How can I teach my 2 yr. old the alphabet and numbers?

Question

My 2 yr. old son says many words in English and in Spanish but I've been trying to get him to learn his ABC's and numbers but whenever I try to sing or count with him, he just laughs or becomes disinterested after a few minutes. I've been using videos on YouTube of toddlers singing the alphabet song and it's been helping so far but I'm still not getting the results I expected.. should I sing to him three times a day until he catches on? I also want him to learn it in both English and Spanish, am I confusing him? Does anyone out there have a better strategy? Please help..

Answer 1

Get him a toy which sings alphabets. That ways he can feel more in control. He can choose to hear the song when he wants.

Also, I would say just go with one language until he has mastered the alphabets. Kids feel eager to learn when they can accompolish. Exposing too many things at one time will frustrate him and he will not want to learn.

Answer 2

Check Usborne Books for great resources - flashcards, Learning Palette, Your Baby Can Read DVDs  and simple reading books for all ages.  Great product at a reasonable price, and they have resources in both English and Spanish.  Buy at http://www.ubah.com/g2687

Answer 3

I taught my little cousin her alphabet and she can count to 10, what i did was every time we sat down at a meal or got in the car to go somewhere i started singing the alphabet and eventually she cauhgt on then i started doing the same thing with the numbers and now she is 4 she can count to 100.

Answer 4

fit in wooden blocks

colored and books that coordinated letters with animals

Answer 5

Hi there,

how about you buy a alpherbet Flash cards and Numbers flash cards, or if you're interested, you can make your own with your child helping you.

cut an A5 size paper, draw the Letter A in upper and lower case, like this, Aa and at the back draw a picture of something that starts with an 'A'. eg. Apple. laminate them all when finished. Then use this as a bed time story.

for the numbers, do the same thing, you will not show him these, but you need to stick them on the floor in his room using a see through sticky tape. This is a fun game, for you both every time you enter or in his room, try stepping on a number and yelling out the name too. Better to use the values and use the numbers as Flash cards.

hope you understands what i'm trying to say. this does work.

make this colourful. make it very fun. Children learn from play.

Answer 6

He's just not ready yet. Two is young for reciting ABCs and numbers. Some kids are ready at 2 but a lot aren't. Don't make a big deal out of it and just keep singing the ABC song as a fun song to sing and just use numbers in a natural way with him. Then when he is developmentally ready, it will happen without any struggle at all. Really. It is so much better to wait and let things happen naturally than try to force little kids to develop before they are ready.

Answer 7

Incorporate the singing and counting into your daily activities.  As you interact with your child, sing the alphabet.  Count the stairs as you go up and down.  Don't make it a teaching session.  Have fun with your child and he will pick up these things as you use them in his natural environment.

Answer 8

I think you're to worried about teaching to many things to a baby. He's only 2. You think he is not learning, but when you less expect it he'll begin to sing or count or something. Relax, and don't give him so many things, he has a life to learn. Keep on going, you're a good mother.

Answer 9

Let him watch Wheel Of Fortune the TV game show.

You can also read to him.  Books on the Alphabet and Numbers for toddlers.

Answer 10

He may not be ready yet. Try not to be over anxious. He will sense it and turn away. There is a fine line between fun and stress.  Let a few weeks go by and introduce one thing, maybe just sing the alphabet when you are in the car, or buy a tape that sings it so it's not coming from you.  Don't come at him from too many directions or you could create a kid who hates school. I have been there.  Don't worry. He will do well with or without your scholastic input. Have fun Mommy!

Answer 11

have you tried flash cards?????

Answer 12

DITTO to Amber's answer. But you need to look into Phological Awareness  (Phonemic) activities BEFORE lerning to recognize their ABC's and 123's. Google that & start playing word games...THEN add the rote, boring stuff.

Answer 13

I will be coming up with a interesting article in a few days on my site www.momadewizkids.com that will answer your question very appropriately. Till then i would like to add that it is not necessary for your kid to learn ABC. If he knows words first thats the right thing. He will learn his alphabets by himself with the words. Sounds strange but it is true. Children love factual data. Words are facts, coz the word 'Jump' represents action but the letter 'J' means nothing. It is abstract and children hate it.

Keep teaching him both the languages. He will pick them both up with no confusion. However if one person talks to him in 2 languages it can create confusion. My son speaks 3 languages and is now learning the 4th. He is 3 and half years old.

Hope this helps

Thanks and rgds

Deepali

www.momadewizkids.com

Answer 14

you dont you start at the age of four. potty training is first before everything else. thats what i do of course

Answer 15

well you were on the good side buy going on you tube and singing to him but the wrong thing that you are doing is you are telling him both languages at a time. You should plan days that he would understand and every day you would schedule a language like on the weekends you would teach him Spanish an on the week days you would teach him English so he wouldn't get confused.Not that your confusing or anything :() ha ha.,But what you should do to teach him the alphabet is  you should do one letter at a time and let him copy you so like when you say "A" wait until he copies and says a back and do that through the whole alphabet.

Answer 16

your child may seem uninserested but i bet he is still taking some of it in. You also could try making a memory game where you match the Big "A" with the little "a" it work for us. My daughter is 5 and an ealy reader.Don't forget It's never to early for sounds.

