Learning the letters of the alphabet should begin early in a child's life. But what is the alphabet and why is it so important for children to learn their letters?
The alphabet is simply a set of letters with each corresponding sound. We don’t really remember learning our letters and some of us may find it tricky to teach them to children. The letters of alphabet are the building blocks of language. In order to learn how to read, children must learn all the letters with their corresponding sounds. They must know the letters both in order and out of order, as well as the sound each letter makes. Once children know their ABCs, they are well on their way to reading.
Learning the ABCs should begin early in a child’s life. Although it is not recommended to teach all 26 letters at once, it is important that children are able to recognize their letters early on and should be on their way to mastery by the time they start preschool. Start small. Focus on a few letters at a time and allow children to experience those letters in a variety of ways.
What’s important here is that children have fun while learning. There are tons of ways teaching letters can be fun: sing songs, make a memory game, a matching game, give children fun worksheets. The list is endless.
Here are some fun ways you can teach the letters of the alphabet:
Create an alphabet scavenger hunt. Students will go on a hunt as they review letters of the alphabet. Arrange the letters around the room and challenge children to find as many objects as possible that begin with the corresponding letter sounds. When a child finds an item, he/she should place it on a piece of paper labeled with its initial letter. So, for example, your letter “B” mat may have a banana, ball, bat, book. A possible extension activity is to ask children to find objects at home that begin with the focus letters.
Create a memory game. Memory games are easy to make and so much fun. To make this game, you can create a set of matching cards using index cards. Simply write the uppercase letter on the left and the lowercase letter on the right of the index cards. Cut the index cards dividing the lowercase from the uppercase letters. Flip all the cards over and arrange them on a desk or table. Children will take turns finding both the uppercase and lowercase letters to make a match. To practice the beginning sound of each letter, have a letter on the left and an image on the right. Children have to match the letter with the image that begins with that letter. You can also check out this resource.
Use clip cards. Clip cards are a great way to practice letter sounds as well as fine motor skills. Create your own cards or use these plus some clothespin to have children practice letter sound correspondence in no time. To use clip cards, simply print, laminate and cut them. Give each child or group of children a set of cards and some clothespin. Children will use the clothespins to “clip” the letter that corresponds to the image they see. Another way is to have children clip the image that begins with the letter on the card.
Use picture/letter sorting activities. Help children practice uppercase and lowercase letters but having them sort through all of them. Create a table with uppercase and lowercase letters. Have students cut the letters and paste them into the corresponding boxes. Once you have letter recognition under your belt, you can use this same type of activity to practice letter sound correspondence. Again, create a table with images beginning with the letter sound and ones beginning with different sounds. After cutting up the pictures, have children sort them into “letter sound” and “not letter sound”.
Use alphabet letter tracing. Handwriting is a skill that is developed with practice over time. It is a literacy stepping stone and, even though, kids these days use tablets with proficiency, handwriting is still an essential skill for life. One way to encourage children to start practicing this skill is by having them trace simple top-to-bottom and left-to-right lines on a page, always trying to stay on the lines. Later on, have children trace the letters of the alphabet to practice letter formation. (click here for a great alphabet resource). Another fun way to get children writing their letters is by having them trace over the letters in their name.
There are tons of great ways to teach the letters of the alphabet to children. I hope you and your kids enjoy these alphabet activities as much as I do! Don't forget to check out my All About the Letters bundle for awesome letter worksheets!
Happy Teaching!
<3
Suburban Teacher
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