What do your 16 monthers know?

We've pretty much mastered these:

Animals- dog, cow, horse, pig, chicken, lion, snake and elephant (identification and sound)

Body parts- eyes, ears, teeth, nose, hair, head, legs, arms, hands, lips, feet, toes, belly button, and tally-whacker...yes, tally whacker. That's the one thing my husband has taught them .

Family memebers- mama, dada, brother (they don't know they each have names), rara (grandma), mimi (other grandma), papa, nana (cousin brianna)

Misc.- sun, moon, star, night night, book, and a couple others I might be forgetting

They know how to fold their hands for prayers, say twooo after I start counting, no-no when they're doing something they know they shouldn't, say poo-poo as they're goingand I feel like they understand a great deal of what say to them.

So my question is, what other things should they know? Should they be working on colors or counting? Do you have any tips for teaching those concepts? Just looking for some ideas. We're running out of things to do over here and they LOVE learning and showing what they've learned. I just want to make sure I keep them engaged.

 

We started counting things and naming colors around that age, but its only recently that they've gotten the concept. We don't really work with them on it, but rather its just something else to identify IYKWIM. I also started pointing out other descriptive words- smooth vs bumpy rocks, up and down the slide, in and out of the tunnel, etc. I really let them guide me... sounds like your boys are doing great!

 

Definitely sounds like you're doing a great job with your little guys.

Some other things we have been doing include:

*practicing manners (please, thank you, sorry, etc...)
*understanding concepts like in/out, up/down, other opposites and spatial awareness concepts
*singing songs (they can say a few words of the songs, but they don't sing them!)
*reading books
*colors (they only know a few)
*numbers (we just count 1-10 in a few different languages... they can't repeat)
*stacking blocks/ mega-size "legos", etc...
*my guys love to eat, so they can name almost every food item they eat on a regular basis :lol:

I look forward to hearing some great responses!!

 

QUOTE(twinboys07 @ Nov 5 2008, 10:12 PM) [snapback]1058086[/snapback]
Definitely sounds like you're doing a great job with your little guys.

Some other things we have been doing include:

*practicing manners (please, thank you, sorry, etc...)
*understanding concepts like in/out, up/down, other opposites and spatial awareness concepts
*singing songs (they can say a few words of the songs, but they don't sing them!)
*reading books
*colors (they only know a few)
*numbers (we just count 1-10 in a few different languages... they can't repeat)
*stacking blocks/ mega-size "legos", etc...
*my guys love to eat, so they can name almost every food item they eat on a regular basis :lol:

I look forward to hearing some great responses!!


Hey Erin!

How are you guys going about teaching colors? I tried to devote a few days to just arranging several items of the same color and telling them what the color is but I got really lazy about it and never tried again (that was 2 months ago!).

 

Mine cannot do half of what yours are doing...and I thought we were doing okay -opps!

They can do the animal sounds for sheep, cow, pig, and cat. THey understand everything, follow multiple step commands, and they recognize most things in books (i.e. where is the duck, where is the dog, where is the farmer, etc).
They are starting to jump and know how to clap along with a song or mimick the hand motions to multiple songs. They seem to be talking in sentences; however, they really do not say a lot of recognizable single words. Their gibber gabber only makes sense sometimes and they really seem to enjoy stringing many (mostly unintelligable) words together vs. saying a word, etc.
They will mimick most words we say but do not say them on their own often.
They know all of their body parts.
They sort of know blue, red and green but if we do not practice it for a while they will forget.
I always count and say the alphabet, etc. but they really do not get it yet.
They do understand the number two as in "get two diapers and bring them to mommy, one for you and one for your sister"
They actually take care of each other and share pretty well. For example, Jack always brings sister her sippy cup and hands it to her or if we have two of one toy they will get one for themself and then bring the other ot sister or brother.

That is about all I can think of now.
I guess I need to work on things a bit more. I just do not know what else I can do to help them to have a larger vocabulary.

 

QUOTE(serranoboys @ Nov 6 2008, 01:11 AM) [snapback]1058279[/snapback]
Hey Erin!

How are you guys going about teaching colors? I tried to devote a few days to just arranging several items of the same color and telling them what the color is but I got really lazy about it and never tried again (that was 2 months ago!).



Sorry to interject, but I just wanted to say that we have been doing colors with sheets of colored paper. I may put three (a green, a blue, a red) on the ground fairly far apart and then we each stand on one and I say "Jack is standing on the red paper" or I will say "Jack, go and stand on the red paper". It is kind of fun and they seem to get it a bit. If we do not do it for a while; however, they forget.

 

Love the colored paper idea! :good:

 

Okay, I have to get on the ball -- my kiddos don't know a tenth of that! I've been pretty lazy about teaching them, admittedly. Karina is finally starting to sign a lot (although sometimes all the signs look the same, LOL), but Kevan, ahhh Kevan -- he's just going to be my late bloomer in every area, I think. The latest thing he learned is to stick his hands in the air when we yell "touchdown" -- and Karina puts her hands on her head at the same time. It's pretty funny.

