Little Hands to Heaven...anyone use it for barely 2 yr old??

[4arrows]

I have a DD in CTC and 2 DD in Beyond. I was considering getting Little Hands to Heaven for my little guy to use but he is just turning 2 in 4 weeks. I was thinking of starting it slow with him just for fun...mainly to help me to spend special time with him each day. He is very bright and has a huge vocabulary for his age. He knows some colors and "tries" to sing his ABC's although only we can understand him just wondering if it would be more of a waste of time or better to use something else at this age. Has anyone used it with a child this young? It says ages 2-5 ?? is that like 2 1/2- 5??? several months at this age make a big difference.
Thanks for sharing any experience with Little Hands and your little ones!
Elizabeth

[christina101902]

I have used it at age 2, but the understanding of what they are learning will be closer to 3. However, it will be fun and what little one doesn't want their mamas to sing, dance, and read with them? My only problem with starting at 2 is that you will be repeating the curriculum atleast 2 maybe even 3 times before they are ready for LHFHG.

[countrymom]

Having started my son way too early in LHTH at age 3, my advice is to wait and just do some other fun things with him this year. It is hard to keep repeating it, and as they get older it is nice to have a more set curriculum. Some children may be ready to go 1/2 speed at 3, mine was not and I went full-speed anyway because I was brand new to HOD. We repeated with some additional materials and I still don't feel he is ready for LHFHG. So we are waiting and making up our own stuff and I would have rather done that at age 3 than almost 5.

[mmschool]

I tried it with a 2 1/3 year old. We had to set it aside. She actually knew some letters and such already, but still, the only boxes that made sense to her were music, rhyme and read aloud. The biggest issues were that she didn't understand one to one correspondence, so math concepts didn't go well, she wasn't really interesting in the crayon holding parts, and worst of all, up to two boxes per day call for some kind of pretending or role playing. She had no concept of that yet. We pulled it out again a month short of her third birthday and WOW what a difference. Now she is really starting to develop into those three interests and there is so much more we can do from LHTH (although I still modify some stuff for her.) So, with a barely two year old I felt like I was having to skip almost everything, so it didn't add up to much time together. What a different less than a year has made.

On the other hand, I understand the desire. My dd is something of an attention hog, and her brother is already having to compete hard for mommy's complete attention, and that is before the new baby arrives! I am trying to find something easy enough to do with a 1 1/2 that will carve him out 15 minutes of my undivided attention per day. I haven't found something as easy as HOD yet.

Lena
dd3
ds1

[catbeth]

I think it completely depends on your child. LHTH would have been perfect for my oldest when she turned 2 -- I wish I had known about it then! My next child is ready for it now at 3 1/2. They are very different! The problem, as others have said, is what to do between LHTH and LHFHG. I am going to face that myself in a year or so.

[moedertje]

I had my dd just participate with fingerplays when she was 2, and sit in on the Bible readings of her older brother if she desired. She picked up things like writing the letter A and making a number 3 etc, counting to 10.
Last year, I just did the letter activity with her and the bible readings from the younger Bible Carrie has scheduled. This because she insisted on doing school like her older brothers. She did end up being able to recognize all the letters and learned all the letter sounds and able to write part of her name she has a double name and she started writing a lot of the letters
This year we are doing all activities as planned from LHTH and we are both having a blast. She even wanted to do school while on vacation.
Now with that said, I would not have done LHTH the 2 previous years, if she was not tagging along, being that she is my 3rd child and I want her to be able to relax, she's a bit of a perfectionist (My first born did not have that privileged to be relaxed at that age, I've come a long way)
I know others have stretched LHTH over 2 years, but for me it's so short and sweet I like doing it at full pace and it only takes 20-30 minutes a day.
Success in deciding what will work for your family as each child and situation is so different, may the grace of God be with you

[Dustybug]

I waited until my oldest two were 3 to start LHTH and we went full speed and they each did really well.

[4arrows]

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences...it was very to helpful to hear what did and did not work for you. I'm thinking to wait until next year when he will be just turning 3. I can always add it in this year if he develops enough that I feel it would be beneficial. When I found HOD my 3rd daughter was 4 and I found LHTH in a used bookstore. I bought it but it was way too easy for her and I don't want to pass up the opportunity to use it with my youngest. I ended up returning it. I think I will purchase it again from HOD and have it on hand for whenever he seems ready. In the meantime I think I'll practice with the preschoolers in our homeschool co-op we have some 3 and 4's that I think it would be perfect for
Thanks again ladies for your help!
loving HOD!
Elizabeth

[MelInKansas]

I used it when my 2 older were 4 and 2. I agree, my 2 YO really didn't get the things out of it that she could/should have learned. She did get letter recognition, but I think she is a visual learner and that was pretty easy for her. And she learned how to use scissors. Of course, we had fun! Because I was already doing it with my 4YO it wasn't a waste of time for me.

I also had a book at that time (did this one when my oldest DD was 3) that was Alphabet Fun for Little Ones. It's for a preschool classroom and basically has at least 20 activities for each letter - including some of the things in HOD like gluing things onto a letter or making textured letters, but things like crafts, cooking, and even science experiments that are really fun with the young crowd. Again some would be too advanced for a 2 YO and none of them have any Biblical content but they are fun!

If your 2YO wants to do school you can find some ways to include him. Read to him every day, play games, I find for me the main thing is that I have that 30 minutes scheduled in that is time just to do developmental/fun things with her. For me this is when my older 2 are having computer time, so if I don't want her staring at the screen I have to tempt her away with something else anyway. She also sits at the table and participates in crafts, she participates in music time and when my older 2 are doing the gross motor and Bible memory she does that with us too.