Do you do flashcards at home with your child/ren?

[laurz75]

My son is 2.8, bright and takes in information really well. He goes to pre-school for one session a week and absolutely loves it. He recognises numbers as we're walking, watching tv etc. My dh thinks I should do some flashcards with numbers/letters on with him. I'm just not sure tho! Do you do flashcards with your 2 year olds?! If so what, when, success stories?

My DD was like your son and incredibly into letters, asking lots of questions and very interested. So we bought her the jolly phonics books, and she loved them (She was the same age then as your son is now). They're particularly good as each letter has got an action. So she could point out the different letters that she knew, doing the actions wherever we were, in the car, on the bus, in town etc...

When she was ready, we bought her some early reader books, and we just put them on her bookshelf. Our policy has been to never force or even suggest to her that she reads a book - but if she brings a book to us, then we'll happily do it with her.

She is now 4 1/4 - she'll be starting school in sept but already she is reading basic books (She's on songbirds level 2 now - so shortish sentences) and can read about 100 different words. But the important bit is that all of this has come from her. We never say to her, 'you must do your reading' or 'lets get a book'. we just put the appropriate books on her bookshelf, or introduce the games etc and leave the rest up to her. Sometimes she goes for weeks without looking at a single book, at other times she will want to do her reading 4/5 times a day (that can get draining!) but the key thing is - she is in control and she has a love of learning and a thirst for knowledge.

But we don't really do the flashcards, because she finds them boring.
HTH