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Hi girls,
DS is 10 months and had mastered mummy and daddy and is pretty good with doggy...
I'm wondering what anyone else has used as interactive learning tools for their little ones. I'm not interested into pressuring him to learn faster, but I feel if he has a thirst for knowledge I want to be able to provide it.
Has anyone used those 'my baby can read' dvd's or anything similar. What has your experience been???
Babies learn a LOT faster from parents than from DVDs - in fact, most studies show that children learn nothing from TV unless the parent joins in too.
DS was a very early talker and what helped him was just me talking to him. He would get told all about how plants grow or why we wash our hands or just naming the animals in a book. I'd read to him and tell stories. He now picks up a book and reads it to me - OK so he's just telling me what the picture is about but he's "reading" and making up things with it. He is using sentences usually and has great adjective use (for a toddler ie just sizes and colours and the odd emotional word like nice or cute), he has been able to ask for things for ages... but a word of warning.
They pick up words so well and so fast you want to watch your own language. Not just swearing - I ask DS what he would like now, as I hated him saying "I want..." all the time! Took about a month but we now have "I would like porridge for breakfast please." (OK it sounds more "Ah duh like porridge a breakfast pliz" but that's what he means!) He hasn't seen his dad for a month, but this morning came into our room, saw DH had gone and told me "Daddy has gone to work now. Bye bye Daddy." instead of asking "where Daddy gone now?" which I thought was great.
Honestly, if your son has a thirst for knowledge point out letters on street signs as you walk along. Count how many stairs there are. Run your finger under the words you read in books. When you use a verb, do the action (eg when you say jump then give a little jump). Singing and songs with actions are fantastic. Watch TV together: tell him about what he's seeing there. Maybe use some foreign words: DS has picked up some French, German, Italian and Spanish now. He may not be fluent but it will help him a lot when he needs these languages. :) You should hear him say "molto bene!" or "nada!" or "oooh, croissants, c'est bon!" or just a little "danke" instead of "thank you". I think it's cute but then I always aspired to being a polyglot as a child.
I agree with Ryn. Darcy was saying people's names (mum, dad, nan, bird, pop), multiple animle names ans sounds and a few songs by 1 and could count to 10. It was I suspect through nothing else but me talking and singing to her. She loved books and still does.
I also agree with watching how you speak to them. eg I never said 'ta' to Darc. Consequently she learned thankyou/thanks very early. I have spoken to her like an adult/no baby talk, we have pretend phones to talk on....I just speak a lot lol.
We've never had any additional learning aides and she ennunciates much better than many 3 year olds we come across.
Annabelle's 1st word was "Bella" at 6 months old! She only now at 2 yrs really watches dvds etc and its only very rarely. She learns everything off her parents and loved ones;)
Atm we do lots of memory games etc She learns most and retains most in the mornings ;)
She's extremly advanced in speaking, manners etc I find she remembers things better then me.
Try and encourage his memory, with repatition (sp) the same book over and over ;)
We pull books out now and Annabelle has memorised the pages and says them to me:)
We say full, complete words, "thank you, please" etc
With this her vocab is amazing!
MJ has many more words than most other 18mth olds that i have met.
Like the others i put this down to the shear amout of talk time she gets with me.
We dont watch TV.
In the mornings we occasionally have Sunrise on in the background while DH is getting ready for work, but as soon as he is gone its off and doesnt go back on until MJ is in bed.
We sit down and eat meals with her as well.
We read several times in the day and MJ has complete access to a range of books - board books to full story books.... she can go and pick a book up and often will bring it to me. She doesnt always like to listen to the story - impatience - but we look at the pictures and 'find' things like the hats, birds. flowers and other things that she knows either the words (to say) or can recognise the picture.
HTH :)
If you are wanting to encourage language, make sure that you are using it at every opportunity.
I also agree with using full words. I have never taught the word ta for thank you - i dont say it, so i am not going to teach Mj to say it.
Mind you some kids shows are great, again repeating a musicals etc help Annabelle;)
I agree with the others - just talk about EVERYTHING - like a running commentary of your life! Don't be afraid to use new and more advanced words, and try to enunciate (sp?) correctly (words like sandwich and wednesday etc)
I think it helps when you involve them in conversations with other adults, and just treat them like a person rather than a baby iykwim?
Thanks girls for your replies!
Sneaky sparkle- got fluffly mail today- thank you thank you thank you!
These replies have been great and have given me some food for thought. The TV is on alot at our house as I am usually here by myself cause DF works alot, I know this sounds strange, but I have it on more for compnay than anything else. Also DS likes the colours.
Could anyone give me some suggestions as to what to replace this TV sound with as I'm not so keen on having the radio running all the time as it's not great either.
Also on the books front, to be honest all the books I have are the ones that I had as a child, and I think they are a little too old for DS yet. Can anyone suggest some good/inexpensive books that are good to start learning with??? Possibly CD's too?
