What are you teaching your LO and favorite activities

JessAnnJ · June 2014

I'm curious what others are working on with their LOs right now and if you have any fun easy activities that you would recommend. Pinterest is a bit overwhelming and I'd love to hear from you guys. In terms of an activity to share, I just bought a pack of multicolor pipe cleaners and she loved playing with them. We used them to work on color recognition and just for the fun of bending them. She loves bringing us things so I had all of the colors and DH would ask for a specific color and she would bring it to him. Pipe cleaners are a bit pointy on the ends but she wasn't grabbing them in way that she would hurt herself. I just supervised her closely. I was surprised that she knew all of the colors except she got a little confused with the black and the brown. I also think we can practice counting with them. She can count to ten but we are still working on the concept of counting objects.

kjsmith9 · June 2014

We're been talking a lot about "outside" words (tree, grass, flower, sun, clouds, rain, etc.) and colors. She counts to 11 but always skips 8 so we're working on that lol

She's loving our M&D wooden puzzles (animals and transportation themes), and books with alphabet theme so we talk about those. I think we might be entering a motor burst too, because she's been trying like crazy to pedal her trike, pulling herself up the wall in swimming lessons, climbing the jungle gyms more, etc.

[Deleted User] · June 2014

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*LrCg* · June 2014

DD know colors from M&Ms when she PT over the winter & she counts to 17 because we make her count our stairs when she goes up. We start our "home schooling" at 2 where I teach writing, math & science at that age. Right now its basically explore & learn mode. She just graduated to higher chores like setting the table, loading the dishwashe, etc.- basic stuff. I'm lazy about school work in the summer!! But I did break out the alaphabet puzzle finally out of guilt after realizing my older 2 were recognizing more letters at this point. The joys of Momma's guilt!!

Jackiemxoxo · June 2014

We are doing some colors but mostly ABC's and counting. She loves her animal books and ABC books. She also loves singing and can do the hokey pokey, wheels on the bus, and ring around the rosie movements. For activities, we are doing coloring, painting, bubbles, sand stuff, and lots of stickers. Favorite toys lately are automatic bubble gun, travel size magnet drawing thing from target (love that we can take it places), and anything to do with building.

jac409 · June 2014

We have pretty much mastered the majority of the body parts and animals and their noises. We are always learning new animals though. We are working on letters and numbers, picking up toys, emptying the dishwasher, going down stairs and going in the potty. We play outside a lot and are learning about trees, flowers, squirrels, birds, etc. It's funny though, we work on all of these things and I swear, the thing she knows best are all of the darned Disney princesses. She knows every one and can say some version of most of their names. She is a girly girl for sure.

SingleMom31 · June 2014

Isa doesn't have a lot of words yet either, but she's getting better at a lot of outdoor words - bird, squirrel, dog, car, truck, etc.

She seems to be doing better at motor skills, rather than verbal. So, she's learning to climb like crazy (this weekend, it was our pub height chairs), has gotten better at going down the stairs, has gotten better at eating properly with a fork, etc.

JessAnnJ · June 2014

Reading this makes me realize I'm teaching her more than I think and she knows more than I even realize. It's also interesting to see how different LO's have different personalities and focus on different things. @*LrCg* is there a particular book or plan you follow?

*LrCg* · June 2014

@JessAnnJ- are you asking about lesson book for school work when they're 2? Or just in general?

JessAnnJ · June 2014

@*LrCg* I was asking about for when they are two but if there are other books you use please share as well. I have time to work with DD just not a ton of time to come up with ideas.

*LrCg* · June 2014

My staple is I have dry erase letter books- lower and upper case to trace then space below to freehand. I like to start with letter writing because its a good way to brush up on recognizing letters and also working on sounds. I have bought those generic preschool books you see at all stores that do shapes, counting, and letters (Target sells them for $1 usually when school starts). I bought the Crayola Dry Erase Activity Pad so I could cut out each sheet and put it under the screen that way I don't have to buy new workbooks for each child. To keep it fun, I usually give them a temporary tattoo if they did well or they pick out a sticker. I try to only do homework 2-3 days a week. And when I say homework- I like to sneak a lot of that stuff in without them realizing it (yes workbooks are a huge help and we use them at least twice a week but I really prefer to do a learning project instead). Example: sometimes I will take all kids to the grocery store as homework and depending on their age they have various chores- if I need X amount of cans the younger one (17 months) needs to count them (good for counting and adding lesson), the older 2 are 4 & 5 so the older one can read off the list and my 4 year old I will tell her to find the word and based on the letters will just sound it out until she can scratch it off. Yes it takes longer to grocery shop but then again I'm also doing a learning lesson and they think its fun. In the summer we do our farming project- the kids take pictures of themselves planting, spraying and then in the fall combining but in between each week they have to measure their plants progress and document rain days. Pictures get printed and they write everything out themselves- it's basically scrap booking for kids. This summer my 17 month old will get to help with that- cutting out backgrounds to paste the pictures on and of course the measuring part. Obviously if you don't have access to a mini-farm this could be hard but you could do the same with a mini-garden or even a flower plant. I also love to cook and bake so my kids are always in the kitchen helping starting very young!! I love baking lessons because its reading by recognizing words on the packages, measuring and of course just plan fun!! DH loves coming home too to baked goods

