Phonics with 23 month old??

[BossWitch]

Would I be crazy to get some phonics books / flashcards to use with almost 23 month old DD? I feel like I would...

For background: her language skills are really good, nursery comment on how much she understands and how good her speech is. She mostly speaks in full sentences (e.g., on seeing the dog under the table the other day, "Hello DDog, what you doing down there?") or almost-full sentences ("go kitchen to find mummy", "where daddy gone?", "I already done it" etc.)

We've had a set of foam letters for bath time since she was about 7months, they were an xmas present from her aunt. We've always played with them, mostly because we are cheap and don't want to buy more bath toys, partly because I figured getting letters = fun times into her head was possibly a good thing. A lot of this involved me and DH spelling silly stuff on the wall behind her and taking funny pictures - definitely not hot-housing!

In the last four (maybe?) months or so I've done more talking to her about the sounds of the letters, so saying "g for granny" as I put the G on the wall, etc. She has loved this, she started out just linking the letter to the whole word, so would pull the G out of the bag and say "granny", but is now doing the sound as well, "g for granny". She can do this with about 18-20 letters now. If, with the letters all spread out in the bath, I ask her to find the 'P for Percy' (she is obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine!) or the 'M for Mummy' etc she can find them without me helping. The other week she was holding the tube of metanium during nappy change and pointed out the 'm' and the 't' on the tube, which was a surprise!

The reason I was wondering about getting proper phonics books / cards / something is that I know that I am probably pronouncing some of the letters wrongly, and I don't want to get her started off on the wrong foot, and because she has loved playing with the letters so far, so have been thinking she might like to keep going. But I can't help but worry that I'm being a pushy, "oh my DD is so very clever, she was reading by three don't you know" type parent!

Has anyone had a similar experience? Am I being mental? I know I could ask at nursery, but I wanted to ask within the anonymous safety of mumsnet before I do!

Mariana, is that an argument for or against teaching letter formation? I'm worrying we should have taught DD, we didn't. As it is she's made up her own poor letter formation and her own bad habits. (And I'm worried teachers are going to blame us for teaching her when she starts school in sept!)

Re reading DD was similar at a similar age. Except that being a younger sibling, there was no question of teaching her, she just had to eavesdrop. Around her 2nd birthday we realised she was blending sounds out loud, showed her the odd simple written word and she could sound that out too. She wasn't interested in DS's phonics books at that stage, but when she got interested at a bit after 3 she whizzed through. She adores books so much, I wouldn't have her not reading. Not for the sake of a few days coordination with school. And the rate DD went even at 3, it would only have been a few days of matched speeds.

Things DS and by extension DD used to like at that stage were: playing I spy, alphablocks, teach your monster to read (better than reading eggs IMO, and free!), jolly phonics songs on YouTube. DD also had a long fascination with the simplest of baby board books, the kind with a picture and a word on each page; and an alphabet book we had with a few different named items for each initial letter.

Sorry, meant kariana. Autocorrect error.

Catkind it's more an argument against teaching it too early before a child has the skills to actually stand a chance of learning the correct formation. These things have to progress in stages and a child who hasn't met the milestones I mentioned will simply nor posess all the background skills which are needed for correct letter formation. At that stage trying to teach the correct way would lead to frustration. I certainly wouldn't argue against teaching it to a child who is ready. Once they are starting to write letters without input and once they show signs that the background skills are in place there is no harm teaching correct formation.

Having said that I wouldn't worry about your dd, the school should work on correcting it anyway and I'd say nearly all children have bad writing habits early on. It's a stage and usually if good handwriting is taught properly they get out of them by the time they reach junior school, if not before. She will be at an advantage knowing how to write letter shapes anyway.

Also just want to mention that whilst 23 months is early for formal phonics I'm all for children learning to read as early as possible. Some children just pick it up naturally through play or reading with an adult etc. I could read by the time I went to school and children who can do have a head start. I would never suggest holding back on this as long as it's kept informal and no pressure if they aren't interested.

Thanks kariana, that's very reassuring. New school-parent nerves! I should have got over it by now, only DD is such a polar opposite to DS at the same age. Your criteria certainly cast light on DS' struggles with writing in reception. Couldn't hold a pencil or draw a circle let alone triangles or people.