Education is the most important need for a person to lead a prosperous life. The foundation of our future life is laid down in the initial years of our life. What we learn and hear in this part of life, we remember that for the lifetime. 1 to 4 year is the foundation years in a person's life. Every child explores the world around them by self. In this part, kids are the most creative and productive; they curiously touch and watch things that are unknown to them.
During this transition period of unknown to the known, kids need the help of the elders- parents, grandparents, family members and teachers. Once the child reaches the stage when they are able to understand things, we start teaching them alphabets and numerical terms. But it is not a very easy task to teach the toddlers. We adults can understand things easily and it is also very easy to communicate with us, but in case of toddlers the task becomes difficult. They live in a world of their own. To teach anything to the toddlers, we need to understand them first. Understanding their ways can help us in teaching them new things.
The researchers and educationists found that kids learn the best when they are taught something in a fun way. This is the reason why nursery or preschools incorporate more and more creative activities into the school curriculum. Last month I went to an exhibition of schools and visited the school stalls. I found something interesting in one of the stalls. I found that this particular school used different practical ways to teach kids about difference between colors, between different textures, introducing numbers and alphabets.
Establishing a familiarity with the alphabet is the initial task in the educational life of a toddler. The following tips may help the parents in this process of introducing alphabet to the toddlers:-
• Take one thick chart paper and draw different letters on that; draw the letters in big size. After that cut the letters from it and paint these in different colors. After these dry up, give these to your child one by one and give them brief idea about the letter; but remember not to overburden the child
• Buy an alphabet book for your child and show the child different letters. If you can make a story where these letters represent different characters, the kids will grab this more easily
• Next is to teach the kids to differentiate between different letters. This is very important because it will take them to the next level
• Provide your child a set of plastic letters and a book where different 3-4 lettered words are written. Ask your child to create any one word written on the book with the plastic letters
• Use a child's personal favorite activities to continue introducing letters. For example, a child who loves Play-doh will be fascinated as you create molded letters
Being a parent is the longest, hardest, but most rewarding journey you will ever take. If you truly spend long hours doing all of the above your child will learn. Maybe he will not know his alphabet at 18 months, but he will have spent many loving moments with his parent.