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Preschool education

Get advice from other Mumsnetters to find the best nursery for your child on our Preschool forum.

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Original poster

Teaching a 2yr old to read/reading skills

14 replies

Ivytheterrible · 13/12/2012 10:51

Can anyone advise on what I should do with my 2.2 yr old DD?

She knows her colours, shapes, numbers and can count etc. In the last couple of months she has started picking up books and running finger along words and picking out the letters and sounds she recognises.

Is this an indicator she is ready to learn to read? What can I do to help her?

I will add I am not a pushy parent and most of this she has learnt from nursery although we have always read to her a lot. If she is keen to learn I don't want to stop her but also don't want to be one of 'those' mothers.

Her speech and general skills also seem well developed - yesterday when collecting her from nursery I was told (embarrassingly) "she is good at everything."

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LadyMaryChristmas · 13/12/2012 10:54

She sounds like a bright girl I started off teaching ds the phonetics alphabet. Then I taught him to say the letters for a word phonetically, then to say them without the gaps in between. He went from reading one word to reading a whole Mr Man book in three minutes. Words starting with 'th' are a little different though, so I had to explain about these also.

DameMargotFountain · 13/12/2012 10:57

i would let her lead you as to where she wants to go next - read to her letting her point to words, encourage talking about the pictures and showing her words that confirm her discoveries

and enjoy her eagerness and joy at learning

SwimmingLikeADuck · 13/12/2012 11:07

I am in a similar position, but with a 3.2 year old.

i feel she is pretty much leading the way and wanting to read. She enjoys it and remembers them really well, with possible exception of those letters with 'sticks' eg p,q, b, d.

I have taught her the lower case sounds eg t = tuh but not taught her any names of letters eg Tee. Does anyone know whether I should show lower case t and say its name is TEE or do I show her upper case T and say its a TEE. Do I teach her 'th' before T and other upper case letters?

Sorry, am a bit confused on the order of it all and how to phrase it that letters have sounds and names.

Sorry to hijack op, but will probably be relevent to you too.

SwimmingLikeADuck · 13/12/2012 11:10

Meant to say she can also blend the sounds really well, she recently saw the word 'tennis' read each letter and then said tennis. This is the first word she's ever read and needed no help at all. So, to my mind, it would be a shame to just leave it there.

Tiggles · 13/12/2012 15:28

At 2 DS1 learnt lots of phonics (starting with simple a, b,c then moving on to sh, ch etc). Before he was 3 he clicked with blending that b...a....t said bat, and he learnt to read. He was interested I went with what he was interested in.

DS2 had no interest until he was nearly 5 . But after a couple of months of being interested was reading way ahead of where would be expected. There'd have been no point doing letters with him at 2, he didn't care.

So go with your DD, ignore people who think you are 'being pushy' if she is enjoying it, you aren't.

Original poster

Ivytheterrible · 13/12/2012 17:23

Thanks for your responses - she is getting lots of new books for Christmas! Will work on individual sounds until she gets bored and take it from there I think.

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ChestnutsRoastingonaWitchesTit · 13/12/2012 17:33

My ds is really interested in reading too. He's not 2 til next month. We have to stop by every street sign so he can run his fingers over the letters. He knows 's' and 'o' by their shapes and recently pointed out the word 'so' and said it. Im aware he doesn't have the comprehension of what most words mean but I'm encouraging without stretching him iyswim. As long as you are positive and encouraging you'll give her the will and confidence to enjoy learning about sounds and shapes becoming letters and words and she'll do it herself.
It's very early yet to be 'reading' just enjoy books and observing.

schroedingersdodo · 14/12/2012 11:22

It's not a shame to let her do it by herself. Imagine how amazing to figure out reading all by yourself, not being 'taught' but discovering the letters and words! I wouldn't take this experience from her (we usually learn much better what we figure out, not what we're told/taught).

I would let her to it, and help only when asked.

Morph2 · 14/12/2012 14:02

chestnuts>> your son reminds me of my DS, we have to stop at every street sign, yesterday i purposely chose the way with less street signs as it was freezing.

DS is 2.7 and is also interested in letters. He recently started recognising words but its from memory rather than phonetically. things he likes to play with that your DD might like if she hasn't got all ready- bath letters (there is a jar of these you can get from tesco and asda for £3 (best £3 i ever spent), magnetic letters for his easel, a lion from ELC (but i got off ebay for £2) that has a little pocket for each letter and then a thing in it beginning with each letter eg. ambulance, vtech computer

Snowflakepie · 15/12/2012 16:27

We just made sure we put our own finger under words in books as we were reading them. DD copied and now reads her own bedtime stories, she is 2.10. She had a leapfrog phonics fridge toy for last Christmas which she loved, it says the name and the sound of the letter. You can get all sorts of toys that will do this if you like. But really I would just keep reading with her, showing her words, gently correcting her if she says things incorrectly. A awful lot of English is not phonetic so whole word recognition is great too. If she is interested she will do it herself, just give her lots of opportunity. DD showed real interest in the leapfrog tag system in a shop so we have got that for this Christmas, I think she will really enjoy the independence of not needing to always ask for things she doesn't know.

FromEsme · 15/12/2012 16:30

Make sure you're not actually teaching "tuh" "puh" etc, as that will cause problems with blending later on. You need to teach the pure letter sound.

Bakingtins · 08/01/2013 14:10

I'd get a few toys with letters on. We have an Orchard toys alphabet floor puzzle and ELC magnetic letters to play with, plus the ipad app Hairy Letters and game http://www.hairyphonics.com/play-now/games/ Hairy phonics
My DS1 read very early and was reading pretty fluently before he went to school. DS2 is a summer baby and at 2.5 is just starting to show interest and recognise his "special letter" (we used a "special letter" game for recognising letters from names e.g. that's a 'guh' for 'grandma'). If you do it at their pace when they are showing an interest, that's not being pushy. If you are sitting them down for hour-long phonics lessons at 2, that's a bit tiger-mom and you need to relax a bit!

Bakingtins · 08/01/2013 14:12

Try again Hairy Phonics games

drjohnsonscat · 09/01/2013 10:17

We have the finger phonics books which are really good. They can trace the letter with their finger, do the phonics action and spot all the things on the page that begin with that sound. My DS (3.2) really enjoys them and actually so does my 6 year old who can read fluently - I think they just find them fun and that's important - no pressure.

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