Three Year Olds

Read to them.

After you read to them, play, identify everything, talk, talk, talk all day long. Then, read to them. Get up and run around, swing, play ball, dig in the dirt and build castles in the sand. Then, read to them. Tell jokes and sing songs. Then, read to them. Let them poor water from container to container in the tub and pretend to be mermaids. Then, read to them. Blow bubbles and pop them. Then, read to them.

Let them enjoy being three and read to them. That is all you need to do!

Enjoy,
M.

Play games with them. Get a set of flash cards and do memory games with them. Get cards with letters, numbers, shapes and colors on them and just have a ball. Games like candy land can be played too but it may take some time before you get through an entire game. Distractions, you know but you can start. Another great kids game is shoots and ladders. They can learn numbers can counting that way. Have them in the kitchen with you and ask then what color is the corn, bell peppers, etc. ask then about the shape of the table, glasses, plates, etc. Everything can be a learning opportunity and should be but make it fun.

Great question.

Games and talk to them constantly. They learn from you. They learn about trees and dogs and just everything! Crayons and playdoh will help them feel and learn dexterity. Turn the sprinklers on in the yard as soon as it is warm enough and play games. Running and playing is learning too. If you can afford it get a double stroller and take walks outside and in the mall. Point out fun things. Have a picnic. Learn about leaves and acorns, rocks and sticks.

Read to your children and buy children's books they can touch and see pictures. Have story time every day. Take them to story time at the public library.

Enjoy!

Books, books, books, books, books! Find the closest library that offers a toddler reading time during the week and if you don't already have a card for there, get one. Go to the children's hour every week and when you leave check out books to read to them. As an overall introduction to letters, Chicka-Chicka Boom Boom is great and fun to read. For numbers you could do Miss Spider's Tea Party or Ten Apples Up On Top. At the library you will also find books of arts and crafts projects that you can do with them. The internet is an invaluable resource for parents who want to start teaching their kids at home. I will add some websites on here so you can go check them out.

I taught preschool for years and am now starting to do things at home with my own 3 and 4 year olds, so if you want a list of good books, some ideas for dfferent activities or anything just message me and let me know because I am building them a curriculum for the year and would be happy to share anything I have that you might be interested in.

In the meantime google because there are a million resources, just look for "preschool lesson plans" .

Hope this helps

L.

http://www.first-school.ws/themes.html

http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/Lesson_Plans/Mathematics/...

http://lessonplanz.com/Lesson_Plans/Thematic_Units/___Pre...

http://www.preschooleducation.com/

http://www.preschoolrainbow.org/

Since summer is almost here, you could take them out walking. Show and talk about the colors, count squares you see, look at letters. One tip the pre-k and kindergarten used when my older ones were in those grades was looking at the letters in known names, like O_R_E_O_S. I took mine out for walks and we would look at the different things that were squares, recetangles, cirlces etc. It got us out of the house, walking gave some exercise, plus they learned something without it being forced on them. As they got older they would race to see who found what first.

Limit television to 2 hours at max per day. Maybe do 1/2 hour increments.

Have structured times each day designated for different learning activities.

You could have Math time - teach them their numbers by drawing them on paper, finding numbers in magazines and reading books about numbers. Give them shaving cream and have them practice writing their numbers in the shaving cream (on a table). Have them help you make food and measure things out (or just have them help - "can you give me 2 eggs?")

Have 'circle time' where you sing songs and talk about your day, the weather, your theme for the week, etc.

Science time - you can make and play with bubbles, make gak, read 'scientific books', go on a nature hike and make a collage out of what you found, etc.

Art time - playdo, paints (finger paints, water colors, pudding, etc), make cereal necklaces, chalk, cut and paste, etc.

I would definitely set a time for each thing each day so that they get on a structured schedule.

Be sure to add in 'down time' even if it doesn't mean napping. This could be the time they play independently (together or apart).

You can also set some time in there to get housework done but also have them help!

Good luck! There is so much you can do with them so be sure to have fun and keep them busy!!!

I think the first thing is to turn off the TV as much as possible. Although it may seem that it helps them learn, and is advertised as such, there is no research to support their claims. Children learn best thru play, so try to play with them as much as possible. If there are any teacher supply stores in your area, you might want to check them out. I picked up a few great books on activities for preschoolers and they are fun and easy to do.

contact your local school district & ask for their Early Childhood Program. This unit will be able to give you a packet full of ideas on how to "teach" your child!

Great question. With my son, his daycare provider gave him a Leapfrog refrigerator magnet set that helped him learn his alphabet. That really was helpful! My husband then bought him a set of puzzles from Target, and they have one set of alphabet letters. My oldest and youngest both really love it.

You can also have them draw or color, talk about colors and animal noises, make a stuffed animal "zoo" and the kids can explore the animals, have them help you count when you cook (how many eggs do we need for the muffins? Can you help me put the flour in? How many scoops do we need for one cup of flour? Who wants to help me mix?).

It's also really neat to play dress-up with them, or play pretend. We also walk outside, talk about the trees and bushes, pick flowers, and talk about and imitate any animals that we see (squirrels, birds, dogs, cats, etc.). My kids also really like throwing sticks and rocks into water, so we go to the river near us and they find sticks and throw them in. Weird, I know, but they love it! We always talk about colors, textures, noises, etc. Just talk to them and with them, and you'll be amazed at what they pick up.

