Your little one isn’t a baby anymore. Instead, you are hurtling through toddler days and running headlong towards preschooler days. But right now, your child is stuck squarely between the two. Some children will be fully potty trained by two, others, well, not so much. Some two-year-olds will be speaking in full sentences, while others are still just using two-word phrases.

Just understand, both extremes are perfectly normal.

It makes sense that your child is forging his or her own way now, because two-year-olds are known for their growing independence. You can use this growing self-awareness to your advantage when teaching early reading skills.

What’s Happening

By the time your child celebrates his second birthday, you will notice that your child isn’t growing quite as fast. But just because his physical development slows, doesn’t mean his mental development shows any sign of stopping. Your little one’s brain isn’t just taking everything in, it’s making new connections. His prefrontal cortex is beginning to develop, so he begins to plan ahead and make predictions based on what he knows. Basically, he can make mental images of things that he thinks will happen or things that he wants to happen. As a parent, you have already figured out that this can cause issues when a plan doesn’t live up to his expectations.

Another major hallmark of your two-year-old is her ability to connect with the rest of the world. In fact, she’s a little too ready to connect. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, a major problem arises when your child is ready to believe that everything going on around her is due to her actions. For example, she may have noticed that a parent picks her up from daycare after her nap. In her mind, the parent picks her up because she has taken a nap. This is the beginning of magical thinking. While much of this particular habit will be frustrating, you can use this cause and effect relationship to help your child learn letter sounds.

Milestones

While all two-year-olds are forging their own trails, there are some milestones that you will need to be aware of. In order take this next big step into reading your child should be able to:

  • Point to familiar people or objects when they are named.
  • Point to letters when named.
  • Use two word sentences with a noun and verb such as “Want milk.”
  • Follow two-step instructions, like “Come to the table and hand me your cup.”
  • Ask simple, two-word questions such as “Go night night?”
  • Knows the names of familiar people and body parts.
  • Plays make-believe games
  • Is able to find things hidden under several layers of cover.
  • Can build a tower of blocks.
  • Walks and runs easily.
  • Copies the behavior of adults and older children
  • Walks up and down stairs alone.
  • Can get on and off furniture unassisted.
  • May favor one hand over the other.

When to Worry

As pointed out, your child is charting her own course, so she may not do everything on this list by her second birthday. That’s completely normal. But, there are some warning signs that you should watch out for. Talk to your pediatrician if by her second birthday your child:

  • Can’t walk unassisted.
  • Doesn’t know what to do with ordinary objects such as a toothbrush or a spoon.
  • Doesn’t copy other people’s speech or actions.
  • Doesn’t follow any simple instructions.
  • Doesn’t make two-word sentences.
  • Doesn’t have a vocabulary of at least 50 words.
  • Only walks or runs on her toes.

Early intervention is the key to keeping your child on track.

Reading Readiness

By now, your child should be able to point to every letter in the alphabet. She should be able to pick a single letter out of a group when asked. During the second year, you will work on two very important reading skills. First of all, you will introduce upper and lower-case letters to your child. This doubles her “letter library,” and prepares her for sounding out words in the future. The second, and even more important skill you will work on is Letter sounds. Because your child is beginning to chart her own reading course, you don’t need to split the learning into a “24-30 month” or “30 to 36 month” activities. Every child will learn at a different pace.

Some children will understand and master lower case letters in just a month or two, while others will still be working on recognizing the difference between the lower-case “b” and “d” when they are four. (In fact, there are some children in school that still struggle with those two letters.)

The good news is, you don’t have to wait until your child has masters upper and lower case letters to start working on letter sounds. If your child just knows the letters, you can begin helping him learn what sounds they make. Instead, go ahead and work on both skills at the same time. With the exception of the Kinesthetic Alphabet, switch out games and activities so that your child doesn’t become bored, but is always eager to work on his growing understanding.

Fair warning, once your child realizes that letters make sounds, he will probably want to know what sounds other symbols make. This leaves room for some interesting questions such as “What sound does the number 7 make?” or “How do you say a triangle?” Don’t discourage these questions or make light of them. They show that your child is invested in understanding and making new connections. Instead, explain that letters are special because each letter has their own sound. Show your child that numbers don’t say anything “out loud,” but they mean how many of something. Count out seven of something and show your child that when you say the word “seven” you mean this many. Talk about how shapes can mean lots of things from “stop” to “caution” to “go.” Explore the numbers and shapes that make up your child’s world.

