How can I challenge gifted 3 year old daughter???

Question

My 3 year old daughter has always absorbed things that are taught to her. She has always been WAY ahead of others her age. rolled over at 8 weeks, sat up at 4 months, walked at 7 months, etc. Well, we didn't think much about it until around a year and a half. She was evaluated and it turned out that at that age, she knew more than the average 36 month old. I have tried and tried to give her things to challenge her, but she is soooooo bored lately! What can I teach her??? She turned 3 june 1st. She can write her name, her alphabet, and a couple of words. She can recognize each president by face, and she knows all 50 states. She can sing every song she's been taught, and she is starting to learn to read. She can tie her shoes, and she can ride her bike without training wheels. If she doesn't have anything to do to challenge her, she gets bored and then gets VERY frustrated and MAD!! She is a very verbal child also. I just need some ideas to keep her busy while still learning!

Thanks! I got a lot of great answers. I did forget to add that I am a stay at home mom and we visit the park at least every other day. We go swimming, go to museums, etc. She gets frustrated when she already knows how to work all her puzzles, color all her worksheets, etc. She does absolutely love to paint, draw things,etc. We took her outside today, covered our garage with paper, and let her paint until her heart was content! She loved it. We hada VERY bad experience with daycare, so I stay at home again to give her what she needs. It's just hard right now being in the adjustment phase of figuring out a good balance for the both of us again. Thanks though for all the great replies!

Answer 1

Usually, I roll my eyes when I see the word "gifted." Did you know that 95% of kids are above average according to their parents? :)

I was expecting to open this up and see something like, "My girl can tell me who her friends are and even what color bike they have." (Or something similar) But this girl does sound like she's gifted. And, as you're realizing, it's a challenge.


A thought before I dive into ideas:
It's ok to be bored. Your job is not necessarily to entertain her all the time. In fact, this can be counter productive. Let her realize that she needs to start figuring out for herself what she can do. I'm not saying ignore her at all. Just saying don't feel pressured to have to keep her entertained. Being bored is a part of life. When people are bored, they need to figure out what to do to get themselves unbored. Actually, I'm bored right now. I think after I finish this message and check a few more, I'm going to get up and clean some then head outside for a while. (Whoever thought Yahoo Answers would give me motivation? LOL)

Now...with that said, you still don't necessarily want her to be bored all the time and you want to provide a stimulating environment for her. I would break this down into a few categories.

1) Around the house. Children at this age, gifted or not, enjoy feeling like they own their surroundings.

--Cooking: See if she has an interest in cooking and helping you in the kitchen. Have her plan out some of the meals and she can help prepare them.
--Washing the car. I loved doing this as a child.
--Vacuuming. Again, one of my favorite childhood activities. Wish I still liked doing it. LOL
--Think of other things.

Cultural/Science
--Get a season pass to the zoo. Head to the library and have her check out books on different animals. Study up on them then take her to the zoo as an extention of what she's learning. (Same idea if you have an aquarium in your area).
--She knows all 50 states? Ok...start moving more global now. Or to planets/stars. Depending on where her interest is. (At this stage, it will USUALLY be learning about other countries and cultures as opposed to outer space, but follow her interests)
--Do you have an Amish community/Indian reservation/anything else that allows visitors in your area? A day trip to one of those places to see how different people live might be something that intserests her.

Some might consider this a shameless plug, but if you can send her to a good Montessori school, I highly recommend it. She will probably be bored doing "a letter of the week" or counting from 1-100 by the end of the year. Get her in an environment where she can explore all the maps of the world or can add 4 digit numbers using the golden beads. She can do long division or go as far as she wants in reading. She can work in the practical life area to build up concentration and focus while learning how to take care of herself and her environment. She can build her social skills by helping others in the classroom and still have some older than her that can be a great role model.

Matt

Answer 2

I really don't like when parents call their own kids gifted, but I have to admit she is a smart little girl, of course gifted is always a little too much to be honest because I have seen girls that smart before.
I don't see the frustration, it seems to me like there's a lot that she can learn, teach her to read and write, I have seem 4yrs old that can do that with complete easy, so she seems to be able to learn it. Also, don't just challenge her in knowledge, but physically, can she climb, jump, play a game like soccer or basketball,etc. Is she good sociable, can she interact with easy with children of her age? is very important that children not only learn all the "school" required stuff, but also learn the social rules like sharing, take turns, make new friends, solve interaction problems,etc.

Answer 3

Hey there,
As parents, you're the most important first step in your children's journey into the wonderful world of reading. It is up to you to create the most supportive environment that turns your child on to reading - such as reading aloud to them often during the day and before bedtime, and placing age appropriate books for children around the house, so that the child will have access to plenty of books. Reading often to your child will help develop their interest in books and stories, and soon they will want to read stories on their own.

For a simple, step-by-step program that can help your child learn to read visit this site: http://readingprogram.toptips.org


Good Bye

Answer 4

My daughter sounds exactly like yours. The one thing we werent able to teach her was how to socialize with her peers and be a normal kid. If, like me, you cant afford a private school for gifted children then your daughter will stick out like a sore thumb and will have a very hard time in a public school setting. If she needs to learn something, how about music? Other than that all I can say is try to teach her to be as normal as possible, because she will not enjoy being very different from her peers.

Answer 5

Congratulations Mom! Sounds like you have a challenging and interesting child and you will spend years trying to stay ahead of her! Read with her a lot. Take her to the museum, concerts, libraries. Watch your newspaper for free and low cost programs to take her to. Don't neglect her physical development. Take her to the park to play. (This will help her develop social skills as well). Take her for walks and bike rides.

She's at a great age to learn another language. Why don't you both learn French or Spanish together?

Cooking teaches math and science skills, and most kids love to learn cooking skills. Maybe she can even read recipes to you.

What is she especially interested in? Dinosaurs? Art? Music? Math? Focus on her areas of interest as she will learn most readily in these areas.

Make it fun! Follow her lead. Let her choose activities most of the time. But don't be afraid to introduce something new to her. Never been to a children's museum? Time to find one your area to surprise her with! And encourage her to talk and express herself. Listen to what she has to say, and encourage her to listen sometimes too, because nobody ever learns anything new if they don't listen to others!

I have a gifted child also (now in his teens) and you need to know that they are endlessly rewarding, and endlessly challenging. Enjoy her, good times and bad times alike. She will teach you amazing things as you teach her!

Answer 6

this may sound silly but try board games. use adult oriented stratgey games like risk or stratego that require a lot of thinking and planning. and the fact that she has a partner or multiple people to play with should make it more interesting than just reading or doing flash cards.
there is also a lot of educational software out there. you probably won't find it at your local wal-mart but if you go to sites like academicsuperstore.com you can find some great learning software. the apple store also has some great titles if you have one in your area. if not they have a website as well.

Answer 7

I'd say you should not forget to exercise a lot. Very verbal and gifted children tend to be treated as grown ups affecting their emocional part. she is just a kid let her explore and be with other kids, she gets frustrated and mad because emocionally she´s just 3 Maybe she needs an Acoutourier aproach to level her phisical and emocionally.

Answer 8

You are very fortunate to have such a gifted child. You can play phonics games with her. Try mathematices games as well. Try cutting activities so that she has good scizzor skills. Roller skating is challenging as well. If she doesn'talready know how to do that.

Answer 9

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Answer 10

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