Teach Kids the Letters of the Alphabet
Early Childhood Reading Skills Using Alphabet Letters
Nov 20, 2008
A report prepared for the National Institute for Literacy in 2003 identified key skills that parents can help their small children to develop, facilitating their learning to read. Once children become aware of the individual sounds of words, they are ready to acquire “alphabetic knowledge,” learning the names and shapes of letters.
How Many Letters?
Although parents tend to think of the English alphabet as having a mere 26 letters, to small children there appear to be a lot more. There are big capital letters, lower case letters, and an endless variety of fonts, colors, styles and sizes. How is a kid supposed to remember that the letter "i" can be big and red with short vertical bars top and bottom OR small and brown with a dot on top OR just a straight black vertical line that's not an "l"? Learning what makes each letter THAT letter is not as easy as it may first appear.
Since it’s neither possible nor desirable to limit their exposure to letter styles, the key seems to be helping their memory of letters along through repetition, play, and carefully timed activities.
ABC’s for Babies?
Infants learn about language by listening to and watching family members, even when they’re not deliberately taught. However, making the effort to teach them will speed up the process. For example, teaching the “ABC song” helps babies and toddlers to start to remember the names of letters. Reading alphabet books over and over also works; especially if you speak slowly and clearly, use interesting voices, add sound effects like animal noises, ask questions, and point things out.
Small children enjoy both repetition and variety. Predictable books are easy to follow, and interesting when read with lively enthusiasm. ABC books should be fun!
Daily Letter Activities
Make children more aware of letters through frequent exposure. Letters can be presented in many formats. Video, books, signs, pictures, buttons, labels, clothing, food, toys, touch and drawings all offer ways to present letters to children. Use whatever the child likes. Whether you point letters out incidentally or plan learning sessions, keep it enjoyable and do it often. A toddler may give you only a few seconds of focused attention and even a four-year-old may not want to “study” for more than a few minutes. Frequency rather than length of time spent seems to be the key.
A few other suggestions for daily letter learning include:
- Put magnetic letters on the refrigerator or other metal surface at the child’s eye level.
- Point out the first letter or letters in the titles of books.
- Draw attention to letters in signs, especially when visiting kid’s favorite places.
- Play games using the first letters of words, such as “what starts with the letter ___?” or "What does ___ start with?”
- Set up a blackboard and colored chalk within easy reach, or paint a feature wall in the child’s room in a dark color, drawing new chalk letters and pictures on it every day.
- Teach children how to use control buttons on toys by identifying a key letter.
Don’t worry about teaching more than one or two letters a day and don’t feel that they must be taught in order. A boy who loves sharks, spiders and snakes will probably learn to recognize the letter "s" before any of the others. With frequent exposure, practice, praise, and gentle encouragement, your child will eventually sort out and remember what's important about each letter.
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