I’m told my family that buying this kind of stuff is a waste of money. I have a 3 and 4 yr old. I really need some educational stuff right!!??
Read more on PeanutThe views expressed in community are solely the opinions of participants, and do not reflect those of Peanut.
Learn more about our guidelines.
My son is not yet 2 and he’s really into the flash card type things in your initial post. He’s getting really good at identifying objects, and he started (hit and miss) getting some colours, mainly blue! So I defo think they’re worthwhile…

No depends on the cost , if it’s too much then try a dollar store

I found lots of stuff like this at thrift shops and on market place so I didn’t have to spend a lot on it :) I would recommend that if it’s something you want to try out for your family. My son loves it! We also do activity sheets I print out for free and I do a lot of crafts I find them very educational as well

Both min had speech delay so we used these a lot.

IMO, books have worked out better for us. They are very portable. They hold up pretty well. We have done some dry erase type workbooks. Those are great because you get lots of use out of them. I tried flash cards and my kids lost interest quickly. I have a similar age gap to you. I have a 5 and an almost 4 year old. I also find that most learning happens on the go. At that age I think kids learn better by observing their environment and exploring it than anything too structured.

Buy what you want for your kids! Idk why you're consulting them/why they're offering an opinion. That said, we didn't really do flashcards, we do a lot of reading, have letter magnets, that sort of thing and our daughter has always been very advanced with her speech, recognises all the letters and every number up to 100 and has done for a long time, so they're not an essential item, if that makes sense? You say you have a 3 and 4 year old so I'd probably say the flashcards are a bit young for them? But maybe that's just me because we haven't used them, no shade on anyone who is! The sorting ones look good, but you can just get household objects/other toys to sort into colours. In conclusion imo you don't NEED any of these things but if you think it will help your children learn/help you teach them just tell your family to piss off, it's not like they cost thousands is it!

I’d think that at 3 and 4 most of this they’ll know anyway so it does seem a waste. Letter ones would be good, but you could buy those separately or make your own (my boy has an alphabet chart and I’ve made themed ones for Bluey, Cars & monster jam) but otherwise I think they’re too young and wouldn’t get good use from them

Former kindergarten teacher and I voted waste of money. You should not be flash carding 3 and 4 year olds. If you want to start “teaching” things, it should be through play.
I don’t think it hurts to have these around for the kids to play with. But if you are actively making them sit and do it, it’s bad

It’s not. But mama in life do what you want, the comments can come after. I’m stubborn I do what I want/get what I want anyone who wanna comment can comment after I already did it/bought it. If you really want something don’t let families’ opinions get in the way of that xx We have heaps of these we also have the ones where you write on it w a whiteboard marker, 3 letter words like cat etc. he sits on the couch in his free time and does them himself I don’t even need to prompt him he loves them

My daughter is in school now and stuff like this really helps her understand how to read. So id take them

2
18

27
1
19
10

12
6