Learning

[Dawnio06]

can anyone tell me of a site which gives information on wht my child should be learning at the age of 2?

[andy-hughes]

There probably isn't one!

Children develop at vastly different rates right up to their teens, so there is no hard and fast rule about what your little one should know by a certain age.

Keep in regular contact with his nursery teachers, and Reception teachers when he gets to school. As long as he is happy, adjusted, and enjoying himself, that's really all he needs at two - why worry yourself with some arbitrary yard-stick based on strangers' assessments of other children?

Your little boy is unique - let him learn, and live at his own pace, he, and you, will be much happier if you do it that way.

[Dawnio06]

ahhhh... you are stalking me!!... i have another question tht u have not answered... take a look please!!..Back to the question... i was simply wanting to know simple things like, by the time he goes to school will he be expected to know colours, numbers etc..dont worry i wasnt going to make him read shakesphere... I was just wondering. Thank you

[petes_dragon]

does your child got to playgroup?? if so they will have an early years development program that they follow but there is not generally available to view benchmarks

I've found this fairly useful though

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/toddler/developmen t/milestonecharts/25to30months/

Hope it helps

A xXx

[andy-hughes]

Hi Dawnio - I don;t think nursery will expect him to know anything - they take each child as they find them, and let them develop, depending how quickly they pick things up.

Depending how much he learns just from normal play, and interation with you, it will all help him to get started on the learning process, but they certainly won't have any expectations of him knowing this or that.

Hope that helps a bit more - didn;t mean to imply you were a pushy parent - it's obvious you just want the best for your little one.

A x

[Dawnio06]

thanks for tht link petes dragon. Andy - I didnt take it the wrong way, thanks for your comments I do agree with wht your saying, I am purely just interested in my little boys up bringing, i just want him to do well. thx every one

[morbidstorm]

Hi Dawnio,
I don't know if they still have it, but the papmers website used to have a great development section.

Also, there are books you can buy that give you an indication of development milestones to look out for.

Hope it helps.
Kel.x

[Dawnio06]

I was thinking of looking for a book, I think its important to try and educate from a early age and at home as well as in school

[morbidstorm]

I know what you mean - my boys are 38mths old and 4yrs old, both can write their own names, know the alphabet, can count to 20, know the days and months in order, etc.

It's not that I'm a pushy parent - they go to a day care nursery while I work, I just try really hard to build on what they learn at nursery.
For example, when we are travelling in the car we'll play I Spy, put look for colours and shapes. We'll sing the alphabet while brushing our teeth,and we count the stairs as we go to bed. Doing all these things help them to learn, and make sure they won't be behind at nursery or when they go to school.

My house sounds like a right barrel of laughs now!!

[Dawnio06]

I do exactly the same type of things, its become a second nature to me, i have friends with children of similar ages and some do teach in this way and others dont.. but when i look at the children I can tell the ones tht have constant input

[xanderma]

Morbidstorm's answer struck the right chords with me. I think that children can learn so much through games and simple every day activities without even realising.

I've worked with a lot of children and, while there are no real expectations of them in the early years, it does seem to help if they know the basics like colours, numbers, simple letter sounds & recognition. It's not a problem by any means if they don't know these things, but I'd say carry on as you are with games and so on, you won't go far wrong.

Have a look here

http://www.underfives.co.uk/elg.html

This is for 3 to 5s, which is a little older than you asked for, but gives you an idea of what they're working towards.

[Sparkles3]

http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDet ails.aspx?p=114&np=122&id=1886
Try the above website, it is quite useful talking about what your 2 year old may enjoy doing in terms of his development and what kinds of things can help his learning naturally.

[Dawnio06]

thank you alll for all the links, i will definatley be looking at them