When to start teaching a child numbers, alphabet etc?

Melinda - posted on 06/21/2009

Quoting Andrea:

When my son turned two someone got him a leapfrog "fridge phonics" magnet set. Hated the thing!!!! It sings a song when you put any of the letters into the whatever it's called. Same song over and over. turns out this is a good thing for the kid! he showed me a letter on something in his room. "That's "M" learned all his letters that way. At three, someone turned me onto "starfall.com" It's a free website that teaches from letters to reading. I would sit with him and do the mouse while he picked what to look at. One day, he was in there on the internet BY HIMSELF working the mouse. Now he has his own tabs he gets on by himself, plays by himself (almost said with himself!!) and loves it. He's four and I want to start teaching him to read. He can navigate the whole website and can type "trains" into youtube to watch train videos. Impressive if you give them the reins!!

Thanks for that web site.  I just tried it with my 4 year old and she is loving it.  I've been looking for fun ways to get her interested in her ABC's. 

As far as what age to start teaching them the abc's you can really do it at any age.  We show my 2 year old the alphabet.  She has a hard time talking so it works great on her speach.  Just make sure you both are having fun.  You don't want it to be work or they will get frustraged and not want to do it anymore.  Good luck and have lots of fun.

Melinda - posted on 06/21/2009

Quoting Andrea:

When my son turned two someone got him a leapfrog "fridge phonics" magnet set. Hated the thing!!!! It sings a song when you put any of the letters into the whatever it's called. Same song over and over. turns out this is a good thing for the kid! he showed me a letter on something in his room. "That's "M" learned all his letters that way. At three, someone turned me onto "starfall.com" It's a free website that teaches from letters to reading. I would sit with him and do the mouse while he picked what to look at. One day, he was in there on the internet BY HIMSELF working the mouse. Now he has his own tabs he gets on by himself, plays by himself (almost said with himself!!) and loves it. He's four and I want to start teaching him to read. He can navigate the whole website and can type "trains" into youtube to watch train videos. Impressive if you give them the reins!!

Thanks for that web site.  I just tried it with my 4 year old and she is loving it.  I've been looking for fun ways to get her interested in her ABC's. 

As far as what age to start teaching them the abc's you can really do it at any age.  We show my 2 year old the alphabet.  She has a hard time talking so it works great on her speach.  Just make sure you both are having fun.  You don't want it to be work or they will get frustraged and not want to do it anymore.  Good luck and have lots of fun.

Tashia Ann - posted on 06/19/2009

Well roxy my 3 year old she knen her abc's an count to 20 reads us books , knows colors, her bday month date an year an full name an how to spell ther first name now im working on wrighting an how to rite her name people try an set a time limit on things an even thow there kids there still there own person my daughter may know all this but she dont pee in thay potty its just really how the kid learns i made all her learning a game an if she wanted a snack i would ask her to sing her ABC's she got it even if she didnt finsh but she tryed!

Sapphire - posted on 06/19/2009

Early exposure is the key. It's never too early to sing the alphabet, count the numbers, say colors, etc. My son had The Brainy Baby DVD & book sets. They are wonderful learning tools that expose kids, with music, to the letters, numbers, colors, shapes, etc. Using signs and symbols from around the house are other opportunities. I had to stop giving my son the letter shaped pasta becasue he played more than he ate. (Now, I actually give him the pasta for playing with and making words) Get to the library as often as you can. There are so many learning websites out there too. Someone mentioned starfall.com and it's one of my son's favorites. enchantedlearning.com is another good one as well as pbskids.org and the noggin, disney, and nick jr. sites. As long as you are monitoring the web sites, and playing with your child, the internet can be a wonderful tool.

Kerry - posted on 06/19/2009

I live in Barbados and here our kids attend full time preschool from 3 years. My son is 18 months (at a nursery) and I have started to count with him and say the ABCs. I also bought this set of DVDs "My Baby Can Read" and we go through them atleast once a day. Once he shows he is not interested anymore we stop and do somethign else.

Angie - posted on 06/18/2009

I start by just saying the numbers or make it into a song. They are never to young to learn. that's my opinion.

Andrea - posted on 06/17/2009

When my son turned two someone got him a leapfrog "fridge phonics" magnet set. Hated the thing!!!! It sings a song when you put any of the letters into the whatever it's called. Same song over and over. turns out this is a good thing for the kid! he showed me a letter on something in his room. "That's "M" learned all his letters that way. At three, someone turned me onto "starfall.com" It's a free website that teaches from letters to reading. I would sit with him and do the mouse while he picked what to look at. One day, he was in there on the internet BY HIMSELF working the mouse. Now he has his own tabs he gets on by himself, plays by himself (almost said with himself!!) and loves it. He's four and I want to start teaching him to read. He can navigate the whole website and can type "trains" into youtube to watch train videos. Impressive if you give them the reins!!

User - posted on 06/17/2009

Our daughter has a touch and feel alphabet book - "B is for Bear" it's put out by priddy books - and although she's only 9 months old - it's her favorite book b/c of the touch and feel stuff. I also want to get her the Sesame Street phone in a few months b/c it actually says the numbers as the child pushes the buttons - not to drill them into her, but to expose her to more numbers than just me counting everything.

Good luck!

Joy - posted on 06/17/2009

My son is 19 months and we have been practicing counting and the alphabet since he came home from the hospital. Now, I don't mean we "drill" him or study or anything.....but we count his fingers and toes, we count his Goldfish crackers or Cheerios or whatever he is eating. We also sing the ABC's to him daily, especially when we're brushing his teeth. For some reason, the ABC's calms him when we're brushing and we can do a better job. We also recently bought some flash cards for the alphabet. The A card has a big A and a picture of an apple...and so on. He won't sit still long enough for those yet lol Basically though, we just try to make everything a learning experience. Like when we take walks I'll say "Look Jacob, TWO squirrels...ONE TWO" That sort of thing.

Anita - posted on 06/17/2009

Hiya.



You don't say how old your kids are?



My girl Farhanna is 6 on Friday, knew the basics when she went to school, 1-10 and the colours but my little one Indiana who is 2 and a bit counts 1-10 and knows some colours, way before her sister did at the same age. It helps having a older child.



Because my oldest is reading the 2yr old listens in and takes it in when hearing the word being broken up. Also another bonus.



Counting, colours and the alpabet can be used in everyday things eg. going up the stairs, colour of the tree, bus, car, what colour is your t-shirt,etc.



Because I have worked with children before, all children learn at different stages in life, so I do understand some parents fell under pressure, but why should we? To me the most important thing is to have happy children, then kiddies feeling stressed because of exams! Don't they have a exam for 7yr olds here?? My first proper exam that counted was when I was 15 (in New Zealand),as Farhanna is now going thru the UK education system, I do feel it to be very tough on our youngters.



Take Care