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Promoting Literacy: 2- to 3-Years-Old
Between the ages of two and three, most toddlers experience a dramatic increase in vocabulary. Although she may not use all of them in conversation, your little one will likely comprehend up to 400 words by the time she reaches her third birthday. Levels of communication will differ widely—while many two-year-olds still correspond with one or two words at a time, others will begin to form short sentences and grasp the correct usage of plurals, past tense, and pronouns.
Now more than ever, it’s critical to expose your older toddler to regular reading sessions to encourage her language development. As her imagination continues to expand, she’ll become more interested and engaged in story lines, following along with basic plots and beginning to memorize favorite rhymes and phrases. As your child approaches the three-year mark, she’ll be more likely to take a break from her constant explorations and snuggle into a chair with you and a book, making story time an enjoyable and intimate experience for both of you.
When choosing books for this age range, look for the following topics and themes:
• Matching and sorting: Now that she’s likely developed a familiarity of basic shapes and colors, your little explorer will enjoy applying those concepts to books that focus on matching, sorting, and opposites.
• Puzzle books: One of the most educational toys you can present to your child, puzzles have been proven to promote hand-eye coordination, shape and color recognition, and stronger problem solving skills. Books with built-in puzzles will provide your two-year-old with hours of challenging fun.
• Letters and numbers: The alphabet and number lessons you started last year continue during the 24-36 month stage. As she approaches three years of age, your older toddler will become more familiar with letters, perhaps even associating some of them with the sounds they represent. She may be able to recite the alphabet and count to 10 (perhaps with a little coaching from you). Now's the perfect time to introduce your child to the My First Steps to Learning series. By breaking down the alphabet into a book per letter, the series provides a concrete and easier method for learning letters and numbers.
• Parts of the body: Your two-year-old will likely display an avid fascination in her own anatomy, delighting in pointing out her nose, ears, eyes, and mouth. Choose books that reinforce these physical lessons. Children’s author Al Perkins has written some great anatomy-based books, including The Nose Book, The Ear Book, and Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb--all of which can be found in the Dr. Seuss & His Friends book club.
• Sharing: Playing well with other children and learning the art of sharing is a big challenge for little ones in this age range. Reading stories that deal with those concepts is a great way to encourage your little one to be polite when interacting with others.
• Potty training: Although every toddler develops at her own pace, most will begin to understand the concept of potty training between the ages of 2 and 3. Pediatricians recommend taking cues from your little one and letting her dictate the pace of her own training, but exposing her to books about using the potty can help to illustrate that there’s nothing scary about the transition.
Your baby is a baby no more—with each day and each page, she’s growing into an independent, self-assured person with her own unique thoughts, feelings, and skills. Regardless of the types of books you choose for your two-year-old, reading is a critical component of your older toddler’s healthy development.
2-3 years old Child Development Tips
• The ABCs of Reading
Child development experts have cited knowledge of the alphabet as one of the most important skills--one that forms the foundation for enabling your child to learn to read. Exposing your two-year-old to the letters that make up her native language is a critical element of early literacy. Memorizing and singing "The Alphabet Song" is important, but a good alphabet book (we recommend Dr. Seuss’s ABCs or the Baby Einstein Playful Discovery title My ABC's) will also teach letter sounds and show each letter in context as part of a word (think C is for Cat). And, of course, the award-winning series My First Steps to Learning--developed by writer and educator Jane Belk Moncure--devotes a book to each letter in alphabet enabling children to really "get to know" each letter sound.
• Active Listening
As your child becomes more interested in plots and characters, give up the reins and let her take over as story teller. Be an active listener, helping to progress the story along by asking questions, pointing out interesting aspects, and reacting dramatically to events in the book. This role reversal, along with your encouragement, will build your toddler’s confidence in her “storytelling” abilities, making it more likely that she’ll choose reading as her activity of choice without any prompting from you.
• Task-Themed Books
Between 2 and 3 years of age, your child is beginning to learn the basic self-help skills that mark the end of toddlerhood. Along with potty training, she’ll likely show a strong interest in washing her own hands, starting her own bath water, brushing her own hair, choosing and putting on her own clothing, and other everyday grooming tasks. Reinforce this growing self-sufficiency by reading books that deal with these fundamental activities.
• Read it Again!
Two-year-olds thrive on repetition. Don’t be surprised if your child insists on reading the same two or three books over and over again. Rather than try to convince her to choose another story, indulge her enthusiasm for her favorites. Although you might grow bored with reading the same stories, it’s quite the opposite for your little one. Even if she’s heard a story 20 times before, she’ll discover something new and exciting with each subsequent reading. Before long, she’ll likely start memorizing rhymes and phrases and reading aloud along with you--a key stage of emergent literacy and a great confidence booster!
• A Passive Audience
Even if it seems like your two-year-old isn’t paying attention, she’s likely absorbing more than you think. Many older toddlers find it easier to listen when they’re occupied in another activity. If your child is having trouble focusing on a book during storytime, try providing her with crayons and a piece of paper so she can color while you read. Before long, you’ll probably notice her sneaking peeks at the book and asking questions about what’s happening. |