There's ABC and then there's abc

If you're starting to teach your toddler lowercase letters, you might want to consider using Kumon's ABC's Write and Wipe Lowercase Letters. This pack of flash cards represents each of the letters of the alphabet in lowercase format. Each card has the letter on one side and a sample word and picture on the other side. What differentiates it from other flash cards is that the letter side follows a tracing format using broken / dashes lines, which toddlers can attempt to follow using a pen (included in the pack). Once done, you can use the eraser (attached to the pen) to erase and have your toddler try again! The letters are quite big, perfect for first time writing attempts and the reusability factor is a must when dealing with kids this young. My only gripe is that the pictures are not colored, so it's difficult to identify some of them. Also while most cards feature a word that starts with the given letter, X is the exception - it shows the word "OX", which confused my child at first given the consistent pattern of the other cards. They could have used xylophone, at least.

Still, I'm satisfied with using the cards to practice lowercase letter recognition, writing, and spelling/reading. This pack of cards and other Kumon products are available locally, at Fully Booked.

Schooling Starts At Home: Writing for Toddlers

Continuing my first post in this series...

I'm starting to teach my daughter how to write. Since she's just 2 years old, I'm concentrating more on her hand control than on actual writing of letters and numbers. Here are the things I've tried so far, and progress has been good:

(1) Magna Doodle - drawing board and stylus toy that allows children to scribble and erase as much as they want. These come in a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes and are easily available these days. Nearly all toy stores carry it! I chose a brand with a stylus that had a rounded tip so as to lessen the risk of poking one's eyes.

(2) Coloring Books and Baby's First Crayons - since I don't expect my daughter to color between the lines yet, I just let her loose on coloring books of her favorite characters using big crayons suited for little fingers (be sure to check for the NON-TOXIC label!). There are a lot of jumbo coloring books available at affordable prices. I prefer the Copy The Color books so she can at least practice color identification while scribbling wildly with her crayons.

(3) Dry Erase Writing Books - write, erase, write again! Choose versions that have basic writing exercises in the first few pages - these are pages full of straight and curved lines going up and down and left and right. I guided my daughter through these exercises (i.e., held her hand and helped her write) everyday until she was able to trace on her own. It's slow-going, but she's getting there. Once she gets the hang of it, we'll proceed to (5).

(4) Hand exercises - I have her crumple paper (I use old magazines for this), play with clay and puzzles, put beads on a stick, etc. regularly

(5) Once she manages to trace lines on her own, we'll move on to mazes and connect-the-dots, and then to the letters and numbers :)