2 year old and best games for learning skills etc

searcher30

i would like to find some games etc to keep my daughter interested when she is at home. i have come accross on the amazon.co.uk website on books on brain games and other not so intense titles . are there any mums or dads out there with any good games that they could recommend? also i watched a news piece the other day on how children in finland at the age of 7 (i think it was) spoke about 6 languages by using CD roms at school etc . I am not trying to push our child so intensely but as parent always looking out for the best options for children and giving them the best chances in life!
thanks in advance

Eagle_1

Not so much a game but a megasketcher is what my DD used to love playing with.
she learned to write at a very young age, knew the alphabet etc etc so I found this to be very educational. As she got a bit older we used it so we could have spelling tests and she loved it. We would use common words like Dog, Cat but miss a letter out and she had to find the missing letter so it really helped her.

Stevenj214

Not being a parent, I'm not sure how valid my advice will be, but anyway...

'Brain games' sounds a bit too intense for a 2 year old in my opinion. I'd say once she's around 7 or 8, if she shows a natural affinity for learning and logic puzzles, then it would be the way to go.

Instead, when she's at home play games that can develop her imagination and creativity. Go to the Early Learning Center and buy toys which can develop senses and coordination. Encourage social skills by having other young friends over or going to toddler groups. Maybe encourage excercise with a Tiny Tots class at your local sports center.

On the issue of languages, yes I think it would be good for British children to be learning at least 2 other languages from a younger age, but without the structure in place in schools just now, I don't see it being advantageous to teach her yourself unless you are fluent in another language and can use it around the house.

Eagle_1

searcher30 wrote:

sorry if bit ignorant is a megasketcher is that what enables kids to do drawings and then wipe them off?thanks in advance

Yeah thats right however ours was used in a fun way to learn how write and as she got older we used it for puzzles etc. I used to draw lets say a face and ask where the ears should go, where do the eyes go blah blah

Steven brain games do work tho, if a child is sat with in a quiet room and they are the type of child who will sit and listen they can do it. All children are different so if you have a quite advanced child then I say do whatever the child is capable of, thats as long as the child likes doing it and is not getting bullied into it.

Lillibet_2

I haven't tried these myself yet but have heard several fab reports of these language courses for young children

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BBC-Muzzy-French-Language-Course-Level-1-VHS-Perfect_W0QQitemZ9138884824QQcategoryZ109047QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Obviously you can get them from other places besdes ebay but they are quite pricy. A friend of mine has her 8 month old daughter in nursery & they get 20 minutes of the audio cd's a day from birth, she says some of the 3-4 year olds are starting to pick up words & use them. There are lots of other languauges. I intend to look out for them for my son, who is almost 10 months.

HTH;)

Stevenj214

Eagle_1 wrote:

Steven brain games do work tho, if a child is sat with in a quiet room and they are the type of child who will sit and listen they can do it. All children are different so if you have a quite advanced child then I say do whatever the child is capable of, thats as long as the child likes doing it and is not getting bullied into it.

Fair enough, i've never encountered them before.

But I would still say that whilst some people try to do the best for their child by giving them a 'head start' before school, this can also sometimes be counter productive with the child becoming bored when finally at school, which can lead to disruptive/unruly behaviour.

Becles

You don't need to spend money on games etc., to teach with. Try things like:

home baking - using weights and measures, following instructions

in shops: counting, reading labels, then later adding goods together and working out the change due

out and about: read signs, count things, do surveys, follow directions with a map

home: count things, sort things, add/subtract things, read things

Your daughter will learn a lot naturally from doing the above, and it leaves games for fun times!

Eagle_1

Stevenj214 wrote:

which can lead to disruptive/unruly behaviour.

not when teacher shows em who is boss though

I do see where you are coming from.

Mrs_Thrify

Hello searcher30 - I work closely with preschool children so have plenty of idea's. Most 2/3 year olds are learning colours, counting to 20, naming some shapes. repeating little songs and playing you can put on your own shoes game. Learning to pedal a bike and catch a ball...
I know you said "game's "So here are some of mine =
Spotty Dog Counting game and Shopping List game both by Orchard Toys
Snail's Pace Race by Ravenburger
Matching card games such as Snap
Jigsaws
Threading pasta onto wool to make necklaces or snake's
Buy coloured sticky labels of diffrent shapes - give the child a piece of white paper and if they can name the colour/shape they can put the sticker on their paper - give lots of praise...
Look on https://www.dltk-cards.com/bingo and print off the shape bingo game.
Look on https://www.preschoolexpress.com/calender06/activity their calender has daily activaty idea's.
Also buy thoose early writing/counting books avalible in many shops.
One game I play is to print the childs name on to card, cut out the letters,and get the child to put them in the correct order.
Write in the big letter's of the newspaper... I could go on and on.... So I had better STOP...

Sea78

Hi,

I have Muzzy (bought for my by my mum due to appalling french teaching - too late!!) and my dd (3 1/2) enjoys watching it and singing the french songs. I find the story not great and not brilliant for positive female role models, but hey ho, it's jsut one of many types of videos/ programmes she watches so no matter.

I have found the best thing to help dd is reading to her. When my mum comes to stay, she reads solidly it seems and interacts a lot more than I seem to. After a couple of days I can tell the difference massively in dd - talking loads more, bigger vocab. So I would have to say reading is one of the best things - a 2 dd liked appley dapply nursery rhymes, fierce bad rabbit etc and got oads out of the library.

Sea xx

Rachie_B

at 2 id say just simple first puzzles for shape / size animal / colour recognition

reciting nursery rhymes together to get to know familiar songs / rhymes and the actions

dressing up or role play with dolls / kitchen / tea set / shops etc

playdough for fine motor skills

collage / cutting & sticking for creative play

finger / glove puppets

simple books with her fave characters / animals etc in

other than this just let her play with whatever she wants ?!!! shes only 2 ! be guided by her and what she wants to to / is interested in

have fun