started teaching my oldest 2 when they were three years old with Rod and Staff preschool workbooks and phonics. I bought these workbooks for my 2 year old and he is very bored with them. He gets himself into all kinds of trouble and doesn't play by himself at all at the moment. What do you think, should I start phonics with him? And how about K math, anyone done this? He can count, and do a little bit of addition/subtraction. I don't see teaching without a program happening at the moment. What did you do with your bored two year old?

[SKL]

I think I would use a whiteboard rather than workbooks.  And three-dimensional toys such as letters that can be lined up into words.  Maybe C-rod games and such.  Wiki stix.  Sidewalk games.

[Korrale]

I taught my son to read when he was 2. I used a sight word method when he was little and he was able to intuit phonics. I used spelling lessons to reinforce any phonics he may need.

[Kathy G]

Definitely agree- games, not workbooks.  Let him create- legos etc.  Is he bored, not liking workbooks or just not ready?  Draw letters with chalk on the driveway.  Play PIG or other spelling games with basketball.  We don't use many workbooks here and certainly not for anyone younger than 8.  Hands on is much better.  Shape letters from clay or playdoh.  Bake cookies that spell words.  Mine loved books to look at as they were learning. 

[MotherOfBoys]

what about c-rods and the first miquon book just to guide him?

 

disclaimer: I have no idea if this is the right choice but I've been looking into them lately for my 4yr old. Cathy duffy says 1st grade but younger can use because of the hands on.

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

LeapFrog videos! And I'm seconding the whiteboard.

[Jackie]

At 2 I taught reading using Bob Books and a phonics approach. I bought RightStart Math and looked through the first several lessons and started integrating the concepts into our play, though we didn't do the lessons as scripted. I used the book Science in Seconds for Kids and ideas from websites like Play at Home Mom to incorporate fun science.

 

We did use the Kumon First Steps fine motor skills workbooks, which are fun pages of coloring, cutting, folding, and gluing.

[MEmama]

Seconding Leap Frog videos. My DS learned all his letters and sounds before he was 2, in part due to the videos (and a tenacious desire to learn).

 

We just did all kinds of hands on stuff at that age, and lots and lots of reading. The library was and still is his favorite place. :) Unless he's asking for a workbook, I wouldn't bother. Best to learn from the "real world" at that age, unless he's desperate for his own books of course.

 

Thinking back, by 3 DS loved workbooks. I think I started printing out Math Mammoth worksheets for him around that time as well.

[puddleduck]

I think he's bored with the workbooks. He pretends not to know his colours and numbers when we do them. I have some math manipulatives and done some things with him, but again, after a minute or so he starts throwing them about. yes, normal behaviour for a 2 year old, but I do think it's boredom, that he's ready for more. I was going to order miquon for my 5 year old as a supplement so I might just as well order the first book and give it a try. I'll try and see how he does with phonics, I haven't tried it, because I didn't expect him to be ready yet.

[SKL]

I think he's bored with the workbooks. He pretends not to know his colours and numbers when we do them. I have some math manipulatives and done some things with him, but again, after a minute or so he starts throwing them about. yes, normal behaviour for a 2 year old, but I do think it's boredom, that he's ready for more. I was going to order miquon for my 5 year old as a supplement so I might just as well order the first book and give it a try. I'll try and see how he does with phonics, I haven't tried it, because I didn't expect him to be ready yet.

 

Make sure this is not a vision issue.  One of my daughters was very inconsistent about "knowing" her colors.  It was baffling to me until I realized that her vision was terrible, and maybe she couldn't tell me the color of xyz because she could not see or identify xyz in the first place.

 

The day she got her first glasses (a little before age 3).  She saw a stoplight and said, "green, yellow, red!"  At that point I realized she had probably never seen a stoplight before.  However, her vision issues were more complex than that and she still has some issues at age 7 that trace to that.

 

If there are possible vision issues, the last thing I would do is give him workbooks.

[morgan]

We did some of the early Kumon books, they are more cutting/pasting/folding type than workbook style. Some were a bit too frustrating for my kid at 2 though, as she didn't have great fine motor skills. 

We also had a lot of success with mazes (lots and lots of mazes), puzzles, tanagrams, magnetic pattern blocks, building train tracks, etc. during these years. 

 

While my daughter was never into playdough or coloring, she did enjoy making bigger messes, like cooking or painting. 

 

Perhaps finding something of interest for imaginary play? That can occupy hours of time, if you can find the right thing for the right kid. For my youngest it was those little Schleich animals. She just loved them.

 

I broke down and started teaching her phonics at 3 because she had already started teaching herself to sight read. But I wouldn't be in too big of a rush to start formal school stuff, especially if he hates workbooks.

