SAHMs of two and three year olds

Do you do any kind of pre-school type activities with them? Arts and crafts or worksheets for example?

ETA: neither of my kids are in school yet but will be next year

Message edited 12/29/2011 10:44:52 AM.

Re: SAHMs of two and three year olds

Even though DD is in school 2 days a week, I do this sort of stuff with both kids. Even if it's something just as simple as counting things as they clean up, going over letters as I read a book with them, etc. I don't do things like worksheets, but always "teach" as they play, color, etc.

Re: SAHMs of two and three year olds

My 3 year old is in school but my 2 year old isn't yet---my younger one does coloring, finger paints, etc, not really any preschool sheets yet. My 3 year old (almost 4) does have a work book we do, but I don't push it, we also 'practice' cutting, holding a pencil when we are doing crafts.

Message edited 12/29/2011 11:25:45 AM.

Re: SAHMs of two and three year olds

with DD#1 i did a lot at home with her. crafts, starfall.com, and loads of reading time.

i have done less with DD#2, but both kiddos were in nursery school at 2.5.

Re: SAHMs of two and three year olds

I have a 3 yo and a 19 month old. I got 1.00 cars notebooks from target and they used color pencils to draw, killed a good 25 minutes this morning

We also did an m&d animal puzzle and the m&d clock today. Another 25 minutes, the clock is great I would def recommend it for a 2-4 yo

It's hard bc the 19 mo is not interested and whines the whole time,

I bought a dry erase work book (crayola from ac Moore ) it teaches letters and numbers , we havent tried it yet though.

now they are watching handy manny

My 3yo is in nursery but off this week.

Message edited 12/29/2011 12:13:10 PM.

Re: SAHMs of two and three year olds

I'm not a SAHM, but my DH used to work Sundays so it was just me and the kids on Sundays. So, on Sundays, I would do certain school-like activities with them that we generally dont do when we are all together. I started printing out worksheets for arts and crafts projects for a theme and telling them about it. We did assorted arts & crafts projects as well. And story time, of course. I really liked it. For Christmas, they got an art room, and I want to try to do stuff like that again--set aside some time on Sundays for me to do certain projects with them.

Re: SAHMs of two and three year olds

DS is starting a 2yo mommy & me program from jan-june on mondays. I'm also going to be taking him to library classes and saftswim in the spring.

He'll go a 2.5yo class by himself in sept.

ETA: I misread your question. I dont have any worksheets but I teach him colors, letters and numbers all day.

Message edited 12/29/2011 2:52:58 PM.

Re: SAHMs of two and three year olds

DD is 3 and not in PreK but being a certified teacher it's easy to find things to keep her busy. I even broke out some of my teaching gear to work on with her...............educational games, pocket charts, labels, charts etc.

I've labeled everything in her playroom so she can get a jump start on learning basic words and sight words, we do rhyming games, work on the alphabet, play games on the computer, practice writing her letters and numbers on the dry erase board, spelling games with the pocket chart, a ton of arts and crafts, and I started using basic leveled readers with her. (She is a book fanatic so I'm seizing the opportunity to work on pre-reading skills with her, she LOVES it!) We also do a lot of imaginative play and coloring. After the holidays I' going to start bringing her to the library more for activities, just to get out and get a change of scenery. I will probably start using some of my teacher worksheets in the future, in a fun way, just because I think she would enjoy them. I have plenty to do with her, just not enough hours in a day!!

Re: SAHMs of two and three year olds

Posted by Hofstra26

DD is 3 and not in PreK but being a certified teacher it's easy to find things to keep her busy. I even broke out some of my teaching gear to work on with her...............educational games, pocket charts, labels, charts etc.

I've labeled everything in her playroom so she can get a jump start on learning basic words and sight words, we do rhyming games, work on the alphabet, play games on the computer, practice writing her letters and numbers on the dry erase board, spelling games with the pocket chart, a ton of arts and crafts, and I started using basic leveled readers with her. (She is a book fanatic so I'm seizing the opportunity to work on pre-reading skills with her, she LOVES it!) We also do a lot of imaginative play and coloring. After the holidays I' going to start bringing her to the library more for activities, just to get out and get a change of scenery. I will probably start using some of my teacher worksheets in the future, in a fun way, just because I think she would enjoy them. I have plenty to do with her, just not enough hours in a day!!

Re: SAHMs of two and three year olds

When my DD was 2, and home, I really didnt do too much structured with her (such as the ex you gave). I tried a few times but nothing major.

Looking back, now that she is 3 and in school, I see how much she was lacking being home with me. I def didnt do enough structured play learning with her and I realize this now. Not sure what I would recommend but I def would rec something based on seeing what they do in my DDs preschool.

Re: SAHMs of two and three year olds

We do crafts and I try to teach them stuff like numbers, letters, etc. I don't really want to do a "school" atmosphere though, I'd really just rather they played and used their imaginations. They'll spend enough time in school.

Re: SAHMs of two and three year olds

DS#1 just turned 3 and we do all sorts of arts and crafts, right now he is obsessed with cutting paper so he is mastering scissors, we go through tons of play doh lately too. I do not do any worksheet things with him, but we do read tons of books and have a lot of alphabet/number type of games/puzzles we play to help identify them. I also find the Ipad to be an amazing learning tool, some of the preschool aps are awesome and DS has fun on there. We also play on the computer on nickjr and pbs kids, there are educational games on there to check out too.