SAHM's of 2-3 year old toddlers BTDTs- what are you doing with them

to keep them learning and occupied if they are not in school.

what things do you have for them? how many, if any, classes do you have them enrolled in for the week?

toyes/games etc.

I haven't purcashed new toys or anything really for my son in a while and I want him to learn and grow while he's at home. not sure if he's getting enough stimulation from what he has now. and I am also updating his Birthday wish list.

thanks!!!!

Re: SAHM's of 2-3 year old toddlers BTDTs- what are you doing with them

vTech fridge alphabet thing
magnetic numbers for fridge
new books
flash cards
dressing doll-with zippers, snaps, etc
walks and nature lessons(bugs, leaves etc.)

Re: SAHM's of 2-3 year old toddlers BTDTs- what are you doing with them

DS is 2- and his toys are mainly things that move...if it moves he's all about it. he's obsessed with his train table, trains, cars, trucks, and mini slide in the house.
we go to the park, in our yard, to the library for programs or just to hang out and get books. he LOVES to be read to so we do that a lot.
in the fall when i go back to work my sister who is watching him will take him to library programs 1x a week and maybe a gymboree. in the winter or spring i will sign him up for a half time nursery school though.
he also loves to "draw" on his big sister's art easel, play with model magic dough. and if there is a ball around he will play with that for a good amount of time.
he's only 2 yrs old..that's little, so right now it's just about getting activity and having fun.

Re: SAHM's of 2-3 year old toddlers BTDTs- what are you doing with them

DS is home with my mom. He is very into letters, numbers, shapes, colors and animals.

He started learning numbers and letters with these books:
123 NYC

ABC NYC

We used these flash cards a lot too:
My First Words Touch & Feel Flash Cards

We watch YouTube videos a lot. One of DS's favorites is "Phonics song 2".
phonic song 2

We also search for thigs like:
Alphabet song
Old McDonald
Wheels on the bus
Row Row Row your boat
Bah Bah Blacksheep
(Hooplakids has several of these songs on youtube. They aren't fancy, but DS loved watching them.)

We also color with crayons and I write out letters and shapes.

fisher-price.com also has some learning games on their site. We do them together.

I have to also say that my DS has learned an awfu lot from the educational apps I have on my iphone.

My husband wants my son to go to a part time daycare or nursery school to get social interaction (like a 2-hour class), but that's more than I want to ask of my mother at this point since she'd be the one driving him back and forth.

ETA: The LeapFrog Letter FActory DVD has also been great. I heard about it from the moms on here. DS loves it and he's learned his letter sounds from this DVD. LeapFrog Letter Factory

Message edited 8/12/2011 4:16:57 PM.

Re: SAHM's of 2-3 year old toddlers BTDTs- what are you doing with them

DS just turned 2 and is really into being outside as much as possible now. He loves making water ballons, going in his little pool, sandbox, playing with the hose, watering the garden.... you get the idea! We have a park and pool around the corner and go there a few times a week.

Inside, he is very into trucks and trains now. He loves his wooden train tracks now that he can put them together on his own. We do a lot of crafts, playdoh, gluing, stickers, markers, painting. Color wonder makes great mess free art supplies. He loves watching laurie Berkener videos and playing all of his instruments along with her. He is getting into pretend play now. We have a cash resister and shopping cart and play "store". Loves his doctor kit too. Little people sets are a recent favorite and he really pretends with them now.

As far as learning letters/numbers/shapes/colors, I try to incorporate it into what we are doing rather than work on it with specific toys.

Right now, we go to a mommy and me class and a My Gym class each week and library programs every once in a while. We also do a lot of playdates to keep busy.

Re: SAHM's of 2-3 year old toddlers BTDTs- what are you doing with them

My DS is now 3.5 yo.
we try to do 1 thing a season in terms of class and then I supplement with library programs...
We have done multi sports program, music class, swim lessons and this summer he is doing a explorers class and gym class back to back (its kinda like preschool setting 1x a week for 1.5hours)

DS is huge into games, we are constantly buying new games, memory, candy land, monopoly Jr etc. He just loves them all.
He also loves playing scrabble, obviously he cant spell yet so I give him sight word flash cards and he uses them to spell words on the board.

he loves all kinds of workbooks "homework" as he calls it. So I have tons of handwriting and phonics work books for him.

In terms of toys, he has a few that look similar to blackberrys and do letters and such, one is a buzz lightyear one and has games and spelling. he is also addicted to the ipod touch so we buy him phonic games on there as well. He also has a toy by vtech thats called alphabet town and does letters and time ..it was a hand me down but he really likes it.

Re: SAHM's of 2-3 year old toddlers BTDTs- what are you doing with them

Mommy and me (only with DS, not yet with DD) DD will be going to a 2 y/o program 2 days a week. I want to start her in swimming in the fall and dance in the winter.

Toys:
blocks
puzzles
coloring
flash cards
shape sorter
reading books
library once a week
singing songs and dancing

Nothing fancy, just simple stuff. I stay away from light up, noise making toys for the most part.

Re: SAHM's of 2-3 year old toddlers BTDTs- what are you doing with them

DS is 3 and just recently got very interested in puzzles.

I used to do a lot of activities at the library. But with the twins now here it is just easier to take him to the library weekly to do new puzzles/read new books/ socialize with other toddlers.

We do lots of playdates and various locations.

He is starting nursery school in September. 2 days a week for 3 hours.

Re: SAHM's of 2-3 year old toddlers BTDTs- what are you doing with them

DD just turned 3. We don't have the money for classes, but we do the library programs all the time.

As far as when we are home

Activity books (I found some good ones at BJ's) that teach tracing, coloring , etc.
electronic learning games like vtech
computer games (starfall, nick jr, pbskids)
24 piece puzzles

Message edited 8/12/2011 8:04:02 PM.

