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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Learning numbers and letters

25 replies

neverright · 16/12/2010 19:22

Hi,

I just wondered if anyone had any advice about teaching ds his numbers and letters. He is 3.5 and is really not showing much interest. He recognised some letters ie of his name, M for mummy, can recognise shop names etc but not many actual letters at all. We've also been practising numbers but one min he can recognise them then we go one to another, go back to the previous and he draws a blank when we ask what number it is.

My questions really is shall we leave it for now and go back to it at another time, is it just a case of keep trying new things to find out which learning method works best for him and what methods have other people tried. Not sure if at his age she should know then all. I've looked at other posts and some children seem well in advance of what he can do but doesn't really seem to be the case with his peers. He has an amazing memory so not sure why we are drawing a blank here.

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks

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1percentawake · 16/12/2010 19:47

Just go with him - if he's interested, help him to learn and if not, leave it until he is!! You can do some gentle learning when reading etc but he will be bored stiff if he knows all his letters before starting school - seriously!

My DS wasn't interested in learning letters/numbers and hardly knew any of them before he started school. He's now reading fluently at 6 yo. DD is 3.5 and loves all that - is really keen to learn but I think is just more of a girl thing (sorry to stereotype but is often the case from what I see!)

Original poster

neverright · 16/12/2010 20:32

Thank you. That's what my gut was telling me. Was going to ask if it was more a boy thing but thought I may get shot but think you may have something there. Thanks

OP posts:

thatsnotmymonkey · 16/12/2010 20:39

I would just like to second 1percent, would just leave it for now and perhaps look at numbers and letters when you are out and about in the same way you would say "Look a big dog!", you might point at a door and say "Look the number 2!" I would shy away from any sit down lets look at flash cards kind of stuff.

SleepWhenImDead · 16/12/2010 20:39

As long as he's going to preschool where they are talking about numbers and letters I'd definitely hold off until he shows an interest. Education is not all about the basic numeracy and literacy - it's about depth and breadth of knowledge, so go with what he wants to learn about - if it's about how an engine works, or how to bake a cake, go with that! 1percentawake is spot on when she says that you don't want your DS to be bored when he goes into reception year - letters and counting is hammered into them then!

zapostrophe · 16/12/2010 21:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Elk · 16/12/2010 21:40

the alphablocks game on the cbeebies website is quite fun. My dd2 loved playing on it at that age. HOwever, I wouldn't worry about it at that age if he isn't interested dd1 wasn't interested at all at that age, she started Reception only knowing the first 2 letters of her name and is in year 3 now and her education hasn't suffered.

Littlefish · 16/12/2010 21:49

Don't worry about letters, but perhaps play some talking and listening games about sounds in words.

Start by pointing out the sound that things start with...

"Look at that big d d d d d dog".

"Please can you pass me the t t t t tomato sauce".

It's much more important for early reading and writing that he can hear and say sounds in words, talk about rhyming words, sing songs (including counting songs), join in with familiar stories etc.

For numbers, counting, counting and more counting! Talk about more, less, same, enough etc. Match plates to cups, ask how many more are needed, count red cars going past, count stairs in the house, count buttons on shirts etc.

Please don't worry about introducing letter and number recognition at this stage.

SkyBluePearl · 16/12/2010 22:12

My son wizzed through all the letters/blending but drew a blank when it came to numbers. Decided to leave it as he wasn't ready to learn numbers

tryingtoleave · 17/12/2010 01:46

Do starfall with him, if he enjoys it. DS learnt letters very early from it - but he seems to have that kind of brain. I do it with DD and she enjoys it too, but she looks more at the pictures than the letters.

Original poster

neverright · 17/12/2010 10:45

Thank you so much for your suggestions. I've looked at them all and will definitely introduce them to him to see if there is a interest. He is turning about to be quite 'geeky' like his dad so I think something on the computer as opposed to his flash cards may help. Thank you all so much for your advice

OP posts:

magichen · 17/12/2010 12:00

I also think it is a gender thing, my dd is is 3.4 and knows all her alphabet and numbers up to 20, can write name and half the letters without help, however I have never sat down with her and educated her as such. All I ever did was talk to her lots and lots every day and point everyday things out to her and read a lot of books as it is her favourite thing to do. I've never used flashcards or activity books or anything. I think kids go at their own pace and should never be forced to learn anything.