As you go through these activities, remember that children learn best through play. Keep the tone light and fun. Don’t force your child to participate, instead, entice her by showing deep interest in the activity yourself. Two year old children love to copy adults, so if you are having a great time with these activities, so will she. Just like before, don’t worry about your child’s mistakes. In fact, you can help your child learn a valuable lesson by treating mistakes as just another part of the learning process. Children who learn that mistakes are all right during learning are far more likely to be open to trying new things as they grow up. They don’t get bogged down by “being wrong,” opening them up to greater academic success

Activities for Upper and Lower-Case Letters

First of all, don’t call them “upper and lower-case” letters. Just call them “big” and “little” letters. It makes it easier for your child. Second, go ahead and start making your child familiar with the fact that not all letters look the same. For example, this is a lower case “a.” But this is also a lower case “a.” Focus your child’s attention to the fact that both have a small circle with a short line on the right-hand side. The same is true with “q” and “g.” With all of these activities, start with groups of three or four letters. By giving your child a limited choice, you are helping her get the correct answer. As she gets better and faster at choosing the correct answer, add more letters to keep the activity interesting.

Letter Puzzles

Write the upper-case letter on the right-hand side of a three by five card. Write the lower-case letter on the left-hand side. With scissors, cut the card in half with an interesting design. You might use different size zig-zags or waves. You might choose to cut a tongue and groove like a traditional puzzle. Give your child three or four puzzles at a time and ask him to match the big and little letters. The different cutting patterns will give him another clue as he learns the upper and lower-case letters.

Seek and Find

Use leftover newspapers and magazines to help your child learn upper and lower-case letters. Tear out a page from a magazine, or tear off the top of a newspaper page. Write a letter at the top of the page. Give the page to your child with a crayon and ask her to color all the other letters she sees on the page. As your child becomes more confident with upper and lower-case letters, write just the upper-case letter and ask her to color the lower-case letter.

Letter Match

Use a set of upper and lower-case letter magnets and a cookie sheet. Stick the “big” letter to the cookie sheet and ask the child to name the letter. Give the child three or four “little” letters and ask your child to pick out the “little” letter that matches. As your child gets better at the activity, give your child the entire alphabet and ask him to match them all up on the board.

Sidewalk Chalk

Just as you wrote letters on the sidewalk and raced your child to name each one, now you will add lowercase letters. Write the upper and lower-case examples on the sidewalk. For example, you might write both the upper and lower-case letters of “A,” “B,” and “C.” Especially in the beginning, be sure to write the uppercase letters big, and lower-case letters smaller. This makes it easier for your child to find the “big” and “little” letters. In addition, there are several letters that you should never put together for this game. The lower-case letters “b,” “d,” “p,” and “q” are impossible to differentiate unless you write them on a line. So don’t put them together in this game.

After you have written your letters, race your child to “Big A!” or “Little C!” As your child becomes better able to notice the differences between upper and lower-case letters, let her run, while you think of the next letter. As your child gets better, add more letters until you have ten different letters all listed with their upper and lower-case examples.

“B” and “D”

The truth is, it is very difficult for children to differentiate between the lower-case “b” and “d.” One of the easiest ways is to turn the letters into simple characters. Write a lowercase “b” and draw eyes to the right of the line, just over the circle. If you are feeling very creative, draw feet under the circle. Show your child that “little b has a little belly.” For lowercase “d,” again draw eyes on the top of the right side of the line. Draw a simple beak. Tell your child that “D has a round ducky tail.”

Reading for Upper and Lower-Case Letters

Focus on books that highlight the difference between upper and lower-case letters. Consider books like Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, where the lowercase letters behave like mischievous children. Another book that plays with the idea of child-like letters is The Sleepy Little Alphabet.

You can use basically any book to encourage your child to recognize upper and lower-case letters. Just ask your child to find specific letters in the text. In the beginning, go for letters that are larger or more colorful than the rest of the text. But as your child becomes more comfortable with the process, move to smaller text.

Activities for Letter Sounds

Phonics is one of the most important parts of learning to read. It will take time, so don’t worry if your child doesn’t pick it up immediately, or confuses letter sounds. That’s perfectly normal. One way to help your child is to explore letter sounds with as many senses as possible. These activities are designed to help your child use as many senses as possible to explore phonics.

When you begin to explore phonics with your child, focus on the consonants whenever you work with individual letters. This is because the short and long vowel sounds are tough for young children to understand. In the same way, focus on the most common sounds that consonants make. For example, the letter “c” sometimes make a /s/ sound, such as in the word “circus.” But this is rarer. Make sure that your child understands letter rules before you teach her the exception to those rules.

The Kinesthetic Alphabet

Kinesthetic is just a fancy word for movement. This activity helps your child learn to match letter sounds with specific letters of the alphabet. Pairing the words and the gestures with the flashcards, uses sight, sound, speech and vision and gives your child four different ways to connect with letter sounds.

This is the only activity that should include the vowels at this point, and this is only because you want your child to understand the alphabet as a whole. It’s a very simple activity. Simply say the sentence while making the gesture. This pairing gives a whole new dimension to the alphabet that your child has already learned. It makes the alphabet an action. Each sentence is designed to show two examples of the letter sound. The sentences for the vowels show both short and long vowel sounds.

