[wife&mommy]

I have never really been around kids before besides my DS and I am curious, when it is appropriate/typical for toddlers to learn the following:

Colors (matching colors to things they see)?

Letters (recognizing letters of the alphabet and pointing them out)?

Numbers?

Memory type games? (like those games where you pick the matching card)

Thank you!

 

[monarn]

I haven't really been around many kids either but from what people have told me my dd is advanced at 22 months she knows all the basic colors, can recite the abc's (she might skip a couple letters). She counts to 13 and she recognizes a few letters and a couple numbers and loves to play memory (we use about 5 or 6 matches at a time.) She has known her colors for a while now but everything else has been a fairly new thing.

 

[eirual]

Ds is 22 mos and I've just recently thought about teaching him colours. We've been playing around with the phonetic sounds of letters for quite some time and he loves it! We listen to a Jolly Phonics CD I have and he'll play with the magnetic fridge letters putting them up and expecting me to give him what sound they make.

He hasn't said any of the sounds they make, but he groups them together. Like if we said "j" not too long ago, and we pull another one, he'll put the j with the other j. So I think he's absorbing some stuff.

He's just this week started puzzles (I have a new fetish for melissa and doug chunky puzzles!).

I haven't thought about memory games, he'd probably like that.

It seems within the recent weeks he's been so much more into his environment and able to communicate about it that it seems like all of a sudden he's ready and wanting to know anything you want to teach him.

 

[ann_of_loxley]

I have no idea hun! hehe
This will probably be based on how well they can talk though (my son was a late talker! hehe)...

I find what has helped my son most though - is knowing what kind of 'learner' he is ... My son is very hands on - I guess this is called Kinestetic (sp? hehe).... So I use that to his advantage. I have got him HUGE foam letters and numbers to play with and in a matter of a few months (these past few in fact) he now knows his numbers/letters/sounds they make/ and has JUST learned his colours! I dont think he would be there though, if I didnt realise how hands on he was with his learning and tried to help him that way!

 

[MamaJenese]

my 25 month old knows his ABC's and counts to 20, loves puzzles. He has had these skills for a couple of months. He loves music so the counting and letters where easy for him to pick up through song. He is color blind so everything according to him is blue or green!

 

[Peony]

It varies A LOT. My DD1 is 4.5 and can't count to 20 and doesn't know her ABC's. She can pick out some letters, write a couple in her name, she counts to about 12, she has known her colors for a couple years though, and knows some in spanish, and she is an average child. She is, however, a very active child, she excels at gymnastics, loves soccer, baseball, climbs trees by herself, has been doing the big monkey bars by herself for some time, rides her bike with no training wheels, and this summer figured out how to climb on TOP of the playground structures, yes she is part monkey.

She might not be interested in "learning" things, but then one day she'll want to do something (like writing my name for example, her's is pretty long), and I'll show her once and that's it, she knows it.

I've noticed in all the DC I know, that the ones were ahead in learning ABC's, etc... aren't that active, they like to play, but they aren't out there climbing all over things, and the ones who are half monkey take a while to learn things. It's like the child focus on either being physical or to learn more school type activites.

 

[LolaK]

There is a HUGE difference between saying the alphabet or counting to 10/20 and being able to identify letters by sight or actually understanding what "5" is.

At 2 my daughter who is very, very active and climby knew what color pretty much anything was, could count past 10, and could sing the alphabet. However if I were to write a letter and ask her what it was she would have no idea. At 2.5 I think she now has an understanding of what 5 of something really means.

I think colors are much more intuitive for kids to pick up and therefore are probably the first out of that list for many kids to know. The other things are more "parent taught" so your 2 year old won't be able to sing the alphabet if you never sing it to him. They are much less a measure of a smart kid and much more a measure of what you talk to your kid about.

 

[akvtmama]

I agree with Lola K- that sounds just like our house. The thing to me is, I don't really care if she knows those things right now. I gues it's the waldorfyness in me, but i got way more excited when she started to do some really great imaginative play a couple months ago ( around 20 months) and getting better every day and like the monkey mom

I think learning to use her body and rythm and such is way more important at the age of two than memorizing

 

[jeteaa]

I would say somewhere between 20 months to 3 yrs is normal

 

[AmyRoo]

Yep, definitely varies *a lot* in my experience!

