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Curriculum>Newbie and Curriculum ?
TGT09 07:45 AM 02-04-2010
Hi all, I have been doing at-home daycare for almost 7 months now but I have been a nanny/babysitter for almost 15 years. I have to say it's MUCH different doing it out of my own home as I'm sure you all can understand.

I'm sure I will have a vent or two in the coming days! lol :-)

Can anyone help with curriculum ideas for just two 2 year olds. I feel like they get neglected because they just "play" all day. Does anyone else just let their kids play and not do a curriculum? Half of the things I choose for them to do, I feel is too old for them to truly understand. I go over the alphabet, numbers and colors. Some days I only have one 2 year old. I feel like maybe it might be more beneficial once they turn 3? I would truly love any advice or help with this?
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Carole's Daycare 12:46 PM 02-04-2010
Remember that their brain is growing and making connections with every experience that they have. Early exposure to music, math and language is important. Their ability to master those subjects is being created NOW. You don't have to use "curriculum" necessarily. 2 yr olds have a relatively short attention span, so a "teachable moments" scenario might work well for you. Just make sure to read to them OFTEN, and provide toys and opportunities for learning. The biggest problem I see lately is that 3 yr olds are delayed in fine motor skills. The reason is simple- small manipulatives are choking hazards and toys and blocks that will increase their abilities are messy. Crayons turn into wall murals..... so younger children are often limited in their access to those things. If you only have a few kids so supervision isnt an issue, make sure EACH DAY to get their hands into something- legos, wooden puzzles, counting bears, play doh. Each day read to them. Each day get them moving. If its cold outside that means dancing, or playing simon says, or Mr. Fox, or musical chairs. give them opprtunitoes to role play- it encourages language- so dress up, or little people play sets, or puppets. Over the course of an 8-10 hr day how many 15-20 mn opportunities do you have to encourage those activities. Children learn by playing, so even I, (queen of nerds) know that they learn so much just by playing and being with other children. Just don't forget to sneak in activities that will help their little brains grow.
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momma2girls 12:56 PM 02-04-2010
I start doing coloring and activities about 2 1/2 yrs. old. I have found out before this, they are sticking colors in their mouths, breaking them, placing other things in mouths from the crafts, etc..... Sometimes it is even close to 3- I do lots of things with the under 2 1/2 yrs. olds- small gross skills, reading, playtime, help with colors, animals and their sounds, and much much more.
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DBug 01:54 PM 02-04-2010
Most of my kids are under 2 (my newest is 8 months, the rest are b/n 14 & 22 months, in addition to the preschoolers), but everyone sits in the circle for circle time. Circle time only lasts 10 minutes max. for us, so keeping the young ones interested isn't too hard. The ones who can't sing yet, can clap along with the abc's, and can pick up some of the actions for the other songs. We read tons of books during potty time (10 minutes on the potty, 5 times a day = lots of book time), and they all do the crafts along with the older kids. I help the young ones quite a bit of course, but they have alot of fun with paint, colouring, stickers, markers, bingo dabbers, etc. The trick is that their craft time lasts about 3-5 minutes, and then they go play while the older ones continue working on theirs. If a crayon or whatever goes in a mouth, I take it away.

So, long story short -- there's lots you can do with under 2's. It just depends on how much work you want to do. Singing and reading, though, that's easy enough and the kids love it ! And parents love it too ;-)
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originalkat 02:41 PM 02-04-2010
If you are looking for fun and free activities for two-year-olds I think this site is awesome!
http://www.pammshouse.com/toddlers.html
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Michael 03:37 PM 02-04-2010
Welcome mcmann05. Also, if you click on the "curriculum" keyword at the bottom left corner of this thread it will show you other threads with the same keyword topic. It will bring up this summary: https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.php?tag=curriculum
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TGT09 05:12 AM 02-08-2010
Fantastic! Thank you all! Most of what I'm doing now is what is being suggested (I just didn't know if that was enough). Several times a week I am doing exercise/yoga dvds with the kids (especially with not really being able to go outside) that I rent from the library. They are read to daily. They play with Play-doh at least once a week and they color almost daily, we have the occasional crayon in the mouth but not often. I also rent lots of music dvd's/cd's for them to dance and sing along with. I have a subject curriculum for every day but sometimes it's hard to find things in those categories. I will take a look at the curriculum tag so thank you, I'm always looking for ideas.

Now, I just need help with a crazy 2 year old that doesn't listen and terrorizes my (well behaved) dogs! :-)
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