It is really sad to see how people are dealing with their kids curiosity.

Anyways! I wanted to share a sweet sentence that my 25 mos said yesterday: "The Atlantic Ocean: two sides are parallel!" What a beautiful conclusion he came up with after looking at the world map! He just was telling me he is ready to learn about plate tectonics    a couple of printouts, lots of crayons and useful YouTube clips kept him busy for the rest of the day 

Thank you ladies! My son does enjoy dinosaurs, transferring activities, and everything sensorial! All your suggestions fit the sensitive periods he's going through perfectly! Thanks!

I am trying to find ways to enrich our EL activities in the backyard. I am planning to add a playground set with monkey bars, making an outdoor kitchen, a bike trail, a garden for science lessons and a mini-soccer field.

Can anyone suggest some more/ better activities? Thanks!

[snakes and ladders]

My toddler has been lately hooked on such games and I need more creativity to keep the fun going. So here is what we've been using right after he turned 2:

- Our homemade snakes and ladders game inspired by Eurotalk math 3-5 app version on a laminated paper, lots of fun using the jumbo dice from the "Math Dice Junior".

- Math dice Junior ( http://www.amazon.com/ThinkFun-Jr-1515-Math-Dice/dp/B004617DEU/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1350334639&sr=1-1&keywords=math+dice+junior ) We are not exactly following the game rules. I just set up simpler ways to play it.

- Go Fish: We are using a standard 52 deck. We are playing with smaller sets ( proportional to his attention span). BTW, this game was mentioned in one of the math threads by Keri. I am wondering how can her LO hold the cards properly? Is she using a card holder like this one? : http://www.amazon.com/Fame-Toy-Products-Playing-Holders/dp/B000BUVZBM/ref=sr_1_2?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1350335321&sr=1-2&keywords=card+holder

- Dominoes: We have the 15 double dominoes set ( http://www.amazon.com/Cardinal-Industries-Fifteen-Dominoes-Collectors/dp/B00004T71J ). I think this helped him tremendously in recognizing the dots patterns from 1 to 15. Also, we use it in parallel with the RS abacus to "double-check" during our addition and comparison games. We also do lots of equations with those dominoes, something that he is quite obsessed with for the moment 

So, I am thinking to add a scrabble-like game to work on spelling (the magnet letters and the blocks are not challenging anymore). So I am hesitating between Bananagrams and Appletters, the second has fewer letters but chunkier pieces. I don't really mind about the rules as I start by adapting the EL way first. Here are the links for the two games:

Bananagrams: http://www.amazon.com/Bananagrams-BAN001/dp/1932188126/ref=pd_sim_t_1

Appletters: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005X6DTYU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&keywords=appletters&qid=1350335864&s=toys-and-games&sr=1-1

Also, I like the Story Cubes idea about helping with creativity and artistic expressions but I am still wondering if the absurdity with some combinations will affect his understanding of how REAL things work. So I'll keep them for later isA.  http://www.amazon.com/Rorys-Story-Cubes-Original-Actions/dp/B006HVMK8Q/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_2?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1350337774&sr=1-2-fkmr2&keywords=story+cube+set

Otherwise, starting slowly with Mancala may help develop early strategic thinking IMHO. http://www.amazon.com/Wood-Folding-Mancala-in-Sleeve/dp/B00004T76D/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1350337880&sr=1-1&keywords=mancala


Can you share any ideas that you are using or intending to use? Thanks!

I used BabyPlus with my LO. I am not sure if that was helpful or not - at least not like the raving reviews are saying. I think my toddler is now doing quite well (reading at 2nd grade level and doing addition/ subtraction at 24 mos), certainly he didn't get this by just listening to BabyPlus, but thanks to early learning. I also had read aloud many other books in different languages during my pregnancy. I am sure that hearing different sounds and accents helped him tremendously in picking up those languages and reading them easily. IMHO what matters the most  is STIMULATION in different ways, read aloud, massage your belly, when he/she kicks, communicate by gently applying pressure (you can even go further and introduce counting and patterns this way), eat a variety of healthy food as the amniotic liquid will allow your baby to experience the same flavors, move around in different directions, speeds, orientations, etc (yoga is perfect for this). HTH!

There is also www.more.starfall.com , you have to pay $35/ year to access to their read aloud books though. I think it's definitely worth it. We've been reading their books almost everyday since my LO was 14 mos and we still haven't finished all of them yet (he's 24 mos now), of course we read his favorites several times. There are books for different levels, from easy readers with clickable words to advanced picture books with clickable sentences.

Thanks a lot for your response. I can see his hobby is still related to learning. Enjoying programming at 8 is impressive as most children at that age would spend their time on video games. Programming looks like just the right alternative to this unwanted behavior. It simply makes computer time more productive.

Now to define what "neighbor" is in our case, I'd say it's just at the city level. Sorry if my PS was a bit ambiguous. The reason I mentioned that was because I read about the community college hints with big interest. Sharing how you worked with the educational system in Texas helped me shape my vision. Even though my son may take a different path from yours, I know at least that there are ways to accommodate his educational needs. BTW, he loves math and we are doing simple addition and subtraction using RightStart Math and other programs and manipulatives (especially dominoes). Still a long way to go and we are progressing slowly, but what matters the most to me is to make math part of his daily life, sth that he will do naturally... Well, I hope so!

Cayden is so cute! He is learning his Chinese numbers very well! Kudos!

I am joining this interesting conversation a bit late although I've been following it from the start. Needless to say that I am so thankful to Mr. Levy for sharing his valuable experience with us. Now my question is about David's leisure time. Does he have any hobbies he's doing "just for fun"? How much time does he spend on them and how do you let him know that "there is a time for playing and there is time for working" (a quote from a Brillkids book )

Thanks for sharing

P.S: BTW, I am a neighbor

Tennessee is much closer to us. As we live in Texas, we were thinking of a fun road trip that would last 1 day. But now, we should think about flying to VA        But hey... why don't you do it in Houston, there is the NASA and the awesome Museum District too   Well, just kidding...

I think the best way to decide is to make a poll with different locations, the result may also give an idea about the number of attendees.

Hi Mybabyian,

After reading about the progress your son is doing I could see he is almost there! A child may develop a specific learning pattern based on his own preferences. If your son enjoys sounding out letters, do more Reading Bear or morestarfall.com along with the games he likes. Just "follow the child" and you won't be disappointed isA.

Keep up the wonderful work! You are both doing great!

Thanks everybody for your kind words. My son hates the public swimming pool (too big? too many new faces?...) although he loves splashing in our backyard one. Hopefully he will get used to it

Thanks a lot Mybabyian for sharing your experience. My son has just started swimming classes at 23 mos. I hope it's not too late to be able to make a good progress. But we'll try!

I am sorry for the late reply    For some reason, I didn't get an email notification about your post.

For the moment, we watch Trotro, quite simple. It is actually his very first cartoon (as we don't have TV and I only show him EL DVDs). He's turning 2  in 2 weeks, that's why I allowed a bit of cartoon time. But I guess he'll ask for more very soon. So I'll try what you suggested. Thanks a lot for that!

Thx TMT for your response. I am hoping that Tom will chime in soon too. Maybe he (or someone else) will give me his opinion on the following Soroban and which one to use first.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/160529048946?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/330784113405?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/330675820109?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/280824115791?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/130433863640?

P.S: I am posting from an iPhone so not sure if all the links work. Please let me know if they don't. Thx.