Re: SAHM's of 2-3 year old toddlers BTDTs- what are you doing with them

I dont SAH but I have been off since April and during the school year she is with family.

She is obsessed with th IPAD and my phone. I have a bunch of toddler flash card apps that she loves.

We sing songs and constantly ask her to say colors, shapes, and count things.

Puzzles are good too.

Re: SAHM's of 2-3 year old toddlers BTDTs- what are you doing with them

Anything Leap Frog makes, it pretty good. My DS loves all their stuff... I agree with everyone else, trains, trucks, park, libraries. Also, there are some amazing apps for my iphone that my DS loves. He will be 3 in September and he attended a 2 hour play group 2x/week since February. This upcoming year, he will go to nursery school 3 days/week.

Re: SAHM's of 2-3 year old toddlers BTDTs- what are you doing with them

2yo DS was enrolled in preschool prep (mix of art, music, science) 3x per week and gym 2x per week.

At 2.5, he is starting preschool. I now have a second one but I would have sent DS to preschool even if he was the only child I had.

Re: SAHM's of 2-3 year old toddlers BTDTs- what are you doing with them

My DD will be 3 in September and right now she is home with me and I have no plans to put her in Pre-K until she's 4. I don't really see the need to have her in school right now, I am an elementary school teacher turned SAHM so she's already ahead of the curve.

I have actually been buying her a lot of "games" at the teacher store. They have GREAT stuff to help young kids not only learn new skills but reinforce things they have already learned. Some of her favorites are the "Ladybug Letters" where she matches the capital letter to the lowercase letter, "First Words" which teaches basic sight words, "Picture Sequencing" and Number Matching games - count objects and match to appropriate number. She has so much fun playing these and she has easily mastered many of the things she would've normally learned once she got into Kindergarten.

She has also started using educational games on our laptop. She loves the Sesame Street game (got it really cheap at Target) which teaches her occupations, counting, ABC's, colors, etc. I am also starting the Daily Calendar with her which I got from the One Step Ahead catalog. It's a fun way to introduce months, days, seasons, weather, etc.

At home we read together CONSTANTLY and she "reads" throughout the day on her own too. She LOVES books! I make sure to include non-fiction books in her library as well as the picture books just to give her a more varied reading experience. She loves looking at the books about animals, space, dinosaurs, etc.

I cook and bake with her a lot too which I think is a great way for her to learn measurement, following directions, etc. Plus it's fun!! I try and balance her toys with things that are just "fun toys" with things that are either educational or force her to use her imagination when she plays. She LOVES Lego Duplo blocks, puzzles, and coloring. Melissa and Doug make some great things like pattern puzzles and shape puzzles. From those she has learned square, circle, rectangle, oval, hexagon, pentagon, and octagon. Pretty impressive for a toddler!! I also added to her Wish List a kid teaching clock just to start introducing her to the concept of time.

I look at every interaction throughout the day as an opportunity to learn. She is very inquisitive and she asks a ton of questions about everything around her so I take those opportunities when they come up to teach her in a fun, conversational way. She also learns a lot from TV. I actually really love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, I think it's great! She's learned so much just from watching that!

Lastly, I think all of the Leap Frog toys are wonderful. She has Fridge Phonics and Letter Factory DVD and the Leaptop and it's amazing to me that at not even 3 she knows her ABC's and all of her letter sounds. It's awesome. LOVE Leap Frog!!

Anyway, hope this helps. As far as classes I don't pay for anything specific. I will take her to the library to participate in the activities there and amongst my friends and their children she gets plenty of playtime with other kids. When she's 4 I will send her to Pre-K part time just to get her ready to be away from me so that it's not such a shock when she goes to Kindergarten. Other than that, 95% of what she is learning is coming from me and my DH when he's not at work.

Edit - Also got a bunch of educational learning games on my Droid for her to play with. They have so many great ones to choose from!!

She also loves the "Memory" game! She is awesome at it. I highly recommend buying it for your LO too!! She also has learned to play "Candy Land" and "Chutes and Ladders" and she loves those too. They are great to teach counting, colors, and taking turns.

Message edited 8/14/2011 10:16:32 AM.

Re: SAHM's of 2-3 year old toddlers BTDTs- what are you doing with them

great post!

Re: SAHM's of 2-3 year old toddlers BTDTs- what are you doing with them

thanks everyone. this is great stuff!

Re: SAHM's of 2-3 year old toddlers BTDTs- what are you doing with them

Does he have an easel? We just gave DD her easel for her bday on sat and she is obsessed with it. Great way for them to learn their letters & numbers, be creative, etc. Came with a bunch of magnetic letters, I got her the melissa & doug animal magnets, dry erase markers and easel paper for the chalk side (don't want to deal with messy chalk yet).

Re: SAHM's of 2-3 year old toddlers BTDTs- what are you doing with them

Message edited 8/15/2011 10:45:06 AM.

Re: SAHM's of 2-3 year old toddlers BTDTs- what are you doing with them

We just put this together for DD (it was given to her around her 1st birthday I think) and she LOVES it! I had no idea I was holding back my little artist until I took her to a friends house and she was tagging all over the neighborhood with sidewalk chalk and crayons .

Re: SAHM's of 2-3 year old toddlers BTDTs- what are you doing with them

Posted by MrsA714

We just put this together for DD (it was given to her around her 1st birthday I think) and she LOVES it! I had no idea I was holding back my little artist until I took her to a friends house and she was tagging all over the neighborhood with sidewalk chalk and crayons .

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Re: SAHM's of 2-3 year old toddlers BTDTs- what are you doing with them

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