Teaching Baby

I have mentioned several times before that I am planning to home school Robert and our future children. Robbie and I have started a flash card routine. I truly believe it is crucial to surround your children with a print- rich environment! 

A print-rich environment includes:

• Child-made books (individual and group-process made)
• Teacher/parent-made books
• Books made by the child based on shared experiences
• Picture books
• Children’s magazines
• Pillows, rugs, rockers (to create a soft, comfortable area)
• Flannel board with stories children can re-tell
• Familiar books that children can ‘read’ from memory
• Pictures of children reading
• Story tapes
• Flash cards

Which is why I have created flash cards for my little guy with both words and pictures.  

I drill Robbie on certain flash cards throughout the week. I say the word shown on the card, I then point out each letter and finally show him the picture that corresponds with that word card. Sometimes if the flashcard is a movement or body part,  I will say:" show me your mouth Robbie", or" point to Mommy's mouth".

The teacher in me LOVES thematic learning and lesson plans. I choose a theme for a two week time frame. During that time,  I show Robbie flash cards of words that correspond with that theme, I read books to him that use words from our flash cards which also go along with our theme for that time.

For example; this week we are learning about animals. Our theme is Animals. So, all of our flash cards are words like Elephant, Cat, Dog, Monkey ...

I looked through Robert's little library of books on his shelf and found this wonderful book that was given to him this Christmas.

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I LOVE this book, because it is a lift-the -flap book! A great way to stimulate baby involvement!

I also show Robbie videos about animals to visually stimulate his imagination.

 

Did you know that the most important learning experiences take place in a child's life between birth and 5 years old? At this age babies are like a sponge, they absorb so much!! Why not promote literacy, speech, imagination and creativity!!! It is so Easy and a wonderful bonding experience for both Mommy and baby! Can you tell this is a passion of mine? In fact, my thesis in college was all about literacy for children.

How to make your own baby flash cards:

Be inspired to make your own. In my set I also have words like; mommy, daddy, foot, and hand with pictures of me, Rich and so on.  I plan to add more cards using  pictures of Robert's grandparents. In the next month, I would like to add numbers, shapes and colors!.

Here are some instructions:
My flashcards are in a  5×7 format. I chose to separate word on the card from the picture. II took one card and wrote the word, then I took another card and placed the photo onto it. I then attached the two cards using a brad. This way I am able to flip from word to picture quite easily!

Mommies, let me know what you think!! I would love to hear what you do!

I would advise you to stick with one set of cards for at least two weeks or so. This will give your little learner the greatest advantage of really locking in those words and making the connection between word an picture!

This promotes language development, reading ability, sight word recognition and phonemic awareness! ALL GOOD THINGS! It is never too soon to start learning! :)

The world is FULL of all sorts of things to discover!

Have Fun!