Teaching the Alphabet

[amelia]

At what age did you start to teach the letters of the alphabet and how did you go about doing it? What worked best for your child?

I want to start to teach my almost 27mo her letters (she know's the alphabet song). I have found a few web sites where I can print out coloring pages for each letter. I'm also thinking of doing one letter week or until I know she has that letter down. I was thinking of having her point out that letter (or what ever letters she knows) from books or signs or anything else that has words on it. Any other ideas?

[spotty4]

If she knows the alphabet song, by all means go for it! If she catches onto the letters, awesome! If not, try it again in a month or so.

Get alphabet letter and number magnets and put them all over your fridge or dishwasher or any other low magnetic surface. This puts the letters at their level at their disposal for viewing everyday!
Magnetic Alphabet Letter - Compare Prices, Reviews and Buy at NexTag - Price - Review

[Regina]

Do you have that leapfrog video on the alphabet? The one that says, "Every letter makes a sound...the a says..." Kids love that video. Good site for print out is first school First-School Preschool Activities and Crafts . There is a program called handwriting without tears. It was a little too involved for me, but I like the idea of using playdough to make letter shapes. I know some people put sand, flour, or something on a cookie sheet so that kids can draw out the letters with their fingers. Oh, I have some old books that I read with my kids called My A sound box, My B sound box, etc. by Jane Belk Moncure. I also have some books that are things like kangaroos adventure in alphabet town. All based upon characters with their letter. I also know that some people hate flash cards, but I know someone that would sit her child in her high chair before lunch and do flash cards of the letters before they ate. The child read words at 3 years old. So, I would say that as long as your child shows the interest, go ahead. If your child doesn't want to right away, then I would just continue to read and letter color pages and such until she is ready. Oh, another video that I like is Richard Scarry's learning video. I haven't found any videos better than Richard Scarry or Leap Frog in reinforcing the alphabet, so if you do find some, I would love to know.

[TheWife]

Leapfrog Letter Factory! I didn't even do anything but put the DVD in. We also have the rest of them, Word Factory, Complex Word Complex, Code Word Caper, and Storybook Factory. My son was reading and writing 3 letter words before his 4th bday.

[Shar]

The absolute best website is starfall.com It has the ABC letters and also increases up to real stories. My 31 month old knows all the letters mostly from that, Sesame Street, and foam letters that go in the tub. Actually both my boys sit on my lap on the computer and I click on the letters and they love it. The 15 months old is now saying "A apple" from it. (Of course he does't say any other letters but A is cool). The only thing that may be tricky if you have never done it is....click on whatever is sparkling and it continues so each letter has several parts. I think it's great and my sister teaches Kindergarten and does it with her class even.

[Rebes]

I used a wooden letter puzzle with my son. The website for Sesame Street on pbskids.org has a great cookie monster letter game that he loved and we did it together. I am starting to do the letter puzzle with my daughter, and she doesn't seem as interested as he was!