We also read a lot of books, to the point where many of them are memorized. When I am busy and can't read a book to them, I ask them to read it by themselves. They do!

I started working with my daugther just after she turned 1 year using letteroftheweek.com which is the site for Brightly Beaming Resources. She has a fabulous lesson plan put together beginning at 9mos and going up from there. Her plans are pretty easy to use and I could pick and choose what I wanted to use by simply cutting and pasting what I wanted into a Word doc. My daughter and the little girl that I watched at the time I used this loved this! Actually, at that time, we would have breakfast and then it was time for school. They cheered to get started!

There is some prep that I had to do to get ready for each lesson but that didn't take much time. All of the resources that I needed were available through the library...I just had to make sure that I ordered 2-3 weeks at a time to be sure that I had everything I needed for each lesson. The only book that was not listed as material for the lessons are the Jane Belk Moncure books. These are really helpful as they are learning letters and phonics. The other thing that was really nice were the Leap Frog videos. The Letter Factory will teach them phonics in 1 week and The Word Factory starts putting together 3 letter words. In addition, I would incorporate movies based on the weekly theme for each lesson plan. For example, one theme was lighthouse so we watched Pete's Dragon, or for Rainbow we watched Wizard of Oz, etc. It made it a little more fun as time went on.

The other thing that I have done every summer since my daughter was very little was participate in the summer reading program at the library. She loved to go pick up her books, return her reading list and pick out a new book when she was done! I would just do an online search for reading lists for toddlers and create my own huge list to order books from! In addition, the library has the RAFT program later in the year. Toddlers can participate by simply having 3 level 1 or 2 chapter books read to them. So far we have earned The Wizard of Oz and Alice and Charlotte's Web...too advanced for my daugther to read herself but I've been reading to her for so long now that she loves to have me sit and read these books to her. They are really nice books so she'll eventually have them to read herself.

I also search for activities available through the parks departments and the nature centers in the areas. They often have toddler storytime where they talk about different animals and then have a craft. These are fun and educational!

Hope this helps and you have a great time learning with your little ones! Let me know if you have questions.

The advice given so far is great, but I wanted to point out that they really don't need to learn to read or "do math" at this point if they aren't very interested yet. Don't force it! Learning should be fun--and it certainly doesn't require sitting at a desk or table doing "busy work"! ;-) If they think it's fun to do flash cards, sure, by all means bring on the flashcards... but if they couldn't care less what letter or picture is on the card, then just put the deck away and don't worry about it. It's really sad to see kids that "hate school" before they're even in the first grade because someone (often a parent) has been pushing too hard!

I definitely agree to read to them every day, even if it's only a couple bedtime stories (even better if you have "story time" during the day, too). And let them see you reading for enjoyment, too!

But also remember that things that may not necessarily seem "educational" are still an important part of learning--especially at this age. Dancing to music, singing silly songs, drawing and coloring, pouring water, playing with imaginary friends, kneading dough or making cookies, building a tent or a fort from chairs and blankets, helping you sort laundry, making art out of "trash," digging in the dirt, talking to the elderly neighbor lady about her childhood, even daydreaming... all of these are things you can do with them that don't cost anything but time--and they'll learn a lot as they go!

HTH!

When my children were 3, I began the book How To Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons. By the time they were 5, they were tested in school at reading off the charts... which was past 2nd grade level. I now have a 3 year old and we just began a few weeks ago and he is already reading simple sentences.

We also get workbooks from Walmart and Dollar Tree. We have number and alphabet flash cards. I read books to him alot. We do crafts a few times a week. And I allow him to "write" letters to family members, though it is mostly scribble (but our family loves getting the letters).

Hope this helps!

Flash cards. Go to a teacher supply store and maybe get some workbooks for their age. Arts and crafts even are useful in learning. Always name the colors of things and say the name of everything you give them or see when out and about. Ask them to name objects and colors. Count everything and have them count with you. Blocks are good. Puzzles (the wooden kind for their age group). A water table or sand box are good. They learn cause and effect (filling/dumping out). They're such little sponges at this age. Teach them the alphabet, colors, counting, high/low, big/tall, light/dark, day/night. Good luck and have fun!

Marda hit this right on the head! Read and talk, then read and talk some more! lol

READ!!!!! Also get out and do things...go to the park, story hours, free activities, whatever! The more words and experiences they have the smarter they will be.

The websites you got are also helpful, use that kind of stuff too, but I don't think it needs to be that structured all the time.

Umm...not watch Nickelodeon in the day time?! Even better, not buy into the myth that television is educational (with some exceptions, like Sesame Street). Just as an FYI, if you notice, a lot of kids' shows have an "E/I" in the corner of the screen, which stands for "educational/informative." It's supposed to mean your kid will learn from the show. Without boring you with the details, the political debate that went into that labeling system pretty much took the teeth out of it. Just about anything can be claimed as E/I, all based on the network's judgment. Plus, 'informative' is NOT the same as 'educational.' Just about anything can be called informative, and teaching kids about "kinesthetic movement" from TV (read the little blurbs they put up at the beginning of the program) is kind of a joke.

The more you take them away from the TV and put books and the real world in its place, the more you will be educating them. Education isn't a product you have to consume, so don't let anyone--whether via Nick shows, Baby Einstein videos, or Leapfrog computers--sell it to you!