Learning with Mama: Shapes & Colors

Yet another segment that I hope to do weekly or bi-monthly - Learning with Mama.

Sami goes to a daycare that has a school setting to it.  They teach various things, have monthly themes and as far as I can tell, it's had a major impact on Sami's social and mental development.

While it's been a huge bonus for our family, educating my daughter, teaching her things, is something I want to be very intentional about, and it's been something I've worked at since her birth.  Knowing the education she's getting at daycare, I could easily say that I don't need to supplement it.  But I love learning, and I want to share that thirst for knowledge with my little girl.  If I'm not learning something new, I get really antsy.  Luckily with motherhood, I'm always learning something new. :)

In this segment, I plan to share my strategies, if they can be called that, in strengthening what my daughter is learning at daycare.

For this first Leaning with Mama post, I thought I'd share something I feel like she mastered pretty early.  By 21 months, Sami knew most of her colors and could name them with some toddlerisms such as "bu" for blue.

I constantly talk and explain things to Sami, and I've done so since she was an infant.  I'd name her body parts as I washed them and as I put lotion on afterwards.  Things you can now hear me say while I'm changing her:  "Let's put these pretty pink pants on you", "What color is Mama's shirt?"  You get the idea.  The repetition of the colors, and pointing to them has really helped.

I have to admit, I think I also got a little help from "Little Baby Bum".   For the first year of her life, screen time isn't something Sami got a lot of.  Most of it consisted of "Baby Einstein" videos streamed through YouTube.  We would watch them sometimes to help her wind down for the night, or in the middle of the night if she was having a rough one.  It soothed her.  She basically only watched two of the videos.  The one with the bee (First Sounds) and the one with the Tiger (Numbers).  I tell you, that bee could put a smile on her face like no other when her first teeth were coming in.  It was like magic.

Every now and then, we'd use these videos to keep her entertained if we were at the restaurant.  Remember, this girl does not like to sit still!  The videos did the trick.  Eventually though, Mama and Dada got a little tired of the bee and the tiger and tried to branch out.  We found "Ruff Ruff Tweet and Dave" on Hulu which she liked to a certain degree.  It was a very colorful show and I'm sure it helped with her learning colors.  I do try to be interactive with her when watching a show, so I would try to often tell her "Ruff Ruff is red" and "Tweet is yellow" and "Dave (the panda) is blue".

One day, "Little Baby Bum" (LBB) showed up as a suggestion on YouTube from having watched Baby Einstein.  This was an instant hit with Sami - and if you have a Toddler and are familiar with it, I can feel you nodding your head.

LBB is a series of videos of nursery rhymes and children's songs, as well as some that they have made up, with very well animated (3D) with recurring characters.  I won't lie, Super Pig is my favorite.  It was created by a couple in the UK and they continue to release new songs or renditions.  I believe some of their "Wheels on the Bus" versions are some of the most watched YouTube videos of all time.

These videos are very colorful, and they even have songs about colors - the Color Train.  Sami loves it.  I'm sure exposure to these types of videos has enhanced her learning to a certain degree.

We went to Hawaii in the fall, and in preparation for the LONG plane ride, I bought a bunch of small little things we could do on the plane.  Flash card sets was one of those things and one of the sets was different colored and sized shapes.  Sami ended up doing beautifully on the airplane and I didn't use the flashcards on the plane ride.

However, I brought them out one afternoon in Hawaii, and made them into a game.   I was so stunned that she already knew some of the shapes my name.  And so I started reinforcing what she already knew and taught her new shapes.  I encouraged her to name the color of the shapes as well.

She’s an expert now.  She already knew what an oval was (that one really surprised me) in Hawaii, but she now even knows what a hexagon is.  I don’t think I knew that until I was in grade school. 

I’m so impressed with Sami and it is encouraging for me as a mom.  It validates that my extracurricular teachings are worth it and that I should keep at it.  At 26 months she can communicate pretty well.  Monday night, during FaceTime, she told my parents what we did Sunday.  I asked her where we went - she told them that we went to the aquarium.  I asked her what we saw, and she said "fishes, and uhhh sharks, and turtles and a tiger!".  Yes, there really was a very real and beautiful tiger.

Below you'll see another game I use to help Sami with her colors and animals in this case.  It's a memory game that I bought at Target a couple years ago.  I was going to give it to her next Christmas, but I gave it to her in January.  We don't play memory, but I have her match the colors and the animals and she does well with it.  She calls it Sami's game.  In toddler fashion, she also enjoys making stacks with them, making a mess with them, and putting them in the box. 

Until next time... :)