2 Yr Old Learning Alphabet and Numbers

Whatever you do don't get angry or irritated. Also, you don't have to spend lots of money. Use what's around you. When you go for walks, look at signs and identify the letters. You can do this everywhere you go-grocery store, park, etc. We play I Spy with letters and numbers instead of colors. Bathtub letters are great, too. When you read books ask him,"Do you see the letter B?" and see if he can find it. When have Leap Frog refrig magnets and my boys love them and they have helped them learn a lot. Good luck!

My son was not in MDO until he was 2 and we did very limited "learning" activities at home and he has picked everything up just fine. This is his second year in, he is now 4 and can recognize almost all of the letters and write about 5 and can spell his name. If you are getting too frustrated i would stop so it doesn't cause him to not want to learn further down the line. i would limit his TV/movie time to educational things or PBS kids in the morning and then put him in MDO or preschool and let them handle it. Maybe he is just not ready to work on things yet or maybe he would learn better interacting with his peers. HTH

My daughter has been watching just Sesame Street on On Demand since she was about 12 months.... She's going to be 2 in July and it's funny because I didn't think that she would learn any numbers or letters until she was 3.. but just by watching that she can recognize and say the letters H and E. I guess it's because they spend an hour just throwing one number and one letter per show and On Demand only has a few episodes on there so she watches them repeatedly.

She is in a little preschool and goes twice a week from 9-2.. there are alot of churches that start little preschools like that from 12 months and they are not that expensive. Maybe you can also look into that. I also think that interaction with kids her age influences her to learn with them too.

Hi A.,
Your right about keeping things fun at this age or it will backfire on you! I used those tub letters in the bath tub. I would just take one or two at a time and place them in the tub. Then I would make a game of taking a letter and touching the knee (or any other part of the body) and say "Look the letter A is touching your knee" or "The letter C is touching your nose" and so on. It's a fun way to learn the letters and body parts all while taking a bath! They can learn colors too this way. Most important is that it is a game and once they lose interest, back off and leave it at that. I was a preschool teacher and now I am homeschooling my boys. Teacher patience is a must. Have fun with her and learn too.
Best Regards,
C.

Buy a felt board and some felt and cut out letters, or buy pre-cut ones and put one letter on the board, name it, and have him find the one that matches and put it next to it. It's a fun game, and is great for kids who don't like to sit still, like mine. :)

My son learned very well. We used both of those DVD series you mentioned. I think the key is NEVER to push. I offered the DVDs and let him choose when to watch them. I never ever make him sit and watch if he chooses not to. I was lucky with him in that he enjoyed watching them, often while he was up and about playing trains or other games. I have flashcards, but don't drill him. They sit in his toy box and when he chooses to get them out I will start playing with him with them. Again, never ever make him do it if he doesn't want to. I like Preschool Prep Co, but the drawback with them is they do not teach sounds - only letter recognition. For sounds, we had a lot of luck with www.starfall.com That worked wonderfully. He still begs to "do letters" on there. Oh, and get the Leapfrog letter magnets. Those are awesome. Make up games. One of our favorite restaurant games is to give him a menu and have him find certain letters and numbers, and now we are working on short words. He has fun and learns and it passes time! I really think the key is to let them think learning is just a fun game.

This may sound way too obvious, but I wouldn't work on drilling letter so much now as reading and singing. My DD (2 in April )started asking about letters b/c we read to her ALL the time...she gets that those marks on the page are where we get the words from...so now she's curious. We also sing the ABC song with her--she generally loves singing songs all the time (Old McDonald, Where is Thumbkin, etc). So she's learning to sing her letters. We've then moved on to letter magnets on the fridge and in the tub (we have an old cast-iron tub, so magnets work on it) and also those foamy sticky letters, which she uses to make presents for family members for holidays (I hand her letters to spell "nana," for example, for a mother's day card. They don't usually go in order, but she gets that the letters make the name, and is very proud!). Like others have said, keep it fun, and be guided by his curiosity...he's still really young (and my DD's a bit of a freak for learning her letters so early, so please don't calibrate with us! She's late in other things...every kid is different!)

two years old is really early to be pushing things like this. He will have a little button inside later and not all kids at the same time to want to learn. And I heard this from a kindergarden teacher about them reading. She was frustrated at some parents because they were upset their children weren't reading yet. She was sure by the right time they would all read, but not all at the same time. So let him be a two year old for now. They learn so much at that age about the world around them without anyone trying to (teach) them something at such a young age.

I have not "pushed" my 26-month-old son to learn letters or numbers. We have the Leapfrog magnetic letters that you put in the little "slot" and it tells the letter and the sound it makes. LOVE IT!!! My son has learned about 3/4 of the alphabet just by messing with that at his leisure. I think he's picked up numbers from watching a Sesame Street DVD with The Count character on it (he loves him).

Good luck to you and DON'T STRESS!!!

I went to Teacher Mart and purchased a book and cd. The book contains tear out books for A-Z and then the cd has a song that will help them learn the alphabet. I also put a flash card one letter per week on the pantry door. If my daughter wanted a snack she would have to tell me the letter. Also put up home made flash cards on thing around your house that starts with that letter. If it get to fustrating don't worry I promise you there will only be a very few kids who know all the letters and numbers when he starts preschool. They really don't even push it until they are 3. Best of luck.

My best advice...let it go!!! You are only going to set him up to hate learning things if it is frustrating him. No flash cards, no forcing him to sit and pay attention, none of it. Other kids his age dont typically know that either..my son is almost 3 and still does not. Some kids do, usually girls, and that is ok. They all catch up in the end, and honestly, it is not worth the aggravation. That said, I talk to him often about things like colors, numbers, letters, etc..just no formal training. In everyday conversation you could point out letters on things if you like, but really, he is just fine. He needs to be learning physical and social skills right now, the educational side will come in time. Hang in there, keep reading to him, talking to him about things around him, and make it fun. Good luck ~A.~

My husband & I taught our eldest daughter to read & did it without flashcards & DVDs and no stress. She never spent a day at an MDO or a preschool We've always been readers; lots of books in the house, reading throughout the day & at bedtime. When we began homeschooling when Madison was 5, we introduced some basic, fun workbooks and before we knew it, she was reading. She pretty much taught herself, with us facilitating the learning.

I'm convinced that it was such a natural process for her because we read to her so much as she was growing up. She's 8 now and is a fantastic reader and, more importantly, loves to read.

I think if you try to push it onto a child who's not ready, you'll end up frustrating you both & turning him away from it. Don't worry about keeping him on par with what it seems other children are doing. Let him have fun, read to him, let him see you read. He'll pick it up & enjoy it if you allow it to be natural for him. If you're getting frustrated, then you know that you need to change what you're doing & find another approach.

Good luck & enjoy your babies! :)

I have 14 yrs experience working with children and really for a 2 1/2 yr old boy that is pretty realy to be introducing that. Most dayc are center wou dhold off and start in the 3's class as the children are more mature to sit and recieve the new information being passed to them. Be careful there are fun ways to get him to learn, but you never want to do things too early or as competiontion with other children. As long as he knows it for Kindergarden he's good to go.