Learning is Fun!

Have you sat down and tried to teach a two-year old a new song? What is your strategy to keep their attention? Do they even like the song you are teaching them? These are the questions that I ask myself and my sister all the time!

Anna Claire picks up on songs, numbers, and colors very fast. Valerie has taught her how to say the ABC's and to count to ten. Yes, some of the letters like "L, M, N, and O" have been replaced with some random sound that sounds like "L, M, N, and O", but that is really hard for a two-year old to master, let's be honest!

The easiest way to keep her entertained and focused on the song are hand motions or being animated when singing. She is a sponge when it comes to learning new things. During the Christmas break, I would keep her during the week and when I would get a snack I would say "Yummy, yummy, yummy for my tummy." I would say that over and over and over again until she caught on. It was only by the end of the day that she started to say it with me! Now, she will say that anytime she gets a treat!

There are multiple ways to teach your kids new things every day. What works best for Anna Claire is being repetitive with something new. We practice counting by playing hide and go seek. We also will pick up a color and ask her what color is the crayon.

I will have a blue crayon in my hand and I will ask her what color is the crayon in my hand. She will respond very confidently with "purple". I will say "Anna Claire does this crayon look purple?" She will then giggle a little and say "No, it's blue." We think she really likes to say the word purple, I mean that is a really fun word to say, so once we correct her she will then tell us the correct color.

Another way to promote a cognitive development in toddlers is imaginary play! Anna Claire loves to play with her baby dolls. She feeds, burps, and swaddles the baby. She is such a good little mommy. She also loves to cook. Valerie bought her a play kitchen and she really loves to pretend to cook and feed all of us whatever she cooked!

She is learning so fast! Valerie is teaching her a lot by just being repetitive, practicing, and making things into games, so that learning is fun! What works for your child? Who knew learning could be so much fun!