Welcome to another Back to Preschool Giveaway Blast Sponsor Spotlight in anticipation of the giveaway which starts on August 8th. Please note, that there has been a change in the dates for this event. We were without power for three days due to severe storms blowing through our area last Thursday, so I have to play catch up on a lot of things.
The president of Teach My, Christy Cook, developed these all in one learning kits when her son was 18 months old when she couldn't find an all-inclusive resource that taught all the subjects she wanted her son to learn (alphabet, counting and reading). A main focus of these kits is "matching" which she discovered was a key pre-reading skill. Teach My Toddler was the first All in One Kit she developed, followed by Teach My Baby and Teach My Preschooler.
I was thrilled when she decided to join in with the Back to Preschool Blast Giveaway.
The Teach My Toddler Set seemed to fit perfectly with the theme of making back to school time fun for the younger children seeing as all the hype of "Back to School" could potentially be lost on them. It's a learning kit of their very own.
Teach My Toddler comes with:
and
I tried to find the perfect time for Hannah and I to have "Mommy-Hannah time," which wasn't easy as she would get distracted by what the other girls were doing. I finally found the ideal time. Right after lunch we head up to their room while the older girls stay downstairs playing or reading. After the first couple of times I knew we had a winner when I came up a little behind her and saw her carrying the kit into their room from our room. She's done the carrying every day since then.
We sit down on the floor in the bedroom and take out the materials. We usually use the poster and the puzzle pieces first and then look at the book. Occasionally we use the flashcards.
(Excuse the blurriness of this picture, Amelia wanted to help take pictures.)
We always take the puzzle pieces out of the puzzle one at a time and match them to the poster. For the number kit we go in order. I have her look at the number, show her the number on the poster and count the squares. Usually we go in order for the Alphabet as well, though I allow her to choose randomly for the Shapes and Colors.
After she gets all of the pieces on the poster
she puts them back into the puzzle frame.
It dawned on me that the holes in the puzzle frame would be a great opportunity to trace the numbers for some more tactile learning.
We then sing a little ditty I made up. We do this at the beginning and the end. Usually the older girls want to come in to sing the song.
Then we look at the book together.
Of course Hannah wants to help put it away.
So far shapes and colors seem to be her favorite sets. I can tell she is learning. She has had no trouble matching the puzzle pieces to the poster from the start. But she is now learning the names of the colors and shapes. The numbers and letters are a little slower at coming, but she is getting it. I tend to focus more on the shapes and colors for a couple of reasons. The alphabet puzzle takes a long time because there are so many letters. When we do the alphabet we focus on either the upper or lower case, but it still takes a while to go through all the letters. And the numbers take a while because I don't want to just match the numerals; I want her to understand that the numerals represent the number, so I will count the squares for each number.
I love that these kits include puzzles for the tactile experience and books for the literary aspect. We use the flashcards in place of the poster sometimes during our matching, though I prefer the poster. I tend to not use the flashcards as flashcards as I prefer hands on. As she starts to be more verbal I think we will use them more as I would want her to be able to tell me what I am holding up.
Each of the books contain simple pictures to help reinforce the concept.
The alphabet book has the pictures from the poster.
The number book has the pictures from the flash cards.
The color book has the pictures of the crayons from the poster with different foods for each color.
The shape book is a little different. Each page has the same picture that is shown on the cover, but it is only shown in silhouette in blue. On each page the shape being featured is highlighted in orange in the picture.
All in all when all of the parts of this kit are put together there is a well rounded learning experience for toddlers. We only spend a little bit of time each day on this and she definitely looks forward to her "time" as she calls it. I would definitely recommend this kit for helping your toddler learn letters, numbers, shapes and colors.
Head over to the Teach My site to see the Teach My Baby and Teach My Preschooler kits.
(And you can stop back in a couple of months for my review of Teach My Preschooler as a part of my Holiday Gift Guide.)
I am thrilled to let you know that as a part of the Back to Preschool Blast, Teach My is offering the winner a Teach My Kit of their choice. Not only that, one lucky reader can win the 2nd place prize pack which will include a Teach My Preschooler learning set! Teach My Preschooler Ready To Print, Teach My Preschooler Ready For 1-100 or Teach My Preschooler Ready For Math can be yours by simply entering to win in the Back to Preschool Blast starting Aug 8th! http://www.teachmy.com/sections/teach-my-preschooler.html
How would you like some extra entries into the Back to Preschool Blast before it even starts?
- Head on over to the Teach My site and tell me which kit you are most excited about. Leave the answer here in the comments with your email and when the giveaway is live I will email you the secret code to place in the Rafflecopter for a bonus 10 points.
- Also, if you would like to spread the word about this event and place the button on your blog sidebar I will give you an additional 10 points. Again, please come back and comment.
Either way, don't forget to stop back between August 8th and 25th to enter the giveaway.
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