How to Teach Your Child to Recognize the Letters of the Alphabet

Step-by-Step Guide

1. 1

   Step 1: Make reading fun.

   Reading readiness starts at home, so have a blast exploring stories with your little one.
   
   It’s also a great bonding experience for the whole family.
   
   Use different voices for characters and animals, make your own sound effects, and make exaggerated expressions when you’re reading a story together.End the day by reading together.
   
   After bath time and getting PJs on, make it a habit let your child pick out a few books and snuggle on the couch together while you read.
   
   You can go back to favorites again and again and rotate in new stories.
   
   Let your child make up their own stories to go along with pictures in a book they like.
   
   It doesn’t matter if it’s the real story, just let them be creative and use their imagination.
2. 2

   Step 2: Create a reading and writing center.

   A designated corner with a bean bag chair or a child-sized table can become a special nook for relaxing and exploring.
   
   Purchase children’s books and magazines and arrange them on a shelf or in bins.
   
   If you are on a budget, use your public library or scour second-hand sales and thrift stores for inexpensive books.
   
   Baby shower gifts, swaps, and hand-me-downs from friends whose kids have grown out of books are also great.Provide writing tools like pencils, markers, crayons, and different types of paper for your child to experiment with. , Kids will be excited to play with letters in different textures and sizes.
   
   Purchase sets of foam and magnetic letters, letter cards, and letter blocks and have them easily accessible for your child to touch, move around, sort, and arrange.
   
   Make letters yourself out of popsicle sticks, sandpaper, Styrofoam, or other craft supplies if you’re on a budget., Make fun activities where you point out individual letters and say the letter names part of your daily routine and play time with your child.
   
   Toss two or three foam letters at a time into the tub with your child at bath time.
   
   While your child plays in the bath, call out each letter by name.
   
   For example, for the letter B say: "The B is tickling your toes...Oh, the B is swimming around you...Give Mommy the B." Do this activity, using different letters each time, until your child has learned all of the letters of the alphabet and can call them by name.
   
   Make towers, houses, and other structures with alphabet blocks, pointing out the letters on the blocks and calling them by name.
   
   Arrange magnetic letters on the refrigerator or white board.
   
   Allow your child to experiment with them, putting them in alphabetical order, or sing the alphabet song together and point to each letter as you say its name. , Demonstrate first then help your child make their own letter creations.
   
   Make letters out of clay, fabric, pipe cleaners, or yarn.Use shaving cream, salt, sugar, or finger paint to draw letters., Playing is one of the ways young children learn best, and it’s also great entertainment.
   
   Draw parts of a letter one by one and let your child try to guess what letter you are making.Call out letter names and have your child try to make the shape with their body.Sing the traditional alphabet song together or look up alternate songs online. , Have your child put letter cards in alphabetical order or turn them upside down and say the names of the letters together as you turn each one over.Use letter cards for games like matching and memory., Use street signs, billboards, magazines, clothing, or anything with words on it.
   
   Play a game of “I Spy” and find letters and objects that begin with letter sounds your child knows.Point out stop signs, exit signs, golden arches, and other familiar signs and talk about what they mean.
   
   Kids can learn to “read” the meanings of these objects before they can actually read the words.
3. 3

   Step 3: Display the alphabet in different forms in your home.

4. 4

   Step 4: Teach your child letter names and sounds using the materials you have collected.

5. 5

   Step 5: Sculpt and draw letters out of different materials.

6. 6

   Step 6: Play games to help your child remember and recognize letters.

7. 7

   Step 7: Use learning tools like letter cards to reinforce letter names and sounds.

8. 8

   Step 8: Discover letters in your surroundings wherever you go.

Detailed Guide

About the Author