My 3 yr daughter is advanced for her age, what sort of games can I play with her to help her learn?

Question

I don't think you would actually call her 'gifted' but she has always been ahead in her developmental milestones. She speaks like a 5 yr old and has an incredible imagination with several imaginary friends. She loves learning and counting games and has asked to learn to read but I don't know how to start teaching her. She recognises written numbers and most letters, and is starting to understand their sounds, some she can tell you a word or two that begins with that letter. She loves puzzles. I am finding that she is getting bored easily and Im running out of new ideas to keep her stimulated, any ideas?

Answer 1

What I do with my little one is show her things and people from my computer such us: google earth: we go right down where we live, I try to explain the map, showing the sea, etc Also she looks at pictures of famous and valuable people(I'm trying to say that celebrities are not include..) Also I'm looking for an on line kind of newspaper for kids. Found one, didn't like it but I'll keep searching.

Answer 2

I agree with the Kumon "work books"... I'm not a work book fan but I've yet to meet a child who doesn't like these colorful work books.  You can get them at a book store and I believe Target carries them if you have one nearby.  You can order them online.

I use the book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Engellman... having great luck...but my child is older.  It may work for you as well if you take it a bit slower.  Only about $20.  Well worth it in my opinion.  My child is doing wonderful.

I bet she likes "art" so how about incorporating art into your daily activities.  I cut index card in half and used a white crayon to write each letter of the alphabet...upper and lower case.  Then I had the children paint them with water colors.  Of course the crayon resists the paint and so the letter shows up.  The children really loved these "mystery letters".  We matched upper to lower case and worked with alphabet recognition and order.

On the line of art:  whenever the children create a piece of artwork I like for them to do a little dictation for me...create a story.  Even let them "write" the story.  

www.childcareland.com has free printables ....maybe some of them can be used to create "games" out of.

She recognizes the numbers but can she "count with meaning"?  Most three year olds have a little more difficulty with this over the numeral 3.  :-)  Maybe you can do more that way.  I like to incorporate this with sensory... I "hide" a certain amount of items (depending on the number I'm working on) into a sensory tub...rice, beans, sand, water, etc.  Then I have them place the items as they find them into the correct container or on the corresponding mat.  the www.childcareland. com has free printables to go with these types of activity.

I like to introduce "sticks and curves" with the children.  She might be ready for it.  I've used laminated card stock in the shape of sticks and curves, I've used pipe cleaners and straws, etc and we make the letters in our name to begin with but also others as the children progress.  I like to sort by sticks and curves... the children like to manipulate the items to make the letters to find out if it has sticks, curves or both and then place the letter manipulative (magent, etc) in the correct column of the graph.

Hope one of these can be used as a "jumping board" for you.

Answer 3

Do you have a computer?  An excellent free kid friendly website in literacy is    Starfall.com     perfect for preschoolers.  Just practice with her how to manipulate the mouse and she will be an expert in no time.  My four year old loves it.

Answer 4

My son will turn 4 in June and he was similar to what you describe about your daughter at age 3. He goes to a preschool for half a day mostly for social purposes. For academics i trust on what i teach him at home. I do the following activities with him:

4-5 letter spellings

Maths(Addition and Substraction)

Counting upto 100

Read encyclopedia and learn facts

Geography(Studying maps, flags, currencies)

He speaks 3 languages and in now learning french

Takes Piano lesson once a week

Read lots of story books promoting more to recognise simple words and read on his own.

Write alphabets

Draw and color whatever he wants

You can find more tips on my website and blog at www.momadewizkids.com

Hope that helps

Rgds

Deepali

Answer 5

Have you used picture cards already?  Cards with letters, numbers, fruits and vegetables, pictures of things like cars, planes and trains.  You can use cards for the alphabet and numbers too.

Make your own cards when she gets past what you can find at learning centers.  Start with small words and keep going.  

Don't be afraid to teach her how to read.  

Don't be afraid to teach her mathematics either.  Recite simple addition problems then progress to subtraction.  

She will soon answer all queries like, "What's 3 plus 3?" with the correct answer.  The amazement of her audience will delight and encourage her further.

She will continue to amaze people and amuse herself while getting smarter and smarter as long as you keep working with her.  You will probably enjoy it too.

You can teach her geography with a map.  Teach her music using a keyboard or piano.  You can teach her about government, history or astronomy, etc.   Remember that the potential is unlimited.  

Keep it fun for both of you and you can't go wrong.

Answer 6

teach her math tables. put her in a playschool where they might teach her to read. in india they do.

Answer 7

I found these great flash cards at my local office, school, church supply store that are cartoon character related (Disney Priness, Pixar Cars) that have the letter on one side and a word that is associated with that letter.  They also have numbers with that number of "items" on the back.  My kids LOVE them and think it's a game of sorts.  Fun & educational!  Good luck!

Answer 8

Is she in preschool? If not, definitely get her enrolled and at home, keep reading to her and helping her sound out the repetitive words.  She can play matching letter or number games.  and let her explore the outdoors with you - there's so much out there for her to learn from.  good luck and have fun with your daughter!

Answer 9

Have you tried Kumon's Workbooks?  My 4 yr old loves them and they have different level up to 5th grade. You can get them at Barnes and Nobles. They're extremely educational and the child can color and trace.

Answer 10

draw 2 sets of different coloured flowers and get her to match them up, or draw different flowers, butterflies, bugs, and get her to match these up.

ask her to make you a picture with a bunch of 3, 4 and 5 flowers or make a picture with different colour flowers

use stick tape, paints.  You could ask her to put in a picture for you... two clouds, 3 trees, 1 rabbit, - if you can't draw, get cut outs of magazines

Answer 11

try doing flash cards with her like vowels or see what children in the grade above her are doing this way when she gets there, she will be advanced keep doing this and she will be ahead of everyone else...who knows, maybe she will even get promoted

Answer 12

Check Usborne Books for some great resources!  http://www.ubah.com/g2687