Atticus turns 2 in a few weeks. He knows a lot of colors, can truly count 2-3 items, and rattles off some numbers in order. That's about it as for what you listed. I try to just go with whatever has sparked his interest, and so far the alphabet hasn't at all. We've never thought about memory games, but I have a sneaking suspicion he'd much prefer to scatter the cards around the house and then "clean"!

 

[BellinghamCrunchie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peony I've noticed in all the DC I know, that the ones were ahead in learning ABC's, etc... aren't that active, they like to play, but they aren't out there climbing all over things, and the ones who are half monkey take a while to learn things. It's like the child focus on either being physical or to learn more school type activites.

Exactly!

 

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peony I've noticed in all the DC I know, that the ones were ahead in learning ABC's, etc... aren't that active, they like to play, but they aren't out there climbing all over things, and the ones who are half monkey take a while to learn things. It's like the child focus on either being physical or to learn more school type activites.

I completely agree. DD learned her primary and secondary colours around 16 months of age, knows her alphabet, and can accurately count sets of objects up to about 6 (that's new in the last couple of weeks). Her vocabulary is huge too. "Academically", she's ahead of her peers (at 26 months).

Physically though - she is just not interested. She's a tiny kid, and is extremely tentative. She doesn't want to really climb, she definitely doesn't want to slide, and has only just now developed any interest in jumping or running. She's just learned to climb on the sofa - something her same-age cousin was doing a full year ago. I'm guessing she's not going to be a professional athlete LOL.

All kids are going to have different strengths. DD is going to have no problem in school, but the playground might be different. We feed her mind, and try to encourage her to use her body.

Here's the thing though - she was waaay ahead of her same-age playmate in terms of language and concepts a few months ago. Now, he's catching up, and they can have conversations. And she is beginning to get brave enough to climb up the play structure at the park. So, they're both evening out. In a few months, I'm betting no one will know who started talking first (although I suspect she's never going to be very physically adventurous!).

 

[hubris]

I agree that it varies a LOT. Both of my sons started identifying colors, letters, and numbers *around* age two, but they didn't do the same things at the same age. It took several months for them to develop those concepts, too - like they'd have one color name for a couple of months, then get another color, then have a burst of color understanding.

DS2 is 27 mos old, had the concept of "ABCs" before age 2, but only recently started seeking out letters and naming some of them. He started singing the whole ABC song about a week ago.

For matching - things like shape sorting and puzzles emerged around the same time. DS1 was doing those things a little before age 2. DS2 was a little over age 2. Actual matching games (like card games, or the concept of "same") came a little later for DS1 and DS2 is not there yet.

BTW, we don't really drill on any of this stuff, the ages I've given are the ages when my kids just seemed interested in these concepts and ready for them.

 

[eepster]

It varies partiallly from personality and partially from what you choose to teach. If you never sit around with your child singing the ABC song then you child won't learn it till they start school. However, if you spend lots of time each day singing the ABCs then yourchild may well be able to sing them before 2 yo.

 

[DiMi mama]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eepster It varies partiallly from personality and partially from what you choose to teach. If you never sit around with your child singing the ABC song then you child won't learn it till they start school. However, if you spend lots of time each day singing the ABCs then yourchild may well be able to sing them before 2 yo.

As eepster pointed out, it is what you do with them. My ds and I received an alphabet puzzle that we played with like mad, he learned a lot of his letters and then I forgot about it...so did he along with all that I thought I was teaching him!

My mother is a Learning Director of a school and let me know that they have kids entering into kindergarten not knowing letters, numbers, colors. So there are kids all over the board.

We just play and sometimes if it relates bring in numbers and letters. But I am no longer stressed about it like I was about a year ago. My son is 3 now.

 

[MyCalling]

Before my second child was two, he knew his letters and their sounds both hearing and seeing them and could count 16 objects. He could also put together a 48 piece puzzle by himself, which is the only thing I consider impressive. He's now going on 5yo and can sound out 3-letter words occasionally, can't recognize all of his letters, skips a couple of numbers counting to 20 and spent 2 full years not caring about puzzles, but can now do 100pc puzzles in 8 minutes.

