[BensMom]

My son has suddenly had what I call one of his "cognitive bursts". All his life he has had spurts where he was really behind other kids and then all of a sudden catches up.

Like recently, he (seemingly overnight) started recognizing all of his letters and his numbers. He just decides one day he wants to learn something and really focuses on it until he "gets" it. (It's how he was with walking, his colors, etc) Learning his letters came from doing an ABC puzzle we have where he asked us each letter and now knows them.

So where do we go from here? I really do not want to push him academically at this age, but I feel like we need a new challenge. So once a toddler knows their letters, numbers, colors and shapes, what comes next? Of course we draw, paint, explore interests, etc. But I feel like I should be challenging him and giving him the opportunity to learn more, but I am not going to break out a pile of flashcards and start drilling him. Am I making any sense here? Sorry if I sound like I am rambling.

Jenn & Ben 31 mos

 

[LuvMy2Kidz]

We got ds a Pre-K workbook. He has learned to write all the letters, and how to draw shapes. He loves that book and will sit for over an hour doing page after page.

 

[USAmma]

My dd sounds a lot like your son, just loves to soak up knowledge. I had never planned to push her to make her into some kind of child wonder.

Try teaching him the sounds letters make, and make it a game. My dd just sounded out her first word last night out of the blue!!! The word "yes" in one of her books. You can write out some signficant words and tell them what they say, like his name, Mommy, Daddy, cat, dog, car, etc. Dd sight reads simple words after I tell her once, but I'd rather she used phonics so haven't introduced too many sight words. She's always asking me, "Mommy, what's that say?" A couple weeks ago pointed to our cereal box and said, "C-H-E-X spells cereal."

You can also introduce number symbols and counting, play Memory game using 6 tiles to start (we are up to 12 now and she'll beat me if I don't watch it), harder jigsaw puzzles (dd is up to 24 piece ones). Dd knows her numbers and is really into dot-to-dots all of a sudden, as well as tracing letters and numbers. Abi loves to memorize poems and songs too. She's into Peter Paul and Mary right now and just learned to sing "If I Had a Hammer."

I know, it's really challenging when they keep pushing you to teach them something and you get stuck. I have a preschool workbook that I got from CostCo but she doesn't have enough motor control to write letters like they expect her to in the book, nor does she have the attention span for most of the work yet. Proably next year. It's meant for 4-5 years olds. I can't seem to find much in the way of workbooks or activity books for precocious 2-3 year olds. Sigh.

Darshani

 

[stafl]

My DD likes to play word games. She invented (or maybe she saw it on Sesame Street) this rhyme game, and it's kind of fun!
"how now brown cow" ... "fat cat sat on a hat"
along the same lines, we also play this game where we only use words that start with the same letter "baby beetles have bumpy backs" .. "blue boat bumps a big banana"..."funny frogs flee from fish"
it's fun and silly and we end up in fits of giggles!

When we are coloring or drawing, she'll ask me to "draw" something. Sometimes she wants a picture, sometimes the word. She will also point to words in a book or magazine and ask me what it says.

learning happens, just follow his lead!