Guides for parents

• Ages 2 to 5 How do you teach a toddler or preschooler to count? Saying numbers isn't counting yet. How children learn what numbers mean, usually between about 3½ and 4½, and what helps: touch each one, say the total.
• Ages 3 to 5 Should you teach letter names or letter sounds first? Both, together: most letter names hold their sound. Which letters' names give the sound away, which don't, and how to play name, sound, word at home.
• Ages 3 to 5 How to teach your child to write their name From scribbles to the first letter to the whole name, usually between 4 and 5. The five stages, capitals or lowercase, and how to teach it step by step.
• Ages 3 to 5 What order should you teach letters to write? Start with capitals and the letters in your child's name, then go from the easiest letters to the hardest. What studies of 3- to 5-year-olds found.