I read Brown Bear, Brown Bear every night, which I think is a great way to teach colors. We also have different colored stacking cups, and some nesting cubes, and work on, "Okay, put the purple cube inside the orange cube..." etc. No indication that they know any colors yet. I know Nadia knew most of them before 22 months, but she is a super brain. I suspect my little ones are going to learn things in their own sweet time!

I've been working on animal sounds for some time now....but nope, no one wants to repeat any back to me, or even acknowledge that I'm speaking a language they understand.

One thing I love to work on is songs and finger plays...Karina has learned the correct gestures to several of our music class songs. Not really important knowledge to have, but at least I know she's absorbing something, LOL. Kevan, well...

 

QUOTE(Sarah© @ Nov 6 2008, 01:25 AM) [snapback]1058305[/snapback]
Love the colored paper idea! :good:

So do I ! Can't wait to try this.

QUOTE(Becca34 @ Nov 6 2008, 04:26 AM) [snapback]1058566[/snapback]
Okay, I have to get on the ball -- my kiddos don't know a tenth of that! I've been pretty lazy about teaching them, admittedly. Karina is finally starting to sign a lot (although sometimes all the signs look the same, LOL), but Kevan, ahhh Kevan -- he's just going to be my late bloomer in every area, I think. The latest thing he learned is to stick his hands in the air when we yell "touchdown" -- and Karina puts her hands on her head at the same time. It's pretty funny.


You crack me up! :rotflmbo: . The touchdown thing is soooo something I can see Braxton doing. He's far less focused on learning than Caleb is- definitely more interested in balls and getting into things he shouldn't.

 

[SIZE=10pt]Okay when I was reading through the responses I was getting a little concerned about Alexis & Peyton. Luckily, Becca's was the last post I read :bow2: (My two do the "touchdown" sign as well :lol: )

My two aren't doing a tenth...maybe even a fifth of those things :unsure: They're content playing with their toys and each other. I read to them, point things out, say animals sounds ~ yet nothing from them.

I read to them everyday, however they don't like/want to sit still during the story. They'll wander over and look at a few pages here and there, but they are seriously always on the go.

Larami ~ Sorry I wasn't any help. The boys sound like they are doing great! As for the counting, we count the stairs going up and down among other things throughout the day.


April [/SIZE]

ETA: spelling

 

QUOTE(Becca34 @ Nov 6 2008, 04:26 AM) [snapback]1058566[/snapback]
The latest thing he learned is to stick his hands in the air when we yell "touchdown" -- and Karina puts her hands on her head at the same time. It's pretty funny.

We just started the touchdown thing also - too cute! Jack and Lily also do the Gator football clap - you use your arms and hands to mimic a gator chomp kind of thing.

 

QUOTE(ahmerl @ Nov 6 2008, 08:14 AM) [snapback]1058749[/snapback]
We just started the touchdown thing also - too cute! Jack and Lily also do the Gator football clap - you use your arms and hands to mimic a gator chomp kind of thing.



Amy, are you guys Gator fans? Check out my latest avi -- I graduated from UF in '95. Go Gators!! :clapping:

I've been trying to teach K&K the chomp, too, but they're not getting it yet.

 

Great ideas. My guys are a bit behind, but just mastered walking. They do love books, though. I've been reading to them for a while. They'll bring books over to us to read. It's cute. I try to teach the concept ideas throughout the day. I think you just keep expoxing them to these things and they'll absorb it and give it back when they're ready. Oh, they have a water table that I actually filled with uncooked rice and they love to pour and stir, etc--great math concepts.

It seems like they need new things often though to keep their attention!

Lisa

 

QUOTE(serranoboys @ Nov 5 2008, 04:46 PM) [snapback]1057928[/snapback]
We've pretty much mastered these:

Animals- dog, cow, horse, pig, chicken, lion, snake and elephant (identification and sound)

Body parts- eyes, ears, teeth, nose, hair, head, legs, arms, hands, lips, feet, toes, belly button, and tally-whacker...yes, tally whacker. That's the one thing my husband has taught them .

Family memebers- mama, dada, brother (they don't know they each have names), rara (grandma), mimi (other grandma), papa, nana (cousin brianna)

Misc.- sun, moon, star, night night, book, and a couple others I might be forgetting

They know how to fold their hands for prayers, say twooo after I start counting, no-no when they're doing something they know they shouldn't, say poo-poo as they're goingand I feel like they understand a great deal of what say to them.

So my question is, what other things should they know? Should they be working on colors or counting? Do you have any tips for teaching those concepts? Just looking for some ideas. We're running out of things to do over here and they LOVE learning and showing what they've learned. I just want to make sure I keep them engaged.

Wow...my guys are older and maybe do what all yours do but probably not much else! I'm quite impressed!

