Keeping Learning FUN

In the fall I started working with Eva on a few early learning concepts - things like recognizing letters, counting, fine motor skills, etc. Every time I wanted to work on a "letter of the week" with her though she would run off or loose interest very quickly. She clearly had some kind of reluctance to those ABC's. It didn't matter if my idea sounded good on paper or was really cute on Pinterest, she wasn't up for it. So I backed off for a while and didn't worry about it. I believe that kids learn so much through play time and just being a kid and doing kid experiences. I really wasn't concerned. I figured she would come around to those ABC's eventually. I'm writing this post to share some of the FUN new ideas that I've come up with (some on my own, some from Pinterest) to share with other mamas. Lots of these will work with all pre-k age levels because you could change up what your child is doing. I am also not making an attempt to compare Eva to any other kid. Maybe your 2 year old can already read - great! Maybe they don't know letters yet - no worries, Eva didn't know any letters until about a month ago. All kids learn at their own pace and will likely pick up on everything they need to know just by living life around parents who love them. Our days are not just spent doing learning activities all the time. Some days we do lots of these, some days we do none. She will hopefully be learning the rest of her life, so I feel like it is equally important for her to have days where we just go to the park or the store or watch movies or build a cave out of blankets. Having said all that, here are some FUN\ ways we've been learning :)

I read an idea about starting with letters that are meaningful. I decided to start looking at letters again by making our own ABC book. We slowly created some letters, usually 1 or 2 every day or so. I started with the "E" for her name and then did "D" for Daddy and "M" for Mama. I printed off small pictures and we glued them on a hand drawn letter (not the fanciest but a 2 year old doesn't mind). After that I let her tell me family members that she wanted in the book. If their name started with a letter we already had, we added their picture. If it was a new letter I drew that new letter and we added  it to our book. She LOVES this! She asks to read her book all the time. We now have 12 letters and she can tell you who's name starts with each letter. I used supplies we already had so this FUN activity cost us nothing and got her interested in letters and making that connection that letters mean something. I did put each page in a page protector because I didn't want this to turn into a game of ripping the pictures off the letters (although that is definitely a fun task for any two year old).

We also already had a full set of alphabet cookie cutters. We've used them for play dough but then she mostly wants to rip them apart instead of look at them (putting things together and then taking them apart is a very appropriate skill and teaches them about how stuff works). This past week we used the cookie cutters to dip in colored paint and make art. I set out only the 12 letters she is already familiar with so that she can really focus on learning those. 

We also have had foam letters for the bath tub since before she was born. As a baby she chewed on them. As a bigger baby she just played with them in the bath water. I got the idea to show her how the letters in the book can match her foam letters. Then I showed her how I could write the letters on cards (cut up paper). She can now match up the letters! We call this our letter game. And every time she gets 3 matches I tell her that she "wins!" I do silly "good job" things as she as playing her game like cheering in a whisper voice. 

 Foam bath tub letters + letters written on cut up pieces of paper = big learning FUN!

For Christmas Aunt Amanda gave Eva a puzzle of linking up letters. At first her favorite thing was to punch out each little rubber letter and make a huge mess. There is that taking-apart-putting together skill again :)  Now we play another "game" where she looks for the letters that she knows. She can name B, E, J, A, D, and M (oops! upside down) and tell someone who's name starts with that letter. For N (sideways!), K, H, C, P, and G she can recognize it enough to tell me who's name starts with that letter. I just love that she is learning and having so much FUN with all the different ways to see and make letters! She's even gotten to where she can recognize letters around the house, like on wall hangings, and in books. {Insert rejoicing from my former teacher heart!!!}

 When we were taking these pictures I was trying to get her to look at me. Ryan told her, "Put your eyes on Mama," and she clearly thought he meant to literally put her eyes on me. Hehehe....

The other skill we are working on right now is counting to 10. Back before Christmas she could usually count from 1-10 just aloud (like not counting objects) but then we stopped for a few weeks and she forgot a lot. So we've been working on counting aloud and counting objects. Having been a teacher I would say that it's really important to work on both, although again, not something to stress out about at age 2. So we make counting FUN! Eva loves goldfish crackers and I found this cute fish bowl counting sheet so she can put the fish in the bowl with each number and then eat them. Yum!

Nana and Papa gave Eva a huge pack of foam sheets and foam stickers from Christmas that she uses to make art. I figured why not turn her art into learning?! We sorted a few into piles that were the same and then she helped make the picture cards above. I did go back when she was done and slightly adjust the placement of each sticker so that it would look like a more standard grouping. She really enjoys doing this counting activity and I think it has a lot to due with the fact that she made the cards herself.

When we play this game we line up all the number cards that have 1-5 written on them and say the numbers in order. Then we flip all the picture cards over and mix them up. She picks one to turn over, counts the pictures, and then matches the color of the card to the number. This way she is counting and learning to recognize the written number. One day we might make bigger numbers but for now going up to 5 is great.

Finally here is a FUN cold day, indoor activity. It's not counting or letters but we did enjoy doing it. I used to be a big scrapbooker and have tons of old scrapbook paper. I cut up a few different pieces and separated them in a muffin pan. She got to pick out the pieces and practice putting one drop of glue at a time on them. That girl can do the teensy-tiniest drop of glue I've ever seen. 

Look at all those organized squares of paper! (She wouldn't have cared if I had just dumped them all on the table but I liked it better this way. Plus she could see her options better this way. Clearly.)

She glued them on a bigger piece of paper. I let her have all the say-so in picking out which squares and where she wanted to glue them because art should be about creating. We also used these squares to make cute Valentine's Day cards for her grandparents.... I will post that soon when they've all received them in the mail :) 

In case you were getting the interpretation that we live some sort of dream life where Eva does everything I plan out for her I wanted to share this picture. This picture is the image of an activity from Pinterest. The child in this picture is carefully placing the fuzzy poms on the corresponding rainbow arch, carefully one at a time, in perfect precision. I printed this off and got out the fuzzy poms. I showed Eva what to do. She poured the poms all over the floor and then had a great time tossing them all around in the air. Just some proof that I have a completely normal toddler and that not all activities go as planned. Although pouring out a whole pan full of colored poms can be FUN too :)