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7.18.2016

ABC Hide and Seek



Earlier this year I reached out to one of my best friends because I was worried about my son Brecken’s interest in anything educational. Brecken is 3 ½ years old and is an active, funny, adventurous, sweet and kind little boy. He has a great vocabulary and actually seems kind of grown up for his age, but it was worrying me because he just didn’t seem interested when I tried to teach him things.

I loved to learn and school was very easy for me. My husband Jeremy on the other hand did the very minimum he had to do in order to get through school and was never very interested in his studies. Brecken’s disinterest in learning had me worried so I called my friend Catelyn to get some education advice. Catelyn is a School Psychologist.

The specific thing I was concerned about was Brecken’s seeming inability to identify his ABC’s. He has been able to say his alphabet for a long time, but when I started trying to get him to read and write them, he just got frustrated. Catelyn gave me a wealth of advice and suggested making a game out of learning. She said that it is possible that Brecken gets frustrated because I ask him too many questions. So possibly, if I steered away from asking questions until he was comfortable in knowing the answers, he would not get as frustrated with my educational attempts. She suggested playing ABC Hide and Seek.

We took pieces of different colored construction paper and I cut them into different shapes. I then took a marker and wrote A, B and C on different colors and shapes. Brecken covered his eyes and I then went around the house and hid the alphabet shapes. When I was done, he had a basket and I asked him to find all of the letter B’s. He went around and to my surprise was able to easily identify all of the B’s. Then we repeated the process with A’s and C’s. When he would bring them to me I would ask him the colors and shapes.

Brecken really enjoyed this game and he did not seem to get frustrated at all. What are some educational games that you play with your children? Please leave links in the comments section to blog posts you have written regarding early childhood education. I am always looking for new and fun ways to teach Brecken and Annabelle!

19 comments:

  1. This is such a cute idea! My toddler would love this game!! I'm definitely going to give this a go today!

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    1. Awesome! I hope they enjoy the game. Thanks for reading!

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  2. This is a great idea that I'm going to use in homeschooling my boys! Thanks for sharing it. And don't worry, momma, I am a teacher, and 3 and 1/2 is very early to be writing his alphabet. If he can identify letters, you're doing great!

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    1. Thanks so much for the encouragement! I fall victim to comparison and my older sister has a son who is 5 months older than Brecken so sometimes I forget that everyone learns at their own pace. I really just want to encourage an environment where Brecken and Annabelle will be excited about the process of learning. Thanks for reading!

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  3. Awesome idea! Good for you for meeting his learning style !

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    1. Thanks Gina! Yes I am realizing that everyone learns differently. I am hoping that I can continue to find ways to teach him that don't frustrate him.

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  4. This is such an AWESOME idea! I'm going to do this for my 3.5 year old this week!!

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    1. Thanks! Yes it is fun and easy and something you can do for a short period of time and then give it a rest and do it more later in the day. Thanks so much for reading!

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  5. That's a great idea. I'll have to file this one away for when my boy is old enough to enjoy it.

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    1. Thank you! Yes Annabelle my 1.5 year old just picks up all of the shapes. Haha I guess that is still probably educational in some way shape or form...no pun intended :) Thanks so much for reading!

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  6. I love this idea! Thank you for sharing. It is wonderful that you seek to meet his learning needs where he is at. Great job!

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    1. Thank you for reading! Yes, I am learning that I am going to have to be creative when it comes to teaching Brecken :)

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  7. Great idea! My kids love ACTIVE learning. They also love using "different" things... like paint daubers. Simply putting a dot on a worksheet with a paint dauber is way more interesting than a pencil or marker.
    https://www.pinterest.com/pin/328903579008391059/

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    1. Love the paint dauber idea! Thanks so much for the tip! Also, thanks for reading my post!

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  8. I love this idea!! Like the others said, way to meet his learning style!

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    1. Thank you! I spoke to my doctor about his frustration as well and he gave me some other good tips. I will probably be writing many more posts regarding this topic :) Thanks so much for reading!

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  9. This is a great idea for fun learning play. My daughter would enjoy this!

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    1. Thank you! Yes making learning fun is the key with Brecken for sure. Thanks so much for reading!

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  10. This is such a cute and great way to learn shapes, colors, and numbers! I especially love that it's EASY to do!

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