The alphabet is one of the first things preschoolers learn, but there are so many great activities for teaching the alphabet that it can be hard to know where to start. I want to share with you some of my favorite fun and easy ways to teach your child the alphabet and some tips on how to start. We do a lot of hands-on activities each week to familiarize them with letter names, sounds, and formation. Through these interactions, they are developing their letter knowledge slow and steadily, creating a good foundation. Be sure to download our Free Printable worksheet here.
Begin with the letters of your child's name. There are so many fun ways to teach your child's name, here are a few of my favorite.
I recycle water bottle caps for fun activities like this. I wrote the letters of my child's name on each water bottle cap and had him put the letters in order. Once he put the letters in order, I asked him to find the letters on the Alphabet Stampers and stamp his name. This was a little more challenging because there were more letters to go through!
Alphabet Tiles are another fun way to help your child practice their name. I laid out all of the Alphabet Tile letters for my son to comb through and find the letters in his name and put them in the correct order.
I enjoy teaching in themes that my children are interested in. I keep it simple by using themed or Seasonal Bulletin Board Cutouts and add a Basic Alphabet Sticker Pack letter to each one. I place them in a sensory bin, tape them on the walls throughout the learning space, or put them on the fridge. My son has so much fun finding them and putting the letters in order to make his name.
Introduce one letter at a time and start with the uppercase letters to decrease letter reversals. When introducing a letter, go over the name, form and sound of the letter. These are a few of my favorite ways to teach letter introduction.
Activities that cover several skills at once are a bonus! In this activity, my son is using a letter G worksheet. The worksheet displays uppercase and lowercase forms of the letter along with an image that begins with the letter sound. The letter has a bold outline making it easy to see and trace. My son traced the letter with his finger first, and then he covered the letter with Basic Star Stickers. I set out his supplies and worksheet on a Cool Craft Tray, so he has a specified space for his work and the stickers.
Understanding the form of a letter is equally important as knowing the letter name. In this activity, we use Rainbow Craft Sticks and Chenille Stems Classpack on a Cool Craft Tray to build the letter. As we build the letter, we talk about the straight and curved parts. This helps children identify the letter in a group of letters and will help later when they begin to write the letters.
Letter Learning Mats are our go-to for a fun and easy way to teach the alphabet. Each one has the uppercase and lowercase letter plus a few pictures that begin with the letter sound. We use 8-Color Crayola® Dough Tubs Classpack® or Crayola® Modeling Clay Jumbo Assortment, depending on hand-muscle development, to build the letters. Modeling clay is firmer and is a good choice for children with strong hand muscles and it won't dry out! These letter learning mats are laminated card stock, so you can use dry-erase markers as well. Another use is to fill in the letters with anything we have on hand. It is a very versatile product.
My son's all-time favorite way to learn about and build a letter is with Unifix Cubes and Module Brick Blocks Building Blocks Set. ! The curved letters are a bit more tricky to build with square blocks, so we discuss the similarities of what he built and the actual letter form.
Finding the missing letter is an excellent way to assess your child's letter identification and alphabetical order knowledge. These bright Alphabet Stampers are perfect for this fun missing letter activity. Have your child say each letter in the row, identify the missing letter, and stamp the letter. Be sure to use our Free Printable for this activity here. You can use Basic Alphabet Sticker Pack letters for this letter identification activity as well.
This is an ideal activity to correctly identify letters and help curb some uppercase letter confusion. My son was confusing the letters "B" and, "R" so I had him sort them using Rainbow Self-Adhesive Letters on bright paper. To minimize a sticker collage on the table, I had him complete the activity on a Cool Craft Tray.
Smart Snacks® Alpha Pops™ are a hit with my kids! They have uppercase and lowercase letters on matching popsicle colors and there are letters on both sides. To make this activity more challenging, I began turning over a few popsicles revealing different letters.
To check my child's ability to identify the corresponding uppercase and lowercase letters, I use these Uppercase and Lowercase Clip Cards. The back reveals the correct answer with a star. These cards help me identify which letters we still need to work on.
Introduce each letter along with its sound (D…ddd). Try to avoid letter-object association like D is for dog. This association may limit letter-sound understanding. Teaching letter identification and letter-sounds together increase phonemic awareness, phonics understanding, and the ability to decode words.
Beginning and Ending Sounds Clip Cards are one of my favorite ways to assess letter-sound understanding. The answers are marked with a star on the back, so you or your child can quickly check to see if the choice is correct. I start with the beginning sounds and, as those are mastered, we move onto the ending sounds. Each card is color-coded to denote the beginning or ending sounds, making my job that much easier.
Craft activities are always a success when working with letter sounds. Letter-sound crafts are easy, simply draw the uppercase letter large on a piece of paper and have your child fill it in with material or objects that begin with the letter sound. We had fun gluing Bulk Feathers Assortment onto the letter F.
Feed Me Letters Game is the most used game we have. What makes this game stand out above the rest are the real-life pictures on the cards. I also appreciate that both the uppercase and lowercase letters are included on the bananas. There are several ways you can play, but here are just a few we use. First, I call out a letter and my children find it and feed the monkey. Next, they match the letter to the picture card that begins with the letter sound. Then, they pick an image card and feed the monkey the banana with the corresponding letter on it.
Sensory play encourages language development, problem-solving, fine and gross motor skills, and builds crucial connections in the brain. For the letter "F", I had my son fish for Gold Fish using Super Science Tongs. He learned that the word fish begins with the letter "F" sound and said "fff-fish" with each catch. He was also working on hand-eye coordination, fine-motor skills, and building hand-muscles needed for writing.
Letter formation is another crucial skill your child needs to learn. My advice is to teach writing letter formations as your child is ready. Your child became familiar with the basic letter formation when you introduced the letter. Now you focus on writing it. Begin by using fingers to trace, then using a tool. Uppercase letters are easier to form when writing, so this is a good place to start. Once they are capable of writing with a tool, they can practice writing letters on the lines of a paper. I will share some fun and easy ways I teach letter formation below.
The treasured Feed Me Letters Game is at work again. I used the banana letters to signify which letter I wanted my son to write in my home-made salt tray. Can you tell I love these Cool Craft Trays? Salt writing is a fun sensory experience and is easy to erase. He can practice forming the letter freehand over and over. This way I can see what areas of letter formation he needs additional assistance with, curves, monkey tails, or starting at the top.
Once your child has the basic shape of the uppercase letters down, give them a tool to practice with. Plan for mistakes in the beginning as your child works out the formation of each letter. These Colorful Crayola® Take Note™ Dry-Erase Markers are the first tool we use because they can easily be erased! For a simple letter formation activity, I write a letter on a sheet of paper or print a worksheet and slide it into a Neon Top-Loading Dry Erase Pockets for my child to trace on. Make sure the lines of the letter are thick enough for your child to see and follow with a tool. They can trace over the letter several times, gaining memory of its form.
Crayola Ultimate Sidewalk Chalk on a chalkboard is also a favorite way to trace letters. I wrote the uppercase letters on our chalkboard wall. My son painted over the lines with water and a Watercolor Paint Brush and, once it dried, he wrote over the barely visible lines with chalk again. This activity can also be replicated with a whiteboard, on the sidewalk, or using paint and paper.
