Teaching a Toddler

I have been watching and teaching a friend's toddler for the past few months, and really I think it's all repetition. For numbers we started counting things she knew, and then started writing down the number next to a drawing of that many things. The alphabet has been trickier, but it's just writing down the letter and getting her to say it with you. She isn't anywhere close to understanding letters make words, but she can identify most of the letters. And repeating it everyday. There are a ton of numbers and letters books out there that can be helpful, but you can easily draw it yourself too.

Teach them one thing at a time. When my nephew was little I taught him his alphabet and how to count to 10. You don't teach all at once, but just one thing at a time, and they will learn quickly. It will give you patience because you won't be teaching her to much at once. I say take at least 20 min a day to do this. I hope it works.

For a 3 year old, it is easy to teach especially if you tell yourself that she's only 3:) My point is, it is easier to teach numbers as compared to the alphabets. Reason being, there are only 10 numbers to recognise as compared to 26 letters of the alphabets. Start with the numbers first. There are many songs that you can use, fingers on your hands to manipulate, etc... As for the alphabets, start with tracing lower case letters because 90% of what we read and write is in lower case. Try letter 'c' to start with. This is because from the letter c, you can move on to d, e, g, o and q. Do 1 letter for 1 week. If you want to do 2 letters, choose letters that are different and easily recognisable. for example letter c and letter l. Don't do b and d because they are mirror image of one another. Set your sister up for success. Good luck! - Lyn