In the beginning, say the entire alphabet every day. Say the letter and the sentence while making the gesture.

The Kinesthetic Alphabet

A: /A/ like you just ate an apple.”
Pretend to bite an apple

B /B/ like you batted a ball.” Pretend to swing a baseball bat

C /K/ like you’re cracking a cane.” Pretend to break sticks with both of your hands

D /D/ like you dig in the dirt.” Pretend to dig with a shovel

E /E/ like an elephant’s ear.” Hold your hand to your ear

F /F/ like the fizz in foam.” Pretend to stir foam with your finger

G /G/ like you’re gulping a grape.” Put your hand to your throat and gulp.

H /H/ like you’re hot in the head.” Fan your face with one hand

" I /I/ an inkling of an idea." Hold your finger next to your head like you’ve just had an idea

" J /J/ like you’re jumping on jelly." Jump up once

" K /K/ like you’re cracking a cane." Same gesture as “C”

L /L/ like you’re licking a lollipop.” Pretend to lick a giant lollipop.

M /M/ Like you’re a munching a muffin.” Hold an imaginary muffin and rub your tummy.

N /N/ like a gnat on your nose.” Swat your nose with your finger.

O /O/ is an ogling octopus.” Hold your hands around your eyes like binoculars.

P /P/ like you’re puffing a petal.” Pretend to blow on a dandelion.

Q /KW/ like a quiet queen.” Smile and hold your hands over your head like a crown.

R /R/ like you’re revving a hot rod.” Hold your hands in front of you like you’re revving a motorcycle.

S /S/ like a slithering snake.” Move your hand back and forth like a slithering snake.

T /T/ like the tippity top.” Place on hand on top of the other like a “T” or a time out signal.

U /U/ like you don’t understand. Hold up your hands and shrug your shoulders.

V /V/ like a vibrant violin.” Pretend to play an imaginary violin.

W /W/ like you’re winding your watch.” Pretend to wind a watch.

X /cks/ like an exciting X marks the spot.” Cross your forearms to make a giant “X.”

Y /Y/ like you yell at a yak.” Hold one hand to your mouth like you’re shouting.

Z /Z/ like you zig and you zag.” Make a zig zag in the air with one finger.

When your child becomes very good at making all the gestures, just move to saying the letter sound and making the gesture.

Taste the Letters

Purchase or bake your own alphabet cookies. Whenever your child makes the correct sound for that letter, she gets to eat the cookie.

“B” and “D” Sounds

Once they have learned letter sounds the easiest ways to show them is with the word “bed.” Simply write the word “bed” in large, lower-case letters on a piece of paper. Draw a line over the circle in the “b,” the lower-case “e” and the circle of the “d.” Make a stick figure that is lying on top of the line. Show your child how the line comes first in the letter “b” and second in the letter “d.”

Book Lover

As your child becomes more proficient with phonics, encourage him look for letters that make specific sounds. For example, when you open a page of a book, ask your child to find the letter that makes the /m/ sound. Mix up the sounds, balancing out plenty of sounds that your child knows well, with those that still offer a challenge. Then go back and read the whole book.

Mix It Up

As you go through these activities, try adding letter sounds to some of your other letter games such as finger painting, bath games and magnet games.

Reading for Two Year Olds

Your child’s growing independence will show up in her growing sense of story. It can be difficult to force a two-year-old to read books of your choosing. Instead, make books available to your little literary agent and let her choose what she wants.

Children in this age group have a wide range of interests, so begin to offer your little one nonfiction books in addition to story books. Books such as Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever, or National Geographic’s Little Kids First Big Book of Animals both of these books can open the world to your child. Look at books about history, even if the words are too advanced. On the Mayflower uses live actors and photographs to introduce your child to the first Thanksgiving.

Also consider interactive books such as Herve Tullet’s Press Here. In this book, children follow the direction and enjoy the consequences of their actions when they turn the page. This connects well with your little cause and effect master. Follow the Trail at the Zoo is another fun book that encourages your child’s participation and offer’s effortless eye-hand coordination practice.

But don’t forget books designed to tickle the funny bone. Mo Willems does a great job reaching the littlest readers with his Pigeon books such as Don’t let the Pigeon Ride the Bus, and The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog.

Studies have also shown the benefit of children learning nursery rhymes. So, check out books such as Mary Engelbreit’s Mother Goose, or Tomie dePaola’s My First Mother Goose. Or explore more modern poetry with rhyming books such as Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. Or enjoy Dr. Seuss’s wonderful rhymes in such books as Mr. Brown can Moo. Can You? Or One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. Both explore concepts with your little one while entertaining with funny story. 

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