Do I need Flashcards?

I'm in love with the Dollar Tree store -- this is new, seriously. While I am thrifty, I normally don't mind paying more for the shopping environment, so this changes my shopping paradigm!

While all three of us were perusing the various products, I thought of buying something for our little one, just because it was all only a dollar! While passing an end cap, I saw Sesame Street flashcards, with numbers and colors. Great educational value. But I reminded myself that my little one knows most of her colors, from the books we have and from talking about the colors around us. She also getting better with numbers, as we count aloud things around us and also with a well-loved chunky, number puzzle that I bought at a garage sale for a quarter!

While I've read about talking through daily events and environment, I didn't stop to evaluate our progress. But I do believe that simple things help with learning, like:

1. Counting steps as we go up or down.
2. Counting items in the grocery store.
3. Yelling, or saying loudly, our numbers, letters, or colors -- this happens in our bathroom because the little one likes to hear her voice echo.
4. Imitating another child who has mastered that skill -- my little one loves to mimic her four-year-old cousin!
5. Alphabet and number puzzles -- either wooden or cardboard, our well-loved garage sale find has been another great too!

For our progress and also for being in a dollar store, we bought a mylar Elmo balloon....for only a dollar and not three times that price!