PollyPhonny · 17/12/2010 12:01

Go with the flow. My son could read fluently at two; my daughter got the hang of it when she was five. They all get there in the end.

mumofoliver · 17/12/2010 21:22

He sounds exactly like my DS who will be 4 in March. He can recognise the odd letter and is terrible at his numbers. He just has no inclination to learn any of them. I do try and relax about it and figure they will get enough of learning at school. My nephews could count to 100 and back and loved their numbers at the same age but didn't know any letters and at 5.5 they can both read really well!

His best friend knows his alphabet and his numbers etc etc so it is hard to relax at times but I do try to.

Rollmops · 19/12/2010 17:26

Leave it, pushing and trying to 'educate' a 3 year old could well kill the natural curiosity he has for learning - learning about things that interest him at the moment.
Our DTs just turned 3 and do know their letters, some numbers - we never 'teach' them as such; however, they have a vocabulary that surpasses many adults and I am not kidding and could tell you all about trilobites et al, amongst other things.
They will get the letters/numbers when they are ready.

Knackerelli · 22/12/2010 11:51

Agree, don't push him if he's not ready; you don't want to put him off. Like others have said just drop it into conversation, play games like alphablocks. A word of caution though on starfall; it's a lovely site but is american so some sounds are pronounced differently. Have fun!

Ghanagirl · 20/01/2011 06:55

Reading fluently at 2

BlueChampagne · 20/01/2011 13:25

If he's interested in cars you can always look at number plates when you're out walking. Play hunt the letter - first letter of his name, or M for Mummy etc.

I'm one of those with a letter and number lover (3.4) but am aware it may not last!

schmee · 20/01/2011 20:58

I find counting chocolate buttons/smarties a good incentive - i.e. would you like three smarties? Let's count them together.

schmee · 20/01/2011 21:01

Oh and alphablocks is great. Haven't seen the starfall site before but interested to see that it introduces big and small letters simultaneously, and uses letter names instead of sounds. I don't think that's how they do it in schools over here, so that may end up being confusing. Alphablocks uses letter names too, but to much less of an extent.

The old Fun with Phonics on CBeebies which you can now get on DVD was brilliant when my kids were younger, but Alphablocks probably has more appeal from 3 yrs.

Littlefish · 20/01/2011 21:11

Hearing and saying sounds in words is far, far, far more important at this stage than being able to recognise letters.

choice4 · 03/06/2012 00:28

anybody know where i ca get alphablocks on dvd to buy

lolalotta · 03/06/2012 06:24

My dd is 2.5 and we have had most success in recognising letters through play with foam letters in the bath (we bought ours from Tesco's) she loves to "play" letters! I only put one in to begin with so as not to overwhelm and as she learnt each one she earned a new letter which she got to pick from the net...
She doesn't get numbers though, I have always wondered why that is!!!!

EBDTeacher · 03/06/2012 09:00

We have got this dvd. DS asks for it on and has learned most of the sounds on it, including the blends, now. It is good. It has sections on hearing each sound within words as well as clearly associating the sound with the grapheme on the screen. He has the poster that comes with it in his bedroom and I hear him picking the sounds out to himself in the morning at 4.30am.

He's less predisposed to numbers but has learned to count to 10 and recognise numerals 1-10 from numtums (we have a full set of numtums recorded as you can't buy them) and to count 5 objects just by doing it when playing.

We don't push DS but tbh if you are going to watch 20mins of tv anyway I don't see why it mightn't as well be a section of 'letters' and an episode of numtums rather than infernal TreeFuTom.

poppyboo · 03/06/2012 13:27

The jolly phonics jolly songs are FANTASTIC! So are the jolly phonic finger phonics. We love Jelly and Bean too.

millingtonsmummy · 04/06/2012 07:55

My daughter's preschool use the jolly phonics system so I bought the CD and accompanying book with the letters and actions to go with the songs. I have the CD in the car ... captive audience :)

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