Teaching the alphabet is foundational for reading and writing. Around the age of 2, children begin showing interest in learning alphabet letters. While some kids learn letters very quickly, others need more repetition and time to learn letters. Today I’m going to share with you some of my favorite ways to teach the alphabet to little ones.
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Here’s what a preschooler should know before kindergarten:
- Recite/sing the alphabet
- Identify uppercase letters
- Identify lowercase letters
- Match uppercase letters to lowercase letters
- Identify the sounds each letter makes
- Traces letters
- Write some alphabet letters
1. Sing Songs
Singing the alphabet song to your child introduces the letters to them in a fun way. Start singing to them as a baby and as they get older, have them start singing along (which they probably will do naturally!). My kids LOVE this CD by Discovery Toys
2. Read Alphabet Books
Read all sorts of alphabet books to your children, even starting as babies. The repetition will really help your child learn the alphabet at a young age. When my oldest was born, I was surprised at how many alphabet books we had been given as gifts. We loved reading all of them because they were different from each other. I found that around 18 months both my kids really started enjoyed reading alphabet books. Here are a few of our alphabet books:
Here are some books I love for older children:
3. Sandpaper Letters
Using sandpaper letters is a great way to introduce letters to children. My favorite ones are Didax Sandpaper Tracing Letters
Sandpaper letters are part of the Montessori approach to learning how to read. These letters provide a tactile and visual way to help children learn the alphabet. In the Montessori method, you teach letters to a child in the 3-period lesson.
1st period is introducing the letter (“this is” period). Show your child the letters. Have them trace the sandpaper letters. The best way to teach children alphabet letters is by telling them their phonetic sound. So each time they trace the letter, say the phonetic sound.
2nd period is association (“show me” stage). Ask your child to follow simple directions with the letters. For example, please pick up the /m/ and set it by the window. Continue to do this with each letter several times to reinforce this. If it is too difficult, return to the first period.
3rd period is recall (“what is this?” period). Only go to this period when they’ve mastered the other two periods. Put a letter in front of the child and say “Can you trace this and tell me what it is?” Continue with the other letters in the same way.
When you use these sandpaper letters, you are teaching them 3 things: the shape of letters, the feel of its shape and how its written, and how you pronounce its sound.
4. Alphabet Puzzles
I think teaching letters with alphabet puzzles are an amazing tool for teaching the alphabet. This is my favorite puzzle, from Melissa and Doug. It’s a beautiful wooden puzzle with neat pictures. This is a great way to practice vocabulary and verbal skills, too.
Here are some of our other favorite puzzles:
5. Learn with Alphabet Rhymes
This is my favorite way to teach little ones how to write alphabet letters. These alphabet rhymes I created are a fun way to help children learn how to write the letters in proper formation. Plus the clever rhymes will help children remember the formations! You can get the uppercase letters HERE and the lowercase letters HERE.
What are some of your favorite ways to teach the alphabet?
Thank you for making this post. It is so helpful. I am actually interested in getting the sandpaper letters. I remember learning the alphabet from them and alphabet boxes. I found it fun and useful. This is amazing since i dont have many memories from this age.
You’re so welcome! I’m glad it was helpful for you. That is amazing that you still remember sandpaper letters!! I didn’t have them growing up, but hoping my boys enjoy learning with them! Thanks for your comment.
I haven’t done this with my daughter yet but when my son was a preschooler I used brown paper bags and wrote the upper case letter on one side and lower case letter on the other side. We went over the sound of the letter we were working on and than I had him go around the house and find things that began with that letter sound and put it into the brown paper bag. He had alot of fun searching for stuff with the correct letter sound!!
Oh I like that idea! I will have to try that out for sure!!
What a helpful post, especially to those of us who are interested in teaching our children but don’t have a teaching background. Thanks for including the list of what a preschooler should know before Kindergarten. That gives me a concrete goal to work towards with my son.
