WHAT DO MY 2 YEAR OLDS NEED TO LEARN

Before I decided to teach preschool, I often asked myself what learning objectives and/or school subjects are age or grade appropriate (i.e. What in the heck should I teach?).   I had a lot of questions about this when I first started, so I'm going to share with you my experiences and opinions.  

Simple is best!
I can't stress this enough.  I'm think I'm better than anyone I know at making things way harder than they need to be, so I am coming to you as mom who has lived and learned (the hard way). 

Simplicity is important.  So is my time.  It is far quicker and easier for me to plan and prepare a few simple activities that only work on a few skills.  More importantly, it is far easier for my children to focus on just a couple things at a time.  It has taken me sometime to get this but the more simple I make it, the happier everyone will be. 

I know that makes sense so I won't go on any more and end up making it more complicated than it needs to be.  Yes, I tend to do that

                       Young Preschool (about age 2-3-ish)
I believe that all children learn best through play, but in this age range it is kind of a "MUST."  The primary objective for this age group is try to instill a love of learning by making learning fun.    I try to take the opportunity to expose my little ones to various skills while playing!  

Here are some concepts I aimed to familiarize my 2 year olds.  We approached them through games, puzzles, learning toys, crafts and sensory play:

                                                  Fine Motor Skills
We all want our children to someday form letters properly and use scissors correctly.   Fine motor "workouts" will give them a better ability to master these objectives later on.   Play dough, beading,  lacing,  squeezing clothespins, etc. all get those small muscles ready for the "big kid" stuff of writing and cutting.

                                                              Pre-Math
We count out loud, work on number identification, practice 1:1 correspondence (one object represents the number 1, etc),  learn basic shapes and colors, and sort objects by size, color or type.

                                                                  Letters
Letter identification, the alphabet song, and teaching the sound that each letter makes.

                                          Reading Comprehension
I know you've heard it said again and again, "if you want to raise a reader, read to your child daily."  I would like to also add that getting a child to interact with books is an equally important goal. I will ask my little ones questions (even if they can't answer yet), I encourage them to point to pictures too.  I will get them as involved as I can with the book that I am reading to them so they develop reading comprehension skills naturally-- not to mention a love of books and reading!

So for  my 2 to 3 year olds this is just a few of the things that I have found works good for me and them.  I have to admit that since I started using the Mother Goose Time curriculum my life has been so simple!  Yea Me :-)

I will post what I think works for my older kiddos in a few days.