How to Teach Kids Phone Numbers
Teaching your child her phone number and emergency numbers is just as important as learning colors and the alphabet. Knowing who to call and having the numbers memorized can help keep your child safe when you are not around, or it can even make a life-saving difference in an emergency situation. However, learning multiple phone numbers can be difficult for young children. Get creative with memorization activities and role-playing scenarios that will reinforce these phone numbers in a way that is easy for your child to learn.
Things You'll Need
- Index cards
- Toy and working phones
Instructions
Modify familiar tunes to help your child memorize your phone number. Use one of your child's favorite songs and replace the words with your phone number. For example, you could set your phone number to the song, "Mary Had a Little Lamb." Don't worry if every number doesn't match perfectly with the tune of the song. Just get creative and make it work. If you need your child to memorize multiple phone numbers, such as both parents' home and cell phone numbers, use a different tune for each number. Play phone number memorization games with your child. One idea is to draw pictures on index cards, such as Mommy's face, Daddy's face, a first aid cross for 9-1-1, and a fire truck for the fire department. Write the corresponding numbers on separate index cards, then have your child try to match them. You could also have a scavenger hunt, placing the index cards with phone numbers around the house for your child to find. She must then bring you the number and identify whose it is to earn a small reward. Practice making phone calls with your child. It is important for your child to know how to use the phone and when it is appropriate to call each number. Give your child an old cellphone or a toy phone to practice dialing emergency numbers and give her examples as to when she should use them, such as if there is a fire in the house or when Daddy or Mommy have fallen unconscious. Allow your child to practice calling your home number, as well as you and your spouse or partner's cellphones with a real phone so that she knows to listen for ringing and when to speak. Teach your child how to talk on the phone in an emergency situation. Your child doesn't need to have perfect phone etiquette, but teaching her how to respond to an emergency operator trying to get vital information could make a big difference in an emergency situation. Practice by pretending to be an emergency operator and ask your child for her name, address and what the emergency is. Emphasize that your child should not hang up on an emergency operator until instructed to do so.
