Does your 2yo know how to count, colours, shapes or the Alphabet?

[Snowdropfairy]

Hello

Does anyone's 2 year old now how to count to 10, know the name of shapes, the Alphabet or the name of colours?

I have a 2.1 year old boy who has just learened to say a few words and a family support work has said i need to teach my child all the above now!

I didn't think a child could learn these till they were older

I guess i'm just worried that i have let my child run ferral instead of teaching him the above. He is my first so i have nothing to compear him with.

So is everyone else teaching their 2 year olds the above and if so how do you do it?

snowdropfairy -your hv is talking crap rubbish about the bilingual thing

OP, because of the way you've phrased your title, you've got lots of posters coming on and saying that their children can do these things. I think it's more usual not to know most of them at this age.

My children are much older now but I remember being told by a HV that it was unusual for just 2 year olds to know their colours.

I think she's wrong, too. DD manages to speak in 2 languages (although one is a bit stronger than the other-but that's due to it being the language in whicj DP and I communicate) and she's starting to understand the third one.

Oh that's very very bad advice you have been given by the HV. It should actually be that you talk to him in both languages as not only will he then be fluent in both languages but he will also find it easier to pick up languages later in life.

DS is nearly three, and knows 4 letters of the alphabet that I'm sure of, a few more that come and go. He's pretty good with colours and can count to eleven before getting muddled, knows a few shapes, etc, but he's got almost a year on your child. I'd say at this stage there's so much variation that your support worker is a little out of the childhood development loop.

I mean, there's no harm in having a gentle go at this stuff with your DS, but if he's not interested don't feel you need to push it. Plenty of children don't even start reading until they begin school, and there's nothing wrong with that.

DD2 was 2 last week. She can count to ten - until recently she had no idea what it meant - just several contexts in which we do it. In the last week or so she ha started to get the hang of numbers up to 3.

She knows some shapes, square, circle, triangle, star & a couple of colours. She has no idea about the alphabet.

I agree that it is bad advice from your HV on 2 languages & if I were you I would do more research on this. Many agree that the best way to become bilingual is for each parent to speak their own language to the child. In any event I doubt that he is going to struggle to pick up english unless you don't live in the UK. I would get going seriously with the welsh now if you want any chance of him speaking it fluently. There are many people on MN who can share their experiences of this with you.

other than looking into speech delay if you are at all concerned, I wouldn't worry.

see, my ds at age 2 knew (without being taught, he just asked about everything all the time) all his letters, could recognise his name, knew colours, shapes yadda yadda yadda.

However he is now nearly 4 and still struggles with getting dressed, putting shoes on, riding a bike and I can't imagine putting him on rollerskates!!!! So in some things your ds is miles ahead and in others not so much, same for mine. They will catch up in due course. No-one ever wrote on their CV "first in baby group to count to 10"

As a CM we use the Practices Guides to work towards with under 5's, if you download and go to page 25, it might give you a overall expectation for children at each age.

Obviously all children are different and can fall into very different age ranges than their actual birth age.

shoshe Thank you for the link its great and very helpful

that's terrible advice about speaking in only one language - really awful. what a wasted opportunity get that hv to do some reading up on bilingualism in children before she starts talking crap in future.

Yes to those, except the alphabet, he learned to reel it off at about 2.9 I think. He can pick out a few letters but can't ID them all yet (but he's not far off at 3.3)

Most 2yo's can recite 1-10 but can't actually count to 10 as well.

On the flipside, DNephew can recite the alphabet (at almost 2.5) but doesn't know all his colours. He knows the planets though

mine knows those but not the whole alphabet, i never taught to him though just let him pick it up which im sure your ds will too. hv advice of flashcards and grilling him on these topics is a bit ott, surely it will put him off?? i find if i do try and 'teach' alphabet to my ds he gets quite annoyed
your ds sounds ahead in other things like getting dressed etc, which mine still doesn't do much of at 2.8 so i wouldnt let the hv make you feel bad about his progress they all have their own strengths and im sure he will pick those other things up before long by himself

Ds 2.4 can do NONE of those things. And I am seriously NOT worried.
Can not count. Knows 'un, too, fee'. But gets it wrong all the time.
Knows red,blue, green.
NO alphabet knowledge at all.
can not ride bike. can sit on, but can't push pedals.
good at puzzles. knows square, triangle, circle, diamond.

I can't even remember what ds1 knew at this age, but I am seriously non worried.

dgs was 2 last week.he can count to 10,knows red green blue and yellow,couldnt tell the alphabet from a squashed sandwich,can hold a crayon/pencil 'properly' with a pincer grip, can scoot a scooter and propel a 'scuttlebug' with his feet cant pedal,can do shape puzzles but not name shapes.can hold a conversation-talk in simple sentences,sing words to his favourite songs and recite favourite bits of stories.His brother was maybe more vocal but less physical.neither could dress/undress at just two but dgs1 could do some elements of both by 3.

