I have previously written on teaching our 4 year old girl to write number 2. My methods in explaining to her how we should write number 2 was by explaining to her as we draw the number 2:
'Climb up a bit, oh no, we're falling! Go inside! Phewww... okay come outside!'
2 weeks from that day, I casually told our girl to write number 2 on the whiteboard and it was not like number 2 at all. Despite going through the 'Climb up a bit, oh no, we're falling! Go inside! Phewww... okay come outside!' method, her number 2 is just crooked to one side. No matter how I straightened her right hand as she writes her number 2 it just turns out wrongly.
I was running out of idea and she was getting frustrated and started whining that her writing is not perfect and this idea came to my mind. I tore out a small strip of used paper, took my red marker pen and drew a half heart shape on the paper.
Then I placed the strip of paper on the whiteboard and told our 4 year girl to draw the reflection image of the heart.... so that she can help mummy complete the heart shape. She likes the idea after seeing my sample heart shape and tried it herself.
Lots and lots of practise, gentle coaxing, reassurances and praises later, she got it! Some of her number 2s are still not as perfect as you would expect a number 2 to look like but hey, she's just 4 years old! It's beautiful to me and we are both thrilled at our results! Sometimes you just gotta tweak and be more creative if the current method doesn't work.
I shared some pictures above in an FB group I joined recently and one mum shared with me that there's some really old number rhymes she used to learn and upon googling around, I found it! Turns out I'm not the wonky one to come up with the half heart thingy to write number 2! Here it goes in case you are interested:
0 - Around to my left to find my hero, back to the top, I've made a zero
1 - A downward stroke, My that's fun. Now I've made the number one.
2 - Half a heart says, "I love you." A line. Now I've made the number two.
3 - Around the tree, Around the tree, Now I've made the number three
4 - Down and across and down once more. Now I've made the number four
5 - The hat. The back. The belly. It's a five. Watch out, it might come alive
6 - Bend down low to pick up sticks. Now I've made the number six
7 - Across the sky and down from heaven. Now I've made the number seven
8 - Make an "S" and close the gate. Now I've made the number eight
9 - Make an oval and a line. Now I've made the number nine
10 - One egg laid by a hen. Now I've made the number ten
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