Teaching letters and numbers at home

DS (18 months) goes to daycare, and they do little lessons, but I want to start doing things at home with him too...what should I look into - certain books? flash cards? I have some things at home, a picture book with the word next to it etc...

thanks!

Re: Teaching letters and numbers at home

Sorry to crash, but I taught pre-school for five years and had some ideas! The picture books with the words are definitely helpful. Large foam letters/numbers or magnetic letters/numbers are great too. I love the magnetic letters because it also helps to teach the letters in their name.

If you're okay with getting a little messy, spray some shaving cream on a play table and have him spread it out and write letters in it with your finger. They LOVE this!

Re: Teaching letters and numbers at home

I love this set, we haven't really used it, but I just love it!

Mellisa and Doug

Re: Teaching letters and numbers at home

At 18m Letter Factory (Leap Frog) was a HUGE hit, she fell in love with H, O, and other letters. She watched it over and over again and when she wasn't watching it we'd practice with the Leap Frog magnetic letters on the fridge.

Meet the Numbers by Pre-school prep taught her 1-10. She loved to mimic the 2 because it blew out candles. Again when not watching that we had books and other things to show and repeat.

EVERY SINGLE MOMENT is a learning moment. I was waiting at a coffee shop and they had huge tin signs (retro) and i'm pointing out each letter to her "What's this, is this an OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, yes its an OOOOOO" hahah Shameless I know. I'd pick up on whatever letter, color, number she liked and feed that confidence "Is this an O" and she'd nod. Then use an unfamilar letter. "This is an SSS?" she'd look lost "yes, its an S" back to O then to S a few times then O to something else. O was my root. Same for 2. Stupid as it sounds she got the hang of it.

Now same shop, I point out the letters and she says the letters for me "C - O - F - F - E - E" I stand up there like a fool in front of ALL these people and point out each letter as if I were a teacher in class pointing out each for her response.

Re: Teaching letters and numbers at home

I bought the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics when DS was 21 months old. He loved it. Within a month, he knew all of the letters.

Re: Teaching letters and numbers at home

I highly recommend Leap Frogs' "Letter Factory" DVD. It is a a fantastic video that helps teach the names and sounds of letters, and you won't even mind watching it either! It's super cute! Also, the Leap Frog Fridge Phonics is great. And I also have the Melissa and Doug Alphabet and Numbers chunky puzzles. I got the Leap Frog stuff from Amazon.com and the puzzles from melissaanddoug.com. HTH!

Re: Teaching letters and numbers at home

I also recommend the Letter Factory DVD. DD has been watching it since she was 1 and now at 3 still loves it and knows all her letters and the sounds they make.

Re: Teaching letters and numbers at home

ITA with the Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD and the fridge magnets. They both, as well as some of the other toys, use the same song to sing the sounds. We sing it all the time.

Re: Teaching letters and numbers at home

I highly recommend flash cards (got them at the dollar tree). Because of this along with other games & Tv DS at 2 knows all his letters & numbers up to 10 as well as colors & shapes

Re: Teaching letters and numbers at home

Genevieve learned at a very early age from her click start computer. I was shocked when she was able to identify all her letters so well at less than 2 years old. I didnt do anything with her (or at least not that much) but she played that computer thing alot!

Re: Teaching letters and numbers at home

DD really learned from:

Fridge phonics (we have them on dishwasher since our fridge doesn't hold magnets

ABC / number puzzles

her name on things in her room. she has a step stool wiht her name to climb into bed and every night she reads the letters and says her name. she can identify her name from a list and can even spell her name out loud. she is 2.5!

we even practice on silly things. for numbers i have her practice wiht the scale. she loves to weigh herself when i get dressed and she also loves the calculator.

Re: Teaching letters and numbers at home

Leap Frog - Phonics Bus and Fridge Phonics Magnets

Leap Frog "Letter Factory" DVD

Letter and number magnets - they sell jumbo size ones so he won't choke on them.

ABC and Number puzzles

If you have an educational toy store or teaching supply store near you they always have lots of good games and books for ABC's and Numbers.

Count with him daily and sing the alphabet.

Read, read, read. Any and all books are great but you can look for children's books that are specific to ABC's and counting, there are a ton.

I gave my DD flashcards to play with and she loved them. I didn't really drill them into her at all, just let her play with them and then she would ask me to show them to her and she was able to name the letter, number, or object.

Re: Teaching letters and numbers at home

DD has been watching Leap Frog videos for what seems like FOREVER. Shes LOVES them and she's actually learned a lot from them.

We also have a leap frog letter school bus, the fridge magnets as PP mentioned, and pretty much all of the letter/number DVDs.

Re: Teaching letters and numbers at home

I just got the fridge phonics thing...I hope that works....and her leap frog leaptop too

Re: Teaching letters and numbers at home

I wrote one letter on an index card and played a game where we lay them out face down take turns choosing a card and telling the other person what it is. She was told to try and say, "I need help" if she didn't know it. It's fun, interactive, and worked for us.

Re: Teaching letters and numbers at home

leap frog dvd are great - dd learned all the letters and sounds from that very young and loves watching them still..hth

Re: Teaching letters and numbers at home

DS learned all his letters with those foam bath letters by 22 months old. He played with them in the bath every bath for about a month before he knew (memorized them really I guess) them all.

I wasn't trying to TEACH him the letters per say...just figured for fun in the tub & if he picked it up great

Message edited 1/25/2011 3:28:47 PM.

Re: Teaching letters and numbers at home

DD started to take an interest in letters on our shirts. From there, we'd just point out all letters we would see and went from there. We got her the Leap Frog word builder (magnetic for fridge) and she LOVES it! In about 2 weeks she now knows all the letters. We read A LOT too which helps. We started pointing out all the colors and numbers now too. It's just repetitition and like a PP poster said make every opportunity you can a learning one. DD is 16 months.

Re: Teaching letters and numbers at home

DD recognizes A, B & C, as well as numbers 2 & 3.

We have the leap frog fridge phonics, which she enjoys, but like someone said everything is a learning opportunity. I write letters, numbers and shapes on her magnadoodle and ask her to identify them. I point them out on signs or toys, etc. We count ALLLL the tiiime. Almost to the point where i'm sick of numbers.

Re: Teaching letters and numbers at home

My girls love their letter video that others have posted above. It not only taught DD#1 her letters but their sounds.

We have the leap frog alphabet magnets for the fridge.

We also have a cute set of books that my mom got the girls. It is a winnie the pooh theme. Each book is in the shape of that particular letter (A, B etc) then inside each book are several items that start with that particular letter.

Re: Teaching letters and numbers at home

Check out the Handwriting without Tears approach. Its FANTASTIC. YOu can buy these great workbooks and little chalkboards that they use to practice letters numbers, etc.

It is super inexpensive and a great way to sit down with your kids and work on letters in a fun way.

http://shopping.hwtears.com/

Re: Teaching letters and numbers at home

all of the above plus...

starfall.com

Re: Teaching letters and numbers at home

I have to look into the Leapfrog everyone is talking about but with DS I bought him some nice flashcards from OneStepAhead for Christmas. He LOVES doing them but they more or less teach words. I bought him some puzzles (Mickey) with the alphabet & we do them. I also have a placemat that he looks at that has numbers & letters.