I think you hit the head on the nail when you said that you think you're teaching her more then you realize and she knows more then you think! You'd be very surprised! I don't have time to pinterest or google projects I just go about what my kids are interested or what's around us because that will keep it easy and fun!

kjsmith9 · June 2014

@*LrCg* thanks for the tip on the crayola dry erase pad - that's exactly what I was looking for! DD loves to color but she scribbles for 15 seconds on one piece and then wants a new one (repeat x20), so this will definitely save me money in coloring books and printed worksheets.

Also got a few Kumon Workbooks that are geared to start at age 2, so I can cut out sheets and tuck them inside. Excited for her to have some stuff to work on with DH here and there while he's on summer vacation and has her at home a bit more often.

kescalera · June 2014

We work with what is around us so some basic shapes around the house, colors of things inside and outside, animals, people. His 2nd favorite activity, besides helping Daddy with "chores" outside, is going across the orchard to say hi to and count the cows. He counts the 3 cows that are over there then squeals like its the coolest thing ever.

Our biggest thing is teaching him how to function on his own. He throws away his own garbage, puts his dirty clothes in his hamper & clean clothes in his drawers, picks up his toys & organizes his books. Daddy taught him how to turn on the sprinklers and pull weeds (we have to make sure that's all he tries to yank out of the ground). He's trying to convince his big brother to teach him how to skateboard.

*LrCg* · June 2014

kjsmith9 said:
@*LrCg* thanks for the tip on the crayola dry erase pad - that's exactly what I was looking for! DD loves to color but she scribbles for 15 seconds on one piece and then wants a new one (repeat x20), so this will definitely save me money in coloring books and printed worksheets.

Also got a few Kumon Workbooks that are geared to start at age 2, so I can cut out sheets and tuck them inside. Excited for her to have some stuff to work on with DH here and there while he's on summer vacation and has her at home a bit more often.

FYI washable dry erase makers suck & aren't really washable. I've tried a few brands plus the crayons. I use regular washable markers. Sometimes it causes a film but a film quick swipe with a clorox wipe clears it.

JessAnnJ · June 2014

@bmerr‌ - he's probably just very observant and taking everything in and then will suddenly start talking in sentences.

I definitely don't want to put pressure either. I think because DD is suddenly doing things that just makes me want to expose her to as much as possible. Really that's all we can do. I read your post and thought I wonder if DD would like to play with sidewalk chalk because we've never tried it. Someone else mentioned their LO kicking a ball and I thought I wonder if she would like to do that. DH insisted she was too young to kick a ball but of course she likes it and is fully capable. So many things in the world to learn and do.

*LrCg* · June 2014

bmerr said:

JessAnnJ said:

@bmerr‌ - he's probably just very observant and taking everything in and then will suddenly start talking in sentences.

I definitely don't want to put pressure either. I think because DD is suddenly doing things that just makes me want to expose her to as much as possible. Really that's all we can do. I read your post and thought I wonder if DD would like to play with sidewalk chalk because we've never tried it. Someone else mentioned their LO kicking a ball and I thought I wonder if she would like to do that. DH insisted she was too young to kick a ball but of course she likes it and is fully capable. So many things in the world to learn and do.

@jessannj I keep telling DH that it will come out of the blue, full force, and then we won't be able to get him to shut up! lol

I just wanted to say that my first 2 children (not twins) said MAYBE 5 words at this age & then at @18-19 months had a word explosion where it was just amazing what they were saying. I'm going to guess this is going on with your LO. Don't be discouraged & just work on fun games & playing & enjoy this time where you can get a word in!

kjsmith9 · June 2014

*LrCg* said:

@*LrCg* thanks for the tip on the crayola dry erase pad - that's exactly what I was looking for! DD loves to color but she scribbles for 15 seconds on one piece and then wants a new one (repeat x20), so this will definitely save me money in coloring books and printed worksheets.

Also got a few Kumon Workbooks that are geared to start at age 2, so I can cut out sheets and tuck them inside. Excited for her to have some stuff to work on with DH here and there while he's on summer vacation and has her at home a bit more often.
FYI washable dry erase makers suck & aren't really washable. I've tried a few brands plus the crayons. I use regular washable markers. Sometimes it causes a film but a film quick swipe with a clorox wipe clears it.

I tried to read a bunch of reviews on amazon before I bought it, and there seemed to be a lot of mixed reviews regarding which markers were okay and which ones destroyed the screen forever. So you just use regular crayola washables? I didn't buy extra dry erase washables because I wanted to see how we liked them first, so I'm glad you said something...

*LrCg* · June 2014

@kjsmith9‌ yes I just use crayola washables. Granted darker colors show up better. I've always wiped it down with a clorox wipe when we were done & 2 years later my screen is still fine.

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