 

you seem to be doing great! most of you put me to shame....here's what we know...

mine know animal sounds very well: dog, cat, cow, sheep, rooster, horse, duck, turkey, snake, pig, ally even munches like a bunny, super cute! oh and they make a tractor sound, too....but i should say they know them all in english and spanish.

they also "count" when we go up and down stairs, and bear will often "count" objects to himself when reading or looking at things he says "twoooo" and other approximations to numbers, but not in order or anything.

bear knows some body parts, ally knows them all in english and spanish. i'm not sure i saw cheeks, knees, or neck on your list--mine do those....but not lips for example, i just say mouth teeth and tongue....i'm teaching ally elbow, but she can't find it half the time....

ally says an approximation of "ally" when you ask her what her name is. she follows directions well--loves to clean up, gives things to others, etc. bear just runs the other way when you give him instructions.

they say random words, let's see....we have for ally: ball, baby, nose, teeth, mama, daddy, papa (dad), baya (my mom), nana (nanny), paba (toby, our dog), zapat (approximation of shoe in spanish), si, no, uh-oh probably about all, but her signing repertoire is pretty good.

bear: uh-oh, mama, baya, nana, de (our cleaning lady's name is grinde), ball, nina (godmother), no (more like noooooooooo!), and a funny one, he says chocolate (in spanish) though he doesn't know the meaning, but it's funny to hear....

colors, i mention in passing when looking at things, but i'm not "working" on them yet. i think i'll get on it when they hit 18 months, since in my experience few kids get it before then. i'll make sure they don't go off to college without knowing their colors, but that's really not a priority for me at this point LOL i'd rather work on respecting boundaries (rules) right now....

wow, now that i write it out, it seems mine DO know some stuff, after all!

(edited to reduce some rambling)

 

QUOTE(spinhermie @ Nov 6 2008, 05:04 PM) [snapback]1059214[/snapback]
Now that I write it out, it seems mine DO know some stuff, after all!



Some stuff...I think they sound fairly brilliant. They are younger than my Jack and Lily and we cannot do half of those things, less yet in two languages. One of my friends is raising her son to be bi-lingual (Portugese and English) and she always said that she heard children taught two languages are often late bloomers verbally. Sounds to me like you are ahead of the game! Good job mommy!

 

Mine (15 months adjusted) don't do a single thing anybody has mentioned, except bringing books over for us to read. They don't even talk yet, they just babble in their own language. They mostly like to chase each other around, make each other laugh, and destroy the house!

I'm not too worried, though. They will have a speech evaluation in December.

 

Wow! Great job everybody. Cody is no where near ant of this. He understands what we say, but not too much more. I am not worried though. He was a late sitter & walker & his vocabulary will come too.

 

OMG thats a lot!! I know my boys are younger but should I be starting these things???

they know in & out pretty good and up & down. but I can't think of anything else....

Am I a terrible Mommy :unsure:

Shannon

 

You are all doing an amazing job with your kiddos!!

Larami- As for colors, I went to the teacher's store and bought these little single-color posters (animal, shapes, and color names) to put on the wall... we have a little section of wall devoted to each color, and go through them a couple of times per day. They especially like the purple bunny and the black bear.

Honestly, the colored paper sounds like an even better idea, though!

 

QUOTE(2betterthan1 @ Nov 7 2008, 03:09 AM) [snapback]1060189[/snapback]
OMG thats a lot!! I know my boys are younger but should I be starting these things???

they know in & out pretty good and up & down. but I can't think of anything else....

Am I a terrible Mommy :unsure:

Shannon


Not at all! I know with us it just seemed like all of a sudden a light bulb went off in their heads and they started to pick things up more quickly. No need to worry

 

Does anyone have any other suggestions for what we could/should be doing with our children? I've been wondering the same thing... Are there other activities... i.e. crayons, finger paints, building blocks...etc. Totally love the colored paper thing. My kids would love having more physicality.

This is a great topic! Thanks for posting it... I was starting to wonder about my littles too. It sounds like all our kiddos are exactly where they're supposed to be, which is at totally different places depending on their disposition. some kids who are ultra active, don't develop verbally as much because they're so focused on being active and vice versa.

Our kids understand quite a bit, but only say a few words as you or I would say them. Megan says "ah" for eye but Matthew pronounces it correctly... he's also been saying "shoes" and "socks" exactly right and he's been saying "thank you" for a couple of months now. There's other words he says, but they aren't as clearly pronounced, although I understand him. Megan says more words than he does, but they aren't clearly enunciated. The only word she says really clearly is "No"

They also say: car, bahbah (bottle), moe mih (more milk), appoe (apple), bird, ball, booh (book), juice, nana (banana), pa (grandpa), dada, mama, cocoa, cah (cat), all the body parts, bowl, num num, out, go, truh (truck), bye-bye, nightie night, tree, up, down, etc. They follow multi-step directions. They wave hello and goodbye. Do the touchdown. There's more I just can't think of.

Our kids LOVE books though and I often find Matthew with an open book on his lap (sometimes upside down! :lol: ) and he's jibber jabbering to himself, I assume he thinks he's reading the book. It's actually quite adorable.

Anyway, now that winter is coming and I'm a SAHM, I'm starting to rack my brain for ideas to keep the kids stimulated. Any suggestions?