Ds is just 2 1/2 and can do all those, but he's fascinated by reading and keyboard buttons and phones and puzzle pieces etc and has demanded I read number books to him, tell him what letters are, etc. Now he's got all them down, he's getting into different stuff like trying to put a nappy on a doll.

In contrast, he's never tried to get out of his cot, will only take his coat off if bribed, can't get shoes or socks off, and has just mastered jumping and running, and has no clue about throwing a ball or if he's peed or why pooing means he has to have a new nappy...

Daughter is 2 yr and 3 months, by 2 she knew how to count, could recognise all numbers up to 10, knew the names of shapes.

Now she can recognise some lower case letters of the alphabet, she can join in with me singing the alphabet (but probably not all by herself), she knows most colours (up until recently she would get confused between red and blue).

For counting, I first started counting up and down the stairs and counting things in books.

For recognising numbers she had a little book www.amazon.co.uk/Ten-Friendly-Frogs-Sally-Hobson/dp/1407104837 and I would read her the story (and then there were FOUR) and show her the corresponding number.

For shapes, we had a shape sorter and also one of those wooden jigsaw things, books too.

Colours I found a little more tricky to teach, I started with things in books, and also sorting her megablocks into different piles of colours etc. It took a few months but she has got the hang of it. I find colours quite tricky myself (in real life colours don't seem to be truly clear - like is that a red or an orange/ a green or a blue for example).

I really wouldn't worry about it too much, a lot of it will come naturally through play and reading. The only thing I've felt that I've actually had to push was colours, but perhaps she would have got it anyhow herself.

If you look in some of the pound shops, 99p shop or home bargains, you can get some great books there for numbers, colours and shapes etc.

Oh and I only panicked about the colours because my friend said that they tested her son with them on his 2 year check. I wouldn't have made such a big effort otherwise. They didn't test her on them incidentally, I just had a list of questions to answer (and none of them involved numbers, colours, shapes, letters etc). It was all about motor skills, social skills, speech etc.

Just wondering how many of the posters who say "yes my DC can" are on their first child.

DD1 could do all of those things and more
DD2 took until she was about 3
DD3 is now 4 and is just starting to get interested in the alphabet.

I'm betting that by the time they are 7 most children know their colours and shapes, and by the time they are 14 you won't even remember when they first learnt them.

On the other hand I think the OP not speaking Welsh to her DC is seriously bad advice from the HV.

My DD2 and DD3 were late talkers because they were learning 2 languages, but they are all now completely bilingual. Don't wait until they are 4 or 5, it is so much better to do it younger when they see it as natural.

What's the 2 yr check that is being referred to? Haven't heard anything about this. Is it something the health visitor arranges? (we are in West London).

My DD3 is just two and most definitely cannot count! She can shout out random numbers, and the only ones she gets in order are 4,5 & 6 (but she has no idea what's what). Knows the odd colour, knows something is a shape (thank you Mister Maker), however couldn't say which shape is which. She can however work my bloody Ipod touch and the DVD player. She says a smattering in Spanish and a tad more in English (we live in Spain, I am not mad mum sending her to a gazillion things....)

All of my DCs have done things at ridiculously different ages.

DD1 (17) walked at 11m, talked at 2.6, out of nappies at 2.6
DD2 (16) walked at 9m, talked at 1.7m out of nappies at 1.8m
DS (14) walked at 20m, talked at 3 and out of nappies at 3.2

They talk when they talk, walk when they walk and then we want them to sit down and shut up

Another one who is horrified at the HV saying that speaking two languages would 'confuse' your child. I would complain about that in the strongest terms, as it is shockingly bad advice - amazed that anyone who is PAID to give out developmental advice to families can be so fundamentally wrong-headed. If you are able and willing, start speaking welsh to him asap; he will benefit in every possible way.

Aother one who is shocked about the HV advice - speak Welsh to him! There's a bilingualism topic here on MN if you want to get advice from other people in 2 language households. I believe the theory is that learning languages at an early age is extremely beneficial for developing brains!

rathlin, yes, you should be contacted by your health visitor to arrange it. However I know mums who have chased it because of no contact from HV. I am also in London. I woudln't consider it a vital event though. Maybe that depends on your HV.

Rathlin I lived in West London with my first one and they didn't do check at 2 but did at 2½ but in S.W. London with next 2 DCs they did at 18m and 3, so could be that your HV will tell you about when time comes.

Well, it can't hurt to teach them, but it's expecting a bit much for them to know them!

My DDs knew some of these things at the almost-3 end of 2, IYSWIM, not the when newly 2.

And also to jump on the bandwagon about languages - indeed, horrible advice from your HV, speak Welsh as much as you can! Your DS will NOT get confused. My two are bilingual and not at all confused.