how much do you teach your toddlers at home

[ellie1984]

Just looking for some advice. Our two and half-year-old goes to the nursery almost full time. We both work and during the week our days basically involve taking him to the nursery, picking him up around 5, and bedtime around 7. I always read to him before bed, but honestly, I don't do much else in terms of trying to teach him stuff. On the weeknend, we do try to read to him, take him to museums, grandparents and generally interact with him. But going on my friends -everyone seems to be doing a lot more teaching with their toddlers - like teaching them letters, numbers etc.

I sort of assumed that he would be picking up a lot of that at the nursery and that at home it might be nicer to get him to play outside (his nursery never take them out) and just play with him etc. But now I think that am doing this all wrong. How much 'teaching' does everyone else do with their toddlers? And before any shoots me down - I am a teacher so I do get that teaching/learning is important - but I sort of assumed that lots of that stuff will be done at the nursery. I have tried to count and show him letters etc but I dont know if everyone else is doing it really systematically like a letter/number a week etc.

I also come from a country where formal schooling doesn't start till age 7. Whilst I did know how to read and write by the time I started school - am never quite sure how early you're meant to start teaching them formal things like letters, numbers etc. DS also doesnt have the best of attention spans and any more than 5mins of trying to teach him numbers and he's off -though he can sit still for quite a while when am reading to him. Any advice would be great

My dd who is a similar age loves nursery rhymes on YouTube so she has learnt lots from there.

We do puzzles and games that incorporate learning, for example wooden number puzzles/alphabet puzzles. We will count out random things, pegs when hanging washing out, bits of pasta when preparing food- anything really. I don’t actively try to teach her. I just try and include it in everything we do.

Seems to be working as she will count to 10 on a good day with minimal prompting.

She only attends nursery half a day a week so I feel fairly responsible for what she’s learning.

You don't need to teach him things. Sing nursery rhymes, including the alphabet song. When you are out comment on things so he knows what they are, colours such as trees, grass, cars, etc. No formal learning required!

Play is children’s “work” and it is how they learn.

You said up post -
On the weeknend, we do try to read to him, take him to museums, grandparents and generally interact with him
This is great. Interaction is key, talking to him, playing with him, sitting down face to face and having a nice time. You could look at the Hungry Little Minds website for ideas of what to do if you’re stuck. But you DO NOT need to formally teach your child.

Talk about what you see and what you’re doing. You can point out letters and numbers and shapes when you are out and about. Or when you are playing with a puzzle, etc.

Filling up and pouring out cups of water in a sink and saying things like “oh that’s heavy now” or “my blue cup is full up!” And then filling and pouring. This is all the basis for maths. Walking up stairs and counting the steps, putting on socks- one, two. This is all teaching your son maths.

I cannot stress to you enough talking and interacting with your child and having a rich high quality talking household is the underpinning of good brain development.

If you speak another language then keep doing that too! If your child is growing up bilingual this is a huge advantage.

Sounds like you are doing a great job. Keep doing it!

Also things like counting the stairs as you walk up.

Former early years teacher and mum to a 2 year old here - I'm not worrying about letters or numbers (apart from modelling counting e.g when going up stairs) at all until reception. I give my son lots of love attention and try to get him out and about experiencing the world as much as possible. He likes sensory learning, play and exercise and loves books & stories. I'm always talking to him and listening to him.
They're still so young and I don't believe in starting anything formal / 'academic' too early. Relax and enjoy your child

What you are doing is great and I would stick to that. It's really important to read with them at home and try to instill a love of reading but you really don't need to go as far as teaching them letters, numbers and writing and reading. You could obviously do some counting to 10 or 20 but that's about it. That's what reception school is for. If you have a Google for what being 'school ready' is you will see that it is mainly centred around self care, so things like getting themselves dressed, tidying up, sharing etc. It is helpful if they have had practice at making a mark, so lots of colouring etc is good for that and also helpful if they can recognise their name but other than that don't worry. Reception level assumes they have no knowledge so they start at the very beginning. If you teach them everything then they may become bored.
I'm not a teacher but I have a 7 and 4 year old. The eldest is now in year 3 and has a reading age of the school year above and the youngest has just started reception. I only ever read to them, we didn't do any formal learning of letters before school, so don't worry there's plenty of time. Just enjoy the outdoors and exploring things and helping your child develop their fine motor skills.

We both work full time too. But I work long shifts so she does two days at nursery and one with nanny and then the rest with me or her dad.
She’s two and a half as well. On my days off we just do us, we go swimming to the park, gymnastics class pre corona. There’s no formal teaching, we just play and draw etc.
Today we went on the train to the next town because she wanted too. (And stopped for cake and a drink)
We spend our time chatting and singing, painting and playing. I assume nursery do structured activities.
Today she said she loves mummy days. So do I kid.

Ah thank you, everyone. It's lovely to hear what everyone else is doing with theirs. I teach post-16 so my experience is with the bigger kids and thats obviously completely different.

I've also realized that we hardly ever 'write' or 'read' anything ourselves. It's so different from when I was growing up. My parents were always reading books and newspapers. We really don't day to day - not real ones and I can't remember the last time I held a pen or wrote anything down. I mean I've published lots of books etc - but they are all on a hard drive ;-) so my kid hardly ever sees me writing/or reading anything.

I put very little value on formal learning. Play on the other hand? Play is really important. For us grown ups too! I could not sit in a classroom (or at a desk) all day I'd be bored stupid.

