Welcome back to Azy Reading Journey website, where our goal is to make learning fun. There are many fun ways to teach letters and numbers to preschoolers and they work.
We have been doing activities and using materials to help Azy learn lower-case letters, numbers and counting.
Toys including train tracks, cars and farm animals have been added to the activities.
Now, we have using beads, and still using Leapfrog DVDs, flashcards, mega bloks, dinosaurs, double sided learning board, magnetic numbers and magnetic/ wooden letters.
This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.
Azy is still focusing on learning lower-case letters, how to count, as well as recognizing and identifying numbers and letters, especially the lower-case letters. You can read more about that here.
For a while now, we have been working on the numbers 1 to 10, and have added numbers 11 to 14.
Pretty soon, we might have to start making some number 1 to teach numbers 15 to 20, because I am not sure if we could buy only the number 1. Since we already have a lot of numbers, I do not think we should purchase a pack just to get the number 1.
In addition, we might have to make sure we purchase magnetic numbers that have five or more of the number 1.
Numbers and Letters Activities We Are Doing Now
Azy is doing much better with counting, learning numbers and lower-case letters. There are times, when he identifies the number 9 as the number 6.
So, we are spending some time helping him to more easily recognize and identify the numbers.
We still put the letters and numbers in the cup but recently, we started using two boards.
On one board, we put the numbers in order from 1 to 14 and the upper and lower-case letters to spell Azy. Yes, we want him to be able to recognize and identify the letters for his name.
After they are placed on the board, we ask Azy to take the letters and numbers from the first board, identify them and put them on the other board.
When he is doing the transfer, he is allowed to take up any number and put it on the other board. At this time, we are not concerned about him putting them in order.
Our goal is to help him know them, after he knows them, we can work on helping him putting them in the correct order.
However, when he is doing the letters, we ask him to put “A z y” in upper-case, as well as lower-case letters in the correct order, because it is only three letters.
Since we have been working on helping him to identify the letters for his name, sometimes he says “A z y” Azy, when someone ask him, what is your name?
Even though we are only using the letters “A z y” with the numbers, Azy still does activities that use all the letters.
Azy continues to watch the Leapfrog DVDS, and he does not get tired of watching them.
Using More Fun Toys in Fun Ways
Azy has a lot of toys and we have been using many of them to help teach him how to read. The toys that we were using are working well, but recently he started asking to use other toys.
So, we are now using toy train tracks, cars and farm animals. He counts the train tracks while he is putting them together,and he does this often.
Other times, he wants to count cars. When he counts the cars, we include magnetic numbers and flashcards. We have not been using numbers and flashcards with the train tracks.
However, we might start doing so later on.
Azy has been asking to use his toy farm set when we do the lesson, and sometimes he takes it out and set it up before we are ready. So, we have been using it.
Sometimes, Azy wants to identify and talk about the animals, other times he wants to count the animals, or he just wants to play with them.
He still wants to count the mega bloks and dinosaurs, so we are using them in activities, and including magnetic numbers and flashcards.
In the video below, you will see Azy working on numbers and colors.
Visit our Facebook page if you would like to see the video with Azy having fun with the toy farm.
Time To Increase Activities
For a while, Azy was reluctant to do the activities with lower-case letters, and was more willing to do the activities with the numbers. Now, he willingly does both letters and numbers activities.
We have also noticed that Azy is becoming more aware of his surroundings.
For some time now, he has been aware that red light means stop and green light means go, but now when we are at a stop sign, he is saying the letters “S T O P,” and after that he says the word “stop.”
Honestly, when I heard him the first time, I was very surprised, not about hearing the letters, but about him saying the word.
In a previous post, I talked about Azy’s reluctance to do the activities with lower-case letters, and his tendencies to choose upper-case letters instead. You can read more about that here.
Based on how Azy is responding to the activities we are doing; we think that it might be time to increase the activities and add new ones.
Now we are thinking of doing more hands-on activities to help reinforce what we have been teaching him.
A few days ago, we bought some beads and he has been placing them on the Mickey Mouse ABC.123 nesting & stacking blocks when he is using them for counting activities.
Still Making Plans
We are planning to do various activities using beads. We plan to write letters and numbers on paper, then use glue to paste the beads or other items on them.
These activities are not new to Azy, because he does similar ones at daycare. However, we think that he will have fun because he can now identify the written letters and numbers.
The hands-on activities that we are thinking about will be done with items from the dollar store, because we can get items that will help Azy learn while he is having fun.
In addition, we can buy some fun stuff for less money.
Thank you for taking the time to read about Azy’s reading journey.
I would love to hear from you. Please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts.
Visit our Facebook page if you would like to see the video with Azy having fun with the toy farm.
If you have any questions, please leave them. I will do my best to answer them.
If you like what you read, please like it and share it.
Thanks
Hello, my name is Jackie. My family members and I are teaching my grandson Azy to read and I am writing about the challenges and the joy that comes from doing so. My goal is to write articles that will encourage and help parents and others who want to do the same for their kids or other children. Thanks for travelling along with us. Blessings, Jackie
Hi Jackie,
Let me say first, that video-your grandson is adorable!
The idea of teaching him through fun activities is great! I still can remember (after several decades) those pre-school and primary school teachers who took the effort to make learning fun.
All the things we learnt that way I never forgot. I think that should be the way all the kids are taught, at least for the first few years in the schools, until they develop love and thirst for knowledge.
Parents and grandparents who have the chance to give that to their children are lucky to have access to a reading like this article of yours! Very well done!
Thanks Minaher
It is so nice to hear that you still remember your pre-school and primary school teachers. You definitely had some great teachers.
Yes, I believe that when children are taught in a fun way, it can help them to remember what they learned.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if parents, grandparents and the whole family would see how they can work together to start helping the young ones in their homes to learn how to read. I know that it might be challenging for many, but with everyone working together, it would reduce the pressure of one person taking on this task.
Hi, Jackie
I have a 4-year-old daughter who only knows some numbers and certain characters. I tried to teach her alphabet and numbers a while ago, then she mentioned, “it is so difficult, so I cannot learn it”. It was funny because she was so determined not to learn it.
I even consulted the teacher at the kindergarten. Then, I heard that trying to teach letters and numbers by enforcing may have negative effects. So, I did not push her too hard. I am still waiting for the right time.
In other words, I am trying to make her learn it rather naturally. The method you introduced in this article seems quite effective. I checked some videos on your Facebook channel, and Magnetic Matching Puzzle is a great idea. You have introduced a great case study with Azy. 😊
How old is Azy? I hope I can receive a lot of advice and tips from your site.
I will visit this site often and hope I can learn a lot from you. Thank you.
Hi Jason
Azy is 4 years old too. Have you thought about using some games to help with teaching your daughter? When we first started teaching Azy, he was not willing to learn either.
We started off using the Little Champion Reader reading program, and we did not respond well. It is a great reading program and we were following the suggested guidelines, but he was losing interest, and was not focusing at all. You can read this post to learn more about some of the activities that we did to try to help settle down and focus.
The information in this post, will give you an idea about what happened when we tried to implement those activities and how they helped.
It will be hard to teach a child who is not interested in learning, and forcing them will only make matters worse. So it is best to try various activities, and see which they respond to. Maybe you get some pointers from this post on How Do I Teach My 4 Year Old To Recognize Numbers?
At one point, the Magnetic Matching Puzzle was Azy’s favorite educational toy to do the lessons. We use games when he is using it, and that help to develop his love for using it.
Yes, I hope that the information that I am providing will help you to help your daughter. Looking forward to your next visit.
Take care