 

And for what it is worth, my daughter hated those Leap Frog videos. Although I know a ton of people love them, they apparently aren't a hit with every toddler :) 

 

 

[bakpak]

My DD was purposefully giving me wrong answer about colors and traditional things you ask toddlers by 18 months. I started doing Spanish with her and she stopped the wrong answers immediately. This happened multiple times when I wasn't paying attention to how advanced she was, and it was largely due to boredom. I would trust your gut on this one - you know your child.

 

My DD definitely enjoyed Kumon books at that age, but she loved tracing letters, numbers & mazes. You can go ahead in math and phonics as far as your DS is interested! Keep it light and fun and it's amazing what they can absorb. That's when I started using more Montessori materials for teaching.

[SWinner]

I think I would use a whiteboard rather than workbooks.  And three-dimensional toys such as letters that can be lined up into words.  Maybe C-rod games and such.  Wiki stix.  Sidewalk games.

 

I'm with SKL on this. 3D is the way to go for a 2yr old. Don't ever recall mine being bored at that age - just supply plenty of hands on stuff to get into. This is the time to be exploring the world around and warm weather presents great opportunities. One of my favorites was a pail of water & a brush on the sidewalk or wall. Chalk is great, as is tempera paint outside. Practice colors painting the grass. At the beach we did shapes in the sand. Count flowers, leaves, pebbles.

 

Plenty of time for books later.

[Arcadia]

I dump Legos (normal not Duplos) on my boys at that age. They can teach themselves math and science with Legos their way :lol:

They love the Keva planks too.

[Tanikit]

How were your other children at two? I ask because I see you have 4 boys - and then one comes along that seems different to the others - perhaps on a faster track, or perhaps it is just that you are even more busy now. 

 

I would probably stay away from the workbooks and do a lot of read alouds and play a lot of games with him that allow him to move around - maybe train your eldest son (or the others - whoever is more amenable) to play games with him and teach him which will free you up to deal with the older boys. I did teach both my girls to read at 2 years of age starting with sight words and moving to phonics around 3 years of age - in very very short sessions. I'd certainly try teaching anything if you think it would help and then see what his reaction is to it.

 

I agree - bring out the playdough, lego/duplo, toy cars and things to bash with (hammers - plastic ones, spades etc), paintbrush and water, maybe try Mastermind shapes/Brainy Blocks or puzzles if he will try those. Teach him to cut with scissors (and make sure he knows what he can and can't cut - sigh), let him glue and paste and teach while he does all those if you want to add in the phonics. Mostly it sounds like he needs to get moving a lot more which can be hard with 3 more - get them involved too perhaps.

[Starr]

I would help him learn to play. Bring out enriching activities for short periods of time, put them away and bring out something else. It sounds like he's being a two year old while the other kids are busy. He may never like a workbook. He may be action boy. It's a whole new way of thinking and teaching.  :grouphug:

[nature girl]

IMHO 2 is too young to begin formal teaching of phonics. My DD learned at that age, but I never would have actively tried to teach her, and never used workbooks at that age other than cutting/mazes/tracing/sticker books.

 

She was a huge story lover, so we did a ton of read alouds and she'd point to the letters in the same way littles point to pictures so that they can learn vocabulary. So if she pointed to a letter I'd tell her the letter name in the same way I would have said "camel" if she'd pointed to a camel. (If I had it to do again, I'd just tell her the sound of the letter, but back then I hadn't looked at all at philosophies of teaching phonics.) So she knew all her letters by 18 months, they were just vocabulary to her...And then I started telling her the sounds the letters make, in the same way you tell children, "That's a dog, the dog says Woof!" So "That's a U, the U says uh..." She learned letter sounds early that way, and then just started sounding out words and blending. It was all very natural and nurturing and fun, and all self-directed.

 

Without the natural inclination, her drive to learn it, I don't think I ever would have even thought of trying to teach her, and I wouldn't ever have done it through formal lessons before 5. There have been numerous studies showing that for most children, there's no benefit in the long run to teaching them to read early, that it can actually be detrimental.

[Staceyshoe]

There's nothing wrong with trying some instruction and seeing what happens.  My 2 y.o. *begged* me to teach him to read, and I thought he was too young.  He ended up teaching himself, and I regret not working with him.  Different kids are different, and it's hard to predict how it will go.  If he's not ready for phonics or math, it will be painfully obvious very quickly.  You will both be very frustrated.  In that case, simply set it aside and try other things.  No harm done.

[puddleduck]

Thanks everyone, for all the suggestions. We've been doing some phonics and miquon. He keeps asking for more. A great success! We also skipped the first few preschool books, and went on to the harder ones. I also bought some mpre math manipulatives and thinking skills games to keep him busy. He's much calmer now, definitely less bored.