https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Fri, 05 Jun 2026 01:32:50 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/colors-shapes-letters-abcs#post-1756660 Mon, 14 Jul 2014 09:01:34 +0000 aegie 1756660@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I learned that being interactive worked best for my LO. So I'd take her to the zoo. Then name the animals and sounds they make. She learned animals and sounds around 14-15 months. By 18 months she had shapes and most colors down. Because everywhere we went, we picked up green leaves, drove around in mommy's white car or daddy's black car. We saw yellow school buses, etc. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/colors-shapes-letters-abcs#post-1756595 Mon, 14 Jul 2014 08:44:30 +0000 californiadreams 1756595@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@katsupgirl: i like how you incorporate counting! I am going to try that.</p> <p>We have not any system to LO's learning, but notice that he is picking up tons. He's been learning the letters with the foam letters we have in his bath tub. And now he likes us to names the letters he sees in books. It is all very sporadic though and I am not worried at this age about doing anything specific or systematic for his learning. He learns with everything he does! Colors and shapes he learns through his toys and blocks, but also transfers it to other things, like sometimes he will name the color of clothing. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/colors-shapes-letters-abcs#post-1756565 Mon, 14 Jul 2014 08:34:36 +0000 NovBaby1112 1756565@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My LO has been obsessed with colors, couting, letters, shapes lately. We just follow her lead. We illustrate a lot of it in real life and point things out, like "oh look at that car, what color is it?" "What shape is the green grape?" We just basically talk a lot about the stuff around us in our life. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/colors-shapes-letters-abcs#post-1756516 Mon, 14 Jul 2014 08:14:26 +0000 lizzywiz 1756516@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrskc: @googly-eyes: I agree with letting it unfold naturally (which I guess is pretty much what everyone else is saying, too :silly: )</p> <p>My LO picked up a lot at daycare/ preschool, so that was easy for us. I kind of hate toddler play at home and I would rather eat glass than read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? again, so we go out and do a lot of activities each weekend. Zoo, farmer's market, parks, children's museum, etc. Since we go weekly she has picked up a lot of stuff at those places that she likes to talk about. Then we just expand from there. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/colors-shapes-letters-abcs#post-1756479 Mon, 14 Jul 2014 07:57:46 +0000 yoursilverlining 1756479@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Jump Rope: "At that age, I think we tried to make learning fun but repetitive"</p> <p>This is what we do too. I let her learning be toddler-led, but also focus on repetition and asking questions (not quizzing her at all, but trying to start making the connections between things). For example, if we’re taking a walk and she points out flowers, I’ll praise her for recognizing a flower and then ask how many we see, or what color they are, etc.</p> <p>We often play sorting games too; sorting by color or shape. </p> <p>This is also the approach they take at daycare and it seems to be working! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/colors-shapes-letters-abcs#post-1756471 Mon, 14 Jul 2014 07:54:17 +0000 looch 1756471@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This is also a great age for sensory play, if you're okay with a bit of a mess, finger paints are great and you can explore color in paint. </p> <p>We had very little in terms of traditional educational toys, but we did have a shape sorter and a set of stacking rings. Those are great for color and shapes. As for numbers we just used good old pen and paper for that. My son loved to point out numbers. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/colors-shapes-letters-abcs#post-1756454 Mon, 14 Jul 2014 07:42:57 +0000 mrsjyw 1756454@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>same approach here! we have lots of educational toys so he's always around it, he's just started to learn #s (1,2) and letters (A,B,C)</p> <p>we try to point it out if we're playing with certain things, but we let it happen on his own time! I bought a few decks of flash cards with colors, shapes, etc. and he loves playing with those so we try to read it aloud to him and talk to him a lot! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/colors-shapes-letters-abcs#post-1756449 Mon, 14 Jul 2014 07:39:19 +0000 LulaBee 1756449@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>LO has always been into ABCs, numbers, colors, shapes. Totally toddler-led, but she can sing ABC song, identify some letters, can count to 20, knows about 10 shapes (trapezoid, hello!), and a bunch of colors. We talk to her a lot and I think she learns a lot at "school" aka daycare. She's more interested in reading than playing with dolls or blocks, although she does enjoy those things occasionally. For us, it just all happened naturally. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/colors-shapes-letters-abcs#post-1756288 Mon, 14 Jul 2014 00:13:41 +0000 StbHisMrs 1756288@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We sing the alphabet twice while washing hands, point out colors of cars, airplanes, helicopters, and count while in the car. She knows how to say most of the alphabet, but she's stubborn and won't do it often. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/colors-shapes-letters-abcs#post-1756285 Mon, 14 Jul 2014 00:08:48 +0000 googly-eyes 1756285@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrskc: Nah I don't think you have to force it...he'll let you know when he wants to focus more on those things. I'd do the same thing as you, for what it's worth. I have no idea why my lo has become obsessed with colors, and she only knows the numbers from "Spot Can Count," which we've read 0958430594830598340589 times. No 1:1 correspondence or anything like that. Anyway, for whatever it's worth, I don't think pushing it when they don't care about it is a good thing. