Everywhere I look my two and half year old is practicing writing her letters.
And, no, I haven’t taught her this. She’s figuring out how to write them herself, only occasionally asking me for assistance.
She’s known the names of all lowercase and uppercase letters for about a year now. She’s constantly calling out from the back seat of the car, “Mom, I see a really big S!” (When she isn’t busy backseat driving, saying instead, “Stop, Mom! STOP! The light is red!”)
She’s slowly learning to recognize some words. She reads her name. She knows “Mommy” and “Daddy” without hesitation.
For the last month or so, she’s been constantly play writing with zig zags on the paper, as I wrote about just last week.
But rather suddenly it’s morphing into something else.
On pieces of paper, on the front porch in chalk, she’s practicing her letters.
H (“for Hana,” her friend)
D (“for Daddy!”)
O (“It’s a circle!”)
i (“With a big dot!”)
etcetera
And so it begins…
Love this stage! So fascinating to watch, so amazing when it all comes together…which it often does so wonderfully when parents spend the kind of time reading that you and David do.
Fun reading project I’ve done with kids at this stage or a little later: postcards! Kids LOVE to get mail, and each postcard is like a mystery–who sent it? What does the card say? Kids totally get into working through the letters to find out. “Postcards” can be home-made, hand-made, etc., no need for great expense. Works best with folks who will write a simple message in clear print (“Say hi to Daddy!” or “I love you!”). Mama can always slip a “postcard” from Daddy into the mail stack to keep it going on days when there aren’t any others, and family/friends can send you a set of finished cards to be slipped into the mail pile the same way (saves on postage sending ’em all in one package). Kids usually want to “write” back, and the postcards from both sides are great keepsakes!
Alexis: We’ve already been doing a similar mail project. Look for a post on it soon! Such fun!
Ooh, can’t wait to see your post on it! You are always so creative and resourceful with your projects. Hugs to everyone!