Educational Activities for 2 year old?

Question

I have the wonderful opportunity to be a SAHM for my daughter and am looking for some FUN educational activities that I could do with her daily. Is there a website or a book that I could read?

Answer 1

my youngest boy is 3 and he enjoys pbs kids go.

it has easy games, it teaches the basics, and they can relate to the characters if they watch that tv show.

nick jr is also good, but i find that site better for printables and my older boys. the youngest can't seem to find his way around.

at this age i notice schools want them to know basics like hand coordination, ABS's, numbers 1-10, basic colors and shapes.

good luck

editing message:

WOW! my answer is horrible next to those below me.

I didn't know about some of those sites, but i have bookmarked them for my own children, thanks for sharing the info

Answer 2

The great thing is that at 2 years, EVERYTHING is a learning opportunity!  Remember that at this age, even things that aren't "academic" are considered learning!

**Definitely check out your local library - they usually have story time and maybe other activities, as well as many books of activities.  Try  The Toddlers Busy Book by Trish Kuffner.

**Explore the outdoors - feel everything (leaves, bark, grass) and talk about how it feels, what color it is, look for bugs and talk about them.

**Music has been shown to improve math skills, so sing and dance and clap/bang/shake to your hearts content.  This also helps coordination, and some of the songs, like the ABC's, also teach other things.

**Pretend play is very important.  Baby dolls and kitchen stuff are especially popular.

**Painting & playdoh are great because it is tactile and you can talk about the textures and colors, as well as introducing shapes or letters.

**Begin showing her the letter her name starts with, then you can find other examples of this letter.  It may take a few days or weeks, but eventually you can work up to finding that letter in a page of a book, or even a simple word search.

**Read!  Stop every once in a while to talk about the story, or to share something about the story.  Talk about how the character feels.  When she gets a little better at communication, have her guess what might happen next.  It seemed to be helpful for my daughter to point to each word as I read it - she quickly developed the understanding that the letters on the page formed the words we said.

Everything you do with her is an opportunity to talk about colors, numbers, and other descriptive words.  Feelings and logic skills are also important.  Some cool websites to get you thinking:

Answer 3

There is a wonderful book called "Ready for Kindergarten" by Susan Wilcox (I believe-I will look it up and edit this).  The activities are appropriate for a two year old, and are fun, educational things.  I think it has room for three activities a week, such as baking, using magnets, etc.

Look for books called "Story Stretchers".  They have toddler versions.  It gives you ideas to use with storybooks, expanding to snack, arts and crafts, music, physical education, etc.  

There are also a series of books called "More than Magnets", "More than Counting", etc. that give activities for science, math...

The popular "What Your ___ Grader Needs To Know" series, by the Core Knowledge Foundation, now has a preschool book that would probably work well with your daughter if you wanted.

There are a lot of websites.  I need to start locating them again, because I had cleared out a lot of them as my older children are 10 and 8 now, but I have a ten month old that will soon be using them.  I know one great website is http://www.StarFall.com A lot of the popular children's networks have websites with educational games and activities.  Try http://www.PBSKids.com , http://www.NickJR.com, http://www.Disney.com

National Geographic has a monthly kids magazine, and a version for "little" kids.  My children love these magazines!  

Check out the National Wildlife Federation website...I think the URL is http://www.NWF.com They have some publications for children such as Ranger Rick and Your Big Backyard...there is another one as well, and one is geared towards younger children.  Again, my children LOVE these!

Pack-O-Fun is a publication that is full of arts and crafts ideas, and they also include a section in each issue about a part of the world and have some ideas correlating to that theme.  

Check your local library and/or book store for children's story time.  Our local museum and aquarium have special programs for toddlers.  We also have a Children's Museum that offers a lot of educational activities and play.

Go on nature walks around your neighborhood.  See the beauty in things as they see it-butterflies, caterpillars, flowers.  You can also visit the beach to look for seashells and animals in the tide pools.  The opportunities are endless-they are like little sponges at this stage.

Plant a garden.  Pumpkins are a good thing to start this time of year!

Purchase a pet, if you are willing to take on the responsibility of one.  They offer a lot of educational opportunities.  It need not be a cat or dog.  A fish or hermit crab will be fun, too!

What is her favorite characters?  Look for websites devoted to those characters.  There are also toddler workbooks, some with character themes.  Do not push the workbooks, though.  Some children like them (my oldest daughter did at that age), but some do not-and most children are not ready for it at that time.

I hope this helps, and wish you the best!  I am a SAHM, and feel so blessed for that!  I also homeschool my children.

EDITED TO ADD: Children at this stage learn best through play.  The traditional blocks, balls, puzzles are good for them.  Blow bubbles.  Make playdough.  Arts and crafts is always something children enjoy and there are endless opportunities.  It is great for their fine motor skills.  Play in sand and water, grow crystals...do not underestimate what she can take in.  I see so many parents do that.  Children are like sponges, the more you present them with the more they will soak up.

Another magazine is Family Fun.  It is always full of ideas.  It is a Disney publication.

Answer 4

You could try the websites of Parenting Magazine, and maybe Highlights, PBS, or even Nickelodeon Magazine's websites might have some ideas.

Answer 5

make a book of her favorite things by going through magazines and letting her cut out pictures and glue them to construction paper.

get the Jumbo Uppercase AlphaMagnets Set to teach her ABC's

http://www.growingtreetoys.com/product/4...