It doesn't really matter what kids are doing at 2yo when commonly cared about "abilities" are merely memorization.

 

[BookGoddess]

My daughter turned two two months ago. She can count to 15 although she occasionally skips a number. She knows her primary colors and basic shapes. I've heard her recite part of the alphabet but I don't think she understands what letters are. She's merely repeating what she remembers from the alphabet song. We don't drill her on colors, shapes, or letters. I think she's picked up some of these concepts from Sesame Street and just listening to DH and me. I don't think it's necessary to teach such concepts now and I balk at the trend to drill these concepts at even earlier ages (not suggesting any mama here does it. Just a general pet peeve of mine. ) DD has plenty of time to master letters, couting, etc. At this age, I want her to follow directions and play well with other children.

 

[speedknitter]

If you want to teach letters, I highly recommend the DVD Letter Factory from LeapFrog. We have been watching that in combination with working an alphabet puzzle and within one week she knows almost all the letters by sight, a lot of their sounds (the B says buh) and even drew a "Q" on her paper with a crayon the other day. She will be 2.5 in 2 weeks. It is so awesome to watch this learning explosion going on in her brain! Way cool...especially since it is totally driven by her, she asks to do the puzzle and watch the DVD and also has foam letters and numbers for the bathtub.

 

[Zoeanne]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MyCalling It doesn't really matter what kids are doing at 2yo when commonly cared about "abilities" are merely memorization.

There is really no reason to teach such young children letters and numbers, except to impress other parents. As pps pointed out, just because a child can recite the alphabet or rattle off numbers doesn't mean they have any real understanding of the concepts behind what they are saying. Most children don't have a grasp of one-to-one ratios until 3 or 4 (meaning they understand that each number corresponds to one object as they count)

They will learn their colors if you have normal conversations with them (if they point out a truck, say "yes, it's a blue truck") Many children are interested in learning to identify "their" letter, and the letters that "belong" to important people in their lives.

Just because a child can be "taught" something, doesn't make it developmentally appropriate.

The best thing you can do to foster your child's future academic skills is provide plenty of time for open-ended imaginative play and discovery. They will do the things that their brain needs them to do! '

A child will be able to match two cards with the same picture, I would think, around 2-3 years, but I wouldn't expect them to be able to play the game in which you turn over cards, and have to remember where they are, until they are a good bit older--4 or 5.

FWIW , I have a B.A.Ed in Early Childhood Education

 

[Viriditas]

Ds is 21 months. He didn't start talking until about 18 or 19 months. He knows all of the letters by sight (but only capital), some of the letter sounds, and counts to 20 (but almost always skips 14 and 15

). He also recognizes basic colors. He fills in the blanks with the abc song (as with words in other songs) but he doesn't sing it by himself.

Saying these things makes me cringe, because it sounds like we're those kind of parents who drill their babies and try to get them ready for Harvard by the age of 7. In reality, I never expected to teach ds anything. He had a set of alphabet blocks, and when he would hand them to me I started saying the letter on them. He latched onto this really quickly and kept bringing me different blocks so I would say the letter. Then he started picking the letters out on signs and in books. Now he knows his letters, but it's really all due to his own enthusiasm! When I realized how into letters he was, I discovered Starfall.com, and he adores it! So that's how he knows some letter sounds.

As for numbers, we've just counted as we've gone down steps or built block towers. He learned 1-10 this way. Then we were at the park and he saw some kids and their mom swinging and counting to 20. He was enthralled, trying to count with them, so now we've been counting up to 20. He counts things sometimes, but I'm not sure how well he understands the concept.

I think my mom started pointing out colors to him. I don't know how else he learned those, unless it's just from us saying "here are your blue shoes" or "look at the white van".

I feel almost guilty about doing these "academic" things with my not-even-2-year-old, but he really, really loves doing them, and I'm not pushing it, praising him lavishly when he does it "right", or doing it for my own gratification. Why shouldn't I nurture my ds's interests if that's what he seems to want?

ETA: I want to make it clear that I NEVER initiate these activities without ds asking me first, I NEVER ask him to "perform" for other people ("what's this letter, ds?"), and I NEVER brag to other people about what he can do. I play letter/number games with him purely because I can see how much he enjoys it.