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/colors-shapes-letters-abcs#post-1756267 Sun, 13 Jul 2014 23:47:32 +0000 mrskc 1756267@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm not like actively trying to teach him letters, numbers (maybe I should be??). We read a lot of books with counting, letters, etc. He's just not interested in that aspect. He is into animals and has just started repeating animal sounds when I ask. When we are playing I will count things or say the shape or color of something. I'm not sure he's really gets it, but I'm not trying to push it. I figure just talking and reading to him a lot will be enough until he goes to preschool. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/colors-shapes-letters-abcs#post-1756262 Sun, 13 Jul 2014 23:41:36 +0000 googly-eyes 1756262@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@scg00387: I say just talk, talk, talk. Get on lo's level when you can and point things out- shapes, colors, numbers, animals, smells, things in the air (airplanes, helicopters, sky..)- just everything! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/colors-shapes-letters-abcs#post-1756113 Sun, 13 Jul 2014 21:17:11 +0000 katsupgirl 1756113@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>The counting we just do all the time when we climb stairs or are waiting for something. We narrate and sing everything. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/colors-shapes-letters-abcs#post-1756067 Sun, 13 Jul 2014 20:53:09 +0000 Bao 1756067@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We just talk to her A LOT!!! She's really into the alphabet right now. Of course every letter is A but she's learning! She knows all animals and sounds so I think she's moving on to other things. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/colors-shapes-letters-abcs#post-1756060 Sun, 13 Jul 2014 20:50:35 +0000 travelgirl1 1756060@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We're learning colours through colouring and painting, and shapes through toys. We are going to try incorporate letters, we read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom a lot and she loves that so I guess we've kind of started. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/colors-shapes-letters-abcs#post-1756053 Sun, 13 Jul 2014 20:46:08 +0000 skibobrown 1756053@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I like your approach. If you have various toys that open the discussion about letters, numbers, colors, and shapes, then you can just let your child lead you where they want to go. My daughter showed zero interest in singing the ABCs for months, and then one day she just belted out the entire song from start to finish. I think she was more into shapes and colors first, and then letters, followed by numbers, in that order. Other kids might be entirely different though. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/colors-shapes-letters-abcs#post-1756012 Sun, 13 Jul 2014 20:21:38 +0000 Mrs. Jump Rope 1756012@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@scg00387: c went to preschool at 22 months and is the youngest in her class (you are supposed to be 2!). They focused on letters, numbers, colors and shapes. She did really well for being the youngest (most kids were turning 3 in the fall and spring). I definitely didn't make sure she knew things ahead of time, though! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/colors-shapes-letters-abcs#post-1756007 Sun, 13 Jul 2014 20:20:33 +0000 MamaChin 1756007@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>N is 20 months and the obsession with animal sounds is going on months strong, he knows about 20. He also knows 7 colors and will point them out to me all the time. Doesn't seem too interested in numbers or the alphabet though. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/colors-shapes-letters-abcs#post-1756003 Sun, 13 Jul 2014 20:15:52 +0000 yellowbird 1756003@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have no rhyme or reason to the way our LO learns. We just repeat everything and talk to her a ton. She knows any color and counts 1-10 and knows most letters at 22 months without actually "teaching" I think if you're involved toddlers just get it! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/colors-shapes-letters-abcs#post-1755998 Sun, 13 Jul 2014 20:13:37 +0000 immabeetoo 1755998@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Jump Rope: your comment makes me realize I don't really know what he 'ought to' know before preschool! Not that he's going anytime too soon, but I should look into that :P </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/colors-shapes-letters-abcs#post-1755980 Sun, 13 Jul 2014 20:01:58 +0000 lovehoneybee 1755980@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We just went with whatever E was into. He was *obsessed* with the ABCs, and gradually that grew to include numbers (1-14, currently), animals, and colors. At 23 months he's obsessed with all of them pretty equally, but he's quick to tell us what color something (number, letter, animal or other) is before he'll tell us WHAT it is (same as above :) ) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/colors-shapes-letters-abcs#post-1755973 Sun, 13 Jul 2014 19:55:43 +0000 Mrs. Jump Rope 1755973@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Hmm. At that age, I think we tried to make learning fun but repetitive. </p> <p>Like, we'd stack blocks. Before stacking, we'd say "ohh I love this color! This is red! Let's stack only the red blocks!" etc etc then we'd count them. That kind of thing. </p> <p>She learned a LOT in preschool though. It really surprised me! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/colors-shapes-letters-abcs#post-1755967 Sun, 13 Jul 2014 19:49:43 +0000 immabeetoo 1755967@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>LO is 19 m and has naturally gravitated to talking about colors and numbers (1-4) so we've just sorta fallen into encouraging that since he is interested. I did wonder tonight if there's any rhyme or reason to starting chatting about one over another (colors/shapes/letters/abcs) or if there is another "group" I'm missing.</p> <p>Curious to hear others' thoughts! This is all 100% toddler-led - I believe very much in a play environment; I'm not at all interested in Baby Einstein/Baby can read/flashcards/whatever. Just thought I'd see what everyone else is doing/did around this age! His peers seem to enjoy animal sounds, which he knows but seems to have gotten bored with (and strangely, hates MOO-ing all of a sudden). </p>