How to Teach Your Preschooler Letter Recognition Through Play |
By Tanja McIlroy
Read the full article here |
Helping your preschooler to gain letter recognition skills does not need to feel like “work”! Learning through play in a fun, stress-free, and positive manner is always the best way.
What Letter Recognition Means
Learning letter recognition skills involve several different hands-on components. Children need to distinguish the shapes of letters from each other (visually recognize them) and be able to point to and state the letter names, as well as the sounds made by each letter. In addition, they must learn to form letters and write them. These skills do not all need to be accomplished during the preschool years, in fact most preschoolers are not yet developmentally ready to learn to read and write. By simply exposing your child in a fun way, you will begin the process of laying down foundational pre-reading and writing skills.
When Should a Child Recognize Letters of the Alphabet?
Although you can read about average ages when kids gain alphabet skills, those often vary widely.
Just as children learn to walk and talk at different ages, the same is true for recognizing letters of the alphabet. They each learn at their own pace, depending on many factors.
Just as children learn to walk and talk at different ages, the same is true for recognizing letters of the alphabet. They each learn at their own pace, depending on many factors.
How to Build Skills to Prepare Your Child for Letter Recognition
Through fun play activities, parents can help their children gain various developmental skills that prepare preschoolers for letter recognition.
Those types of skills include visual perception, memory, and auditory perception. What this means is that learning the letters does not start with exposure to actual letters, but rather to play activities that develop these skills.
Those types of skills include visual perception, memory, and auditory perception. What this means is that learning the letters does not start with exposure to actual letters, but rather to play activities that develop these skills.
Visual Perception
Visual perception refers to your child’s brain making sense of what their