I’m excited to see what else you share here!
Thank you so much, Ann! That is my desire–to help those moms who are interested in teaching their preschooler at home, but aren’t sure what they need to cover or where to start. I’m glad it helps you, too! Thanks again for your sweet words!
We did a variation of the alphabet boxes last week, too. First we read the book “My ‘t’ Sound Box” by Jane Moncure. A boy fills his box with things that start with “t.” The Sound Box series has books for the whole alphabet and the library has them (at least I know Urbandale and Des Moines do). Since M is 4 he gathered objects that started with “t.” He had a blast! I think I’ll look into the sandpaper letters. I think my boys would love them 🙂 thanks for the ideas!
That is so fun! I’ll have to check that book out. I’m sure Troy would love that!
I love the alphabet boxes and sandpaper letters. Thanks for sharing with the Hearts for Home Blog Hop! Blessings!!
Thank you, Heather! I love your blog hop!
I loved this post! I have a 9 month old & I love reading to her. What age do you recommend starting to teach the alphabet ?
I started with my oldest when he was 2. He seemed ready, but that may seem early for some. If they seem interested, then you can start when they are ready! Thanks for your kind words. 🙂
Wow… The Sandpaper letters are interesting. I’ll have to add that to my list of neat tricks. I’m always looking for unique items to teach the alphabet. If anyone is interested, I’d like to suggest this link for something new: http://www.letterheadsplayground.com Go to their download page to download free PDF coloring pages.
I was a teaching assistant at a Montessori school and one thing the kids liked to do was make letter books with the sandpaper letters. Fold a small piece of paper around the letter tile (ours were homemade on pieces of thin wood) and rub a crayon over it to make a rubbing. The kids would do their names and we would make a banner using string. The older kids would sound out words and we would staple them together.
I absolutely LOVE that idea, Shirley! Thank you so much for taking the time to share it. I will be trying this out with my kids!!
I have the alphabet on the wall ( you can find some very cute “wall sticker” kinds online). The kids line up and take turns taking an alphabet card (from a deck of alphabet cards), then running to touch the letter on the wall. I encourage them to say the name of the letter, but readily say it for them if they don’t know. This is great for numbers as well.
Oh I like that idea! I will have to try that out for sure!!
Very well.this post was useful for me.i tried to work with this methods.in first i have to translate it to my native culture.because i am Iranian teacher.thank you so much
I love the alphabet boxes. We get together each week with some friend to do “Toddler Time” where we cover a different alphabet letter and having objects seems to be the best way to cement the letter sounds in our tot’s minds.
Nice, am trying dis method for my child,he also likes to learn easily
Alphabet Boxes! This is the best IDEA ever!!!!! I have two none english speaking students in my 3 year old class and this will do wonders for them!
I just purchased the upper and lower case alphabet formations downloads so now how do I get to them.
Hi JoAnn! An email was sent to your paypal email address. Sometimes AOL email address reject my emails. I will personally send you an email. Thanks!
Thank you so much for these great ideas. i am going to add the alphabet box activity to my other activities.
Hi, I am so happy to find a great website that i can use to help teach my children at home. We have recently moved to another country with an entirely new language and want to teach my children at home in English while they learn at school the other language. As i am very new to being a stay at home mom, i have found your website very user friendly with loads of advise on how to go about teaching my children. Thank you.
Thanks so much for the idea of sandpaper letters and making the alphabet box. I have a two year old granddaughter and I am always looking for interesting ways of teaching her the alphabet. Tracing the letter with the sandpaper letters will be much easier, than a printable worksheet, as a beginning tool
Hello!
Thank you so much for sharing such useful tips! I am very interested in the sandpaper letters and I’m actually ordering the didax set soon! I was wondering if there was a specific order recommended to follow when teaching the letters because I wad thinking of starting with my son’s name since it is only 3 letters, “Ali”.
Thank you for such insightful information!