I was hesitant at first because all I could think about was how I'd probably be inviting secret criticism from the tens of people who read this blog. I know I'm not doing everything perfect and I'm certain there are better ways/methods/ideas out there, but this is what my "teacher-self" came up with and what worked for Garrison; therefore what I'm planning to do with Austin.
I was also hesitant because even though I love getting ideas from other moms about how they've taught their toddler/preschoolers new things, it also sort of makes me feel insecure. It's kind of like when you hear/read about someone else's 2 year old already knowing all their letters and you think, Oh, we haven't even started that. Man. I've got to get on this as soon as possible or he'll be behind. I never want to make anyone feel that way. Discouragement is the last thing I want. Children have different personalities, interests, ways of learning, etc that all play a part in when and how they learn. They're all going to learn at different paces and they'll all have their own little areas of strengths and weaknesses. Having said all that, I do hope my simple little 'opportunities for learning' I'm always working to create can be helpful or useful to someone else. I know I sure do love stealing great yet simple ideas!
Honestly this "series" is mainly for me. I'm excited about having everything recorded so I can come back to it in the next few months and years and remember the exact little ways I did things with Garrison and at what age I did them. I know Garrison and Austin are different and they will probably learn differently too, BUT, as their mom and very first teacher I also believe it's up to me to introduce new things and create learning opportunities, AND, if it worked the first time around it just makes sense to do it again. That's one thing I learned when teaching... no need to reinvent the wheel. =)
Okay, now for the learning of colors and uppercase letters...
Colors
I started working with Garrison on learning his colors before he was 2. (Disclaimer: I'm not saying this is best or right... just what I personally decided to do when I thought he might be ready... because my niece knew hers sometime around this age...) If I'm remembering correctly I think he was around 18 or 20 months. And it seemed like it took him a long, long time to finally learn them. The main way he learned his colors was through books and blocks.
Everytime we read a book about colors, we practiced. If we were reading the "red" page, I'd point out everything on the page and say red strawberry, red flower, red crayon, etc. Then when we got to the green page I'd say green grass, green grapes, green shirt. I'm not sure if it was helpful or not, but if nothing else it was repetitive! I also pointed out the colors of his little spoons or toys or clothes... focusing on the primary colors.
Also, everytime we played with his red, blue, yellow, and green mega blocks we practiced. I would start building with yellow blocks and then ask him to find me more yellow blocks. Or we'd sort them into piles based on their color. I remember there being lots of times when he wanted no part of sorting or building with certain colors. He just wanted to play! Nevertheless, I still tried to incorporate a little color practice every time we played with them. And finally, one day it all clicked. He learned blue, red, and yellow first and eventually figured out green, orange, pink, purple, black, etc. Now he knows them all! And we were so proud. =)
Uppercase Letters
We started working on uppercase letters right after he turned 2. I'm not sure why it was so important to me. I think as a former teacher I just know how valuable a good foundation is entering school. It gives children such a head start to enter school already knowing some stuff. And I had also read another blog... and her little girl was already recognizing the letters in her name and she was the exact same age as Garrison... so I got motivated. Haha.
The main way Garrison learned uppercase letters was through alphabet books, alphabet magnets, an alphabet puzzle, and bath letters. We started with the bath letters. The bath letters (and numbers) were a gift from AnAn and used a ton. I started by only putting the letters A-G in the bath with him and leaving the others put up. Every. single. night. we played a game with the letters when we were cleaning up before getting out of the tub. I'd say, find the letter A! It's blue! And he would find it and put it up. Then I'd say B.., C..., etc. Sometimes I'd go out of order. Sometimes I'd give the "color clue" to help him narrow it down. And eventually he mastered A-G. After that we removed those letters and put in the rest, but by that time we'd started reading alphabet books, playing with alphabet magnets, and putting together his alphabet puzzle so he had a little bit of a head start on the remaining letters.
The Sesame Street puzzle was a big hit. He got it for his 2nd birthday from Nana and Pops. He loved seeing the characters and loved puzzles so it was a perfect way to learn more letters. When putting it together I always tried to get him to help find the letters first. I'd tell him the color or the character to look for and he slowly mastered the other letters. It was definitely a long-term process... months I think. And it certainly required patience, but now he knows them all. Sometimes he still gets V and Y mixed up, but I would say he's been able to officially recognize all uppercase letters for a while now. Whew. In the words of my little man, that was hard work.
Next up... counting and numbers!
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