There are tons of TV programs out there to both entertain and teach your children. However, nothing takes the place of the bond that's formed with one on one interaction. You are your child's first and best teacher - they're watching you and you know what methods work best when it comes to helping them learn.
Here are 6 TV Free Ways that helped me teach my toddler:
Puzzles // Leilani L O V E S puzzles. She's a visual learner, so puzzles have helped her tremendously. She has animal puzzles, number puzzles, alphabet puzzles, and word puzzles to reinforce letter sounds and eventually help with teaching her to blend sounds and soon read.
Books // We got a few storybooks from Leilani's baby shower, but I also made sure to buy her some educational books. Karen Katz was a favorite of mine when it came to teaching Leilani her colors, shapes, and body parts. Reading also helps with their language development, so make sure you're reading to your toddler a few times during the day.
Flash cards // Flashcards were kind of a hit or miss. She mainly wanted to take the flashcards and bend them. What did work was putting things up on the wall. Her grandmother actually implemented this with her numbers: She'd put the numbers 1-10 up on the walls in different spots and out of order. That way, she'd recognize the numbers no matter which order they were in.
Coloring // Once Leilani turned one years old, I started giving her crayons and paper to start scribbling on. I printed out pictures of animals, numbers, and shapes and went over those with her while she colored.
Bath Time // For bathtime, we have letters, numbers, and shapes. I ask Leilani to identify the letters and numbers, and since they also come in different colors, I ask her to identify the colors as well.
Alphabet Magnets // When I was teaching Leilani her alphabet sounds, I got this Leap Frog Fridge Phonics just to reinforce what I was teaching her through reading her alphabet books. You push the letter button, and it sings the letter and alphabet sound.
Toddlers (and babies) are literally like sponges - they absorb everything they learn. I did a culmination of these activities with Leilani to help get her learning. When Leilani does watch TV, she only watches educational cartoons from BabyFirstTV, like ABC Galaxy, Color Crew, and Harry the Bunny, so the material is literally always in her face no matter what she's doing.
By the time Leilani was a year and a half, she knew all of her numbers, most of her shapes, recognized all of her alphabets and knew the sounds of her alphabets. Now, for the most part, she's a talking two year old using phrases and sentences.
The most important thing to remember is to remain consistent, and make it fun, no matter what your toddler does. Toddler learning doesn't have to be structured like a school setting because let's face it - toddlers have a short attention span and they're not going to sit still for a long period of time while you try and teach them.
If they wander off in the middle of you reading them a story to go play with other toys, pointing out specific objects while they're playing helps them learn as well. Saying things like "Ooooh, look at the red ball? Can you say red ball? What color is the ball?" will stick with them.
We're almost always hopping around from activity to activity, but I find a way to make each moment a learning moment by constantly asking her questions and showing her new things.
What are some activities you do with your toddler/baby to get them learning?
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