I taught my DDs to recognise all the alphabet letters at 18 months and they were reading fluently by the age of 2 (DD1) and 3 (DD2). I taught them numbers to 100, and basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division by the time they were 4.
When they started primary at nearly 5, they had a reading age of 12.
I aimed to make learning fun, and they loved stories, rhymes, board games, practising writing simple stories of their own, having visits to museums, heritage centres, science exhibitions etc, as well as nature walks, beaches, ball games.
I’m a doctor, not a teacher, but I found that toddlers are like sponges, they soak up knowledge effortlessly and are always greedy for new input! They had a play clock, with cardboard hands to learn to tell the time, and a globe to learn geography. It’s not formal lessons, it’s just providing loads of learning opportunities in a way they can enjoy.
This was all long ago, by the way - they both graduated uni ten years ago. It helped that they both had very high IQs (over 160 in DD1’s case) and there were far fewer distractions in those days - no mobile phones, and we didn’t get a home computer until after they were in school.

Just keep talking to them. We went to the a duck pond today and on the way home I was doing things with dd2 who is 3.5 like: “ooh dd I can see some fields, what do you think grows in a field?” She replied with apples so then I went “good choice, but apples grow in trees, things in a field grow in the ground, what could grow in the ground?” And we spent the journey listing things like carrots, cabbages, bananas, pears etc. And me telling her she was right or not quite right but a good guess etc.

We count when the opportunity arises, We read to her and I sometime spell words out to her like her name but we don’t do much else but talk to her and explain the world around us.

I’m a childminder, so follow the same curriculum as nurseries. I don’t formally teach children anything. We do a lot of playing and I incorporate learning in to that. How many slices of apple are there? Let’s share them between us all. How many a have we all got? Mark making, drawing, painting, colouring in, with anything, crayons, sand, paint. Play doh, who can make the longest worm. Colours, who can find me a red leaf. You get the kind of thing I mean.
A child’s best resource is a responsive adult, as long as you are interacting with your child, reading stories and singing with them, anything extra is a bonus. There’s plenty of time for your child to learn numbers and letters.

We also work full time and DD in full time childcare. We just incorporated learning into day to day activities - counting stairs, toys, chocolate buttons, birds in the garden etc. We have these potato shaped letters we'd give her for tea and also found a wipe clean book with letters in which she loved using the white board pens on - so it was more of a game but still learning at the same time. She also had a leapfrog toy with an electronic pencil which got her practising letters and numbers. Oh and those old school magnets for the fridge in letters and numbers - we have vertical radiators in the house and they are all covered in them 🤣

can anyone point to a good resource of what ages kids are supposed to be learning things? I've had a look online but a lot of it is quite vague. I feel like with a baby there a lot more webpages that tell you exactly what milestones they should be hitting but I seem to have let it split now he's a toddler.

Guess I should put my teaching hat back on at home and not just at work. It seems silly that I pay more attention to lesson planning the big kids but not my own. Though with the bigger ones there is a set curriculum etc.

I've got a nearly 3 year old.
She doent go to nursery at all.
She just plays around the house with random toys/ goes to the park. Watches some tv/ YouTube.
No formal learning at all.
Her favourite things to do are make a mess and get into mischief and she likes to annoy her big sister.
She knows her colours and some shapes and comes out with the weirdest sentences sometimes. She can count to 10 etc.
Not sure where she picks it up from.

It doesnt help that he's a really lively boy and just doesnt sit still at home. Never seen him do a puzzle with us (though he seems to do them at the nursery) and any more than 3-5mins and he's off to the next thing. But he does love spending time with us and ask 'why' at everything. That's really lovely.

I have literally overheard mums in the playground discuss how their three-year-old knows the periodic table. Not sure what exactly that means for a three-year-old so it might also be the area where we live.

She is very competitive, anything her sister can do she tries to do as well.
This morning she was pooing and I asked her if she had finished yet.
She sings to me.
No, mama. Please go away. Hide away. I doing poopoo.
I thought it was hilarious.
So I sing back.
Ok. Let me know. Ok I'm going.

Re the periodic table...DSs (4 and 7) may be aware but that’s because DH teaches chemistry and they lean over him when he’s marking and demand to know what’s going on! All we have ever done is give accurate and honest explanations when they ask questions and that seems to work so far.

My DD is in nursery four mornings a week. My DP tends to do things like draw dots on a page to help her trace letters, but I'm much more laid-back about it. We count steps, do colours of flowers and trees; she learns the names of animals and things on the beach (we live by the sea). We read books almost every night.

We also have letter magnets stuck on the radiator in our living room, which we play with occasionally.

FWIW it's worth I'm educated to quite a high level in my field of expertise, but I firmly believe that when kids are this young they should be left to play. Plenty of time to learn letters and numbers.

yes, maybe I am overthinking this or maybe we're just not doing enough. I had quite a haphazardous education due to moving countries a lot and not speaking any of the local languages but still did fine, got a phd etc. But maybe I am just too laid back thinking that we're fine and so will he be. I think that my parents were a lot more structured in teaching us when we were little.

Can anyone point to a good chart of what pre-schoolers should be able to do/know and by when?

I have a 4 year old in reception and for starting school nursery I focused on making sure she could do things independently eg going to the toilet, wiping bottom, asking for help and putting on a zipping up her own coat. DD has also started to learn to write her own name.

I only started to formally teach phonics and numeracy last year during lockdown but this was line with the work set by school nursery.

I did reach my kids to read and write but they were only in part time playgroup. The eldest could read fluently and write simple words whereas her sister was nowhere near as advanced despite my attempting the same home preschool programme. Younger dd has dyslexia which of course I didn't know then. If kids are in full time nursery they should be taught the early years curriculum so at home it's just reinforcing it.

The EYFS has age bands and areas of learning what what a typical child could be doing around those ages.

I’ll find you a link...