Calling moms of 2 year old, can you help with my lesson plans?

Question

I am teaching a 2 day a week preschool in the younger 2 room. My teacher partner used to be a kindergarden teacher so she has been making the lesson plans but I think they will be too much for kids. Example: She is only devoting 2 days or 1 week to ALL colors, where I was thinking a whole week per color. Maybe doing all activities and games that involve the color red for 1 week. And even making a home project of finding somthing to wear that color for those days. We have 9 months with these guys so I dont want to rush them. In your opinion what would be the best way for a 2 year old to learn. I have a 1 year old and she has no kids so this age is new to us both.

All ideas would be so helpful. I want the kids to have a great time as well as learn. I also want the parents to be please with what their child is getting out of the program.

Answer 1

The key to teaching toddler's is repetitiveness. My son knows all of his color's, shapes, numbers up to 5 and abc's up to "D" in both english and spanish. I don't know if this is good or bad, we try not to compare him to other children. We just do things like counting the stairs every time we go up and down them. But I think a whole week per color is too much. Remember that a 2 old has about a two minute attention span. I would do a color per day and then do them again on the same days the following week.

Answer 2

I think that the speed that your co-teacher wants seems fine.. Try it anyway. If a few kids seem to not get it than slow down.. But at 2 they should know colors and up to ten. My daughter is 2.

~ say your working on the color red. I took red paper, red pipe cleaners, sequins, glitter, crayon. for red day and that day we made art out of the above and she learned about red.

~ I would stay away from finding something to wear that's a certain color due to a family might not have that color.. and might not be able to do it. Plus as a mom I would think hunting for a certain shirt color in the morning.. pain in the butt.

~ Also for colors the CANDY LAND DVD game is great for that

Answer 3

I definatly think you need to take more time on learning whatever it is you want to teach a two year old. They are very quick learners at this age however that is very young to only devote a few days to something so important. Music is a great way I have found to teach alot of things. Singing and rhyme while you are learning colors or numbers or any basic thing is a great way for kids to remember. Also using real life objects to help them see color and recognize them on sight works great too. Start with a few colors review everyday and as they learn those add more colors but keep reviewing what they have already learned. Children also vary greatly when it comes to how fast they learn so give them all ample time to pick up on the new concepts. My oldest learned very quickly and had colors, numbers to 10 and knew how to spell his name before he was 3. However my four year old daughter still has trouble counting and spelling but does well with colors. Children are so fun at this age because they are learning so much everyday. Good luck and have fun.

Answer 4

I have worked in a daycare and I agree with you even though some children learn faster than others or retain information better, I think that you all should devote one week per color and do different activities with that color....for example foods that are red, color with red crayons, paint, play dough, have a "red party".

Answer 5

My son is in the 1 yr old room and will be 2 yrs old in Nov. They do activities by the week. This past week they were working on feelings. They did arts and crafts based upon feelings. Using colors to help explain what makes the kids feel what. They made happy clowns and sad faces. They also work on colors and numbers. I personally don’t think any child is necessarily too small or young to learn. I’ve been counting to 10 with my son since he was a baby whether he could understand me or not. I can’t say it didn’t work because he’s now 22 months old and can almost completely count to 10 on his own. You also can PLAN all you want but with 1 and 2 yr old’s, sometimes things don’t really go according to plan. Sometimes activities go downhill  fast and you need a plan B. Other times they work out perfectly and the kids love it.

I wish you the best of luck! I’m glad to hear you’re trying to find new ways to incorporate learning. I think that’s great!!

Answer 6

I was a daycare teacher for two year olds.  I love this age because you can teach them so many things.  They are like sponges just eager to absorb knowledge.

I agree that when teaching this age you need to use lots of repetition.  I would teach colors by the week during the fall season.  During the spring we would talk about insects.  In the winter time we would spend time on learning about the weather.  

Whatever we did the children were given time to learn.  The children would have an entire week on one color.  During that week all the activities were planned around that color.

We would color pictures using one color.  With two year olds they loved to fingerpaint.  We would also find songs about colors and sing them each day.  When we went outside we would look for the color of the week on the playground.  We would also read stories and look for the color of the week in the story.

Whether you are teaching colors, numbers, social skills, etc. you need to allow about a week with each one for two year olds to grasp the knowledge.

You are right you have time to teach these children and you should take time to teach them.  All children learn at different speeds, but at this age their learning is through the experience of play.  Therefore take every opportunity you can to teach them.