Answer 17

you should sing it to him 3 or more times a day and also buy a few alphet toys like one for the fridge) , bath aND when your just in the family room chillin, like the worm toy at walmart

Answer 18

at about 2 1/2 we started visiting the website  www.starfall.com

it is free, if you click on ABC's there is a page with a little video on each letter. You will probably have to click the arrows and do the game at the end for him, but my kids love it, and I really think it helped with learning letters.I usually did a couple letters a day and let him pick which ones to watch.  i didn't force him or anything but he was singing the ABC's all the time before age 3, just loves them, it's his favorite song..I didn't even know he knew the song until one day at breakfast he sat down and sang the whole thing.

Answer 19

:-)  My son is 2.5 yrs and I have another youngster in my care that is 2 yrs and I have found that both of these children are very much taking an interest in learning some of these basic concepts...so my point is, even if people say he's too young...you know your child best.

I agree with the comment that your child is probably taking in more than you think he is.  

As for two languages...good for you!  As for confusing him...there is a possiblity but most youngsters can grasp this pretty good.  However I would suggest that you start with you primary language and when they have that down then begin with the secondary language.

*  Tactile letters and numbers...the Montessori method tends to use sandpaper letters and you can make or purchase these, however I was in a pinch so I created my "cards" on Print Shop using Ball and Stick font (because that's what we teach here) and then printed it off, cut them apart and used glitter glue to add texture for them to trace.  

*  Start with the first letter in your child's name and progress to other letters in his name and in your family member's name.  Point your chosen letter (s) out everywhere you see it.  You don't even have to ask him what it is...just bring his attention to it and state it.  Eventually he is going to start pointing them out himself.  An activity I do with all children is changing the letters in the song BINGO to the letters in their name.  There was a boy that I did love and (Aaron) was his name-o.  A-a-r-o-n, etc.

*  Please start with the lowercase letters!  :-)  I say this because most all print is lowercase in reality.  However, do introduce the capital letter of the names.  I, personally, have a alphabet display up with both upper and lowercase letters.  It hasn't confused any of the children I have worked with yet.  :-)  A little tip... change your displays/charts.  I do mine monthly.  The variation keeps interest.  www.childcareland.com and other sites have free printable alphabet and other basic concept activities/charts etc.

*  Keep up with the songs...there are a lot of alphabet songs out there besides just the typical ABC song...just search the internet and you'll find many!

*  Reader Rabbit Alphabet Race (DVD) has really boosted my son's alphabet knowledge...then again he picks up things from DVD's quickly because he doesn't watch them or TV often.  :-)

*  What two year old doesn't like sensory?  Not very many :-)  I take magent letters/numbers, letter tiles, foam letters, etc and hide them in rice/corn/sand etc and then we match them together on a mat or sometimes we just name them as we find them or I do In My Name/Not in My Name sorting.  One thing that was a hit was to put magnet letters/numbers in water and go fishing with a magnetic fishing rod.  

*  Youngsters like to move...so I create a large number/letter outside on the driveway with chalk and we walk on it and around it.  I have been also known to make "hopscotch" boards with the letters in their name or numbers.  One activity was an icecream cone.  In the cone I wrote the child's name.  Then I drew an icecream scoop for every letter in their name.  Of course, print the letter in each scoop.  Start at the cone and point out the name and then help the child jump from scoop to scoop while saying each letter.

Hope some of these are useful for you.

Answer 20

MY SON JUST TURNED THREE AND HE CAN COUNT ALL THE WAY TO 20 AND KNOWS HIS ABC'S WITH OUR HELP NOT HELPING SO MUCH I GOT ON LINE AND WENT TO FREE FISHER PRICE ON LINE GAMES AND WENT TO TODDLER GAMES ALL YOU SON HAS TO DO IS TAP KEYS ON THE KEYBOARD AND LEARN MY SON LOVES TO PLAY IT I LOVE IT AS WELL IT TEACHES ABC 123 AND MUCH MUCH MORE HOPE THIS HELPS YOU AND YOUR SON AS MUCH AS IT DID OUR FAMILY

Answer 21

My daughter learned with the leapster refrigerator magnets, it sings the ABC'S and also sounds out the letters. I also played a game with her for letter recognition, I would tell her to go and get me the A and she would run out in the kitchen and get a letter if it was the right letter we would cheer her on and if it was the wrong letter we would tell her to bring it back and try again she learned real fast that way and had fun with it.

Answer 22

Make flash cards!!! and play a matching game with him. good luck =]

Answer 23

Get him a "Word whammer" made by LeapFrog.  It has magnetic letters that stick to a tablet, and the tablet will sound out the letters.  Also, LeapFrog makes a DVD called the Letter Factory.

Answer 24

Just keep trying,more is getting through than you know.Kids that age sponge up everything and suprize you when you least expect it.

Answer 25

send him 2 zeekids school

Answer 26

Your two year old should be having fun, not being pressured to learn things just because you want him to achieve mastery. He's only two, for goodness sake!  If he's interested, he will learn.  If his brain isn't ready, he won't, and there is nothing you can do about it.

Answer 27

You should try Teaching him the alphabet by Saying the letters and a word that corresponds to it with a picture. Like for instance (A) Show him a picture of an apple with an (A) and say " Apple Apple ah ah ah", " Baby Baby buh buh buh" and so on like a song I've seen this work before.  I hope it Helps.