Actually another question- I don't swear very much at all, but DF does alot and I can't seem to get him to understand that DS is already learning these words from him. Does anyone have any techniques to try to get him to stop, I have tried reminding him but he gets frustrated and calls it 'nagging'....
DH works loads here too... this week he is doing 12-16hr days so o know what its like to be lonely!
We have either CD's, occasional radio or nothing
The CD's that i got were a box set of 5 CD's for about $10 from Kmart. its great and MJ has always had favourites.
Sometimes i will put on classical music just to mix things up a bit and other times i will choose a cd from our collection (no swearing - so usually something older)
Also join your local library and you can borrow CD's from there - this alwo changes things a bit and if there is a really good one.... well lets just say, we still listen to the music after it has been returned.
Re books: There is no such thing as something too old. When MJ was really little i use to read her the BFG, fantastic Mr fox and Matilda! Now we read clasical stories or DSS Thomas the tank engine books (i bought the collection for him when he was about 5) these we dont read but we look at the pictures and make up stories and noises.
Most of the board books i have got from the reject shop or the newsagent/tattslotto place as they always have books marked down.n Most of the board books that i have cost between $2-5 each. She certianly has her preferred ones too.
We actually have tonns of books, i believe that a love of reading is important and so we have books in every room for her to look at, as well as the bookshelf that she has free access too (my books are higher)
Reading 'Junk Mail' is also a favourite. we look at the pictures and take about the food/furniture etc etc
Some other things we do...
*story time at the local library - its a bit beyond here at times (she is in the toddler group) but she loves the interaction
* walking - we walk everyday i am home... this give us heaps to talk about - this is how she learnt the difference between a car/bike/bus/van/truck and their names. Also there is a lot of stuff being built near us so we stop and watch that and talk about whats happening.
*bike riding - we have just recently bought a bike trailer thing and its awesome!
If you are not use to the running commentary, it will feel weird to start with, but soon you will get words and sounds back and it will get easier :)
HTH :)
DS has heard all the Harry Potter books, so I'm another one with "it's not too old". The last book he asked for was a book produced by a local miniature railway group and he loves reading how they set up the track. (I don't, but that's not what this is about LOL.) But that book was only one pound. A lot of his books are from cheap shops. I can't find the book I want in there because I'm specific, DS isn't so finds loads of great books for him there. Try charity shops too.
As for background noise - I turned off the radio because I was making all the background noise and now DS does. He does a running commentary on what his trains are doing.
We like CDs and again buy cheap ones. Most music shops don't understand the true value of the Vienna Orchestra playing Strauss!
Ha ha thanks girls, you've given me some great ideas. i've gotten up and for the first time the TV is not on!!!! I know I know its a sad thing to celebrate, but it's a small change and definitely one to celebrate!
THink I'll be joining the libary this week to listen to some music, before and after its borrowed!
THanks again...
I think learning through life is very important at this age. I would make sure you go to the reading time at the library as well. Go to music playgroups, other places like museums etc... places to help expand her mind.
I often would take my girls for a walk in the bush and talk about everything they were seeing. My girls can name different bird species and possum types and know alot about animals now because its my interest and I have talked about it with them, read them books about it and explored the bush with them from the time they could fit in a sling.
This year we are starting to explore their education into music a bit more. They have heard music, but we are going to talk more about, how it makes them feel. What sort of music it is.... starting with Triple J's hottest 100. We have done the Mozart/Beethoven/Debussy thing... now for some modern music education ;)
Reading books, flash cards, exploring outside... all things I've done with Ashton. Then he also sits on my knee when i'm doing things with the older boys. He has a lot of words I think
mum
dad
bub
ta
tarta (water)
Chase
no touch
more
up
no
broom (car)
hmm yeah about that. He was 1 yesterday.
Hey Ella, ABC kids isn't too bad I don't think. SOmetimes we all need some down time ;)
I used to spend $5 a week at the local 2 dollar shop on books for Darcy. Now more often than not we go to the library once a week.
Darcy has grown up with 2 policemen in this house and one of them (not me) swears like a trouper. You might find that if you are horrified with Daddy and he has to be genuinely sorry that your little guy might pull Daddy up more than you do. Darcy's a fatastic minotr, plus Daddy has to put mmoney in her swear jar lol. And no she's never said anything lie it.
It's true about the running commentry of your life though, even now I hear Darcy talking to Nate just how I chat about things to her. "Now first we....." lol.
going against the grain here, while my daughter has learnt alot from us as her parents and particularly my grandparents, she also learnt alot through the baby bumblebee dvds, which teach them the names of objects, verbs, questions etc.... she was thirsty for knowledge and rarely slept during the day, and absolutely loved to sit and watch a short dvd... she definitely learnt quite a few words from these.... i know she would have learnt the words anyway, but if you have a live wire thirsty for knowledge who doesn't sleep they can be a great addition to throw in the mix now and then..... its good to have a variety of things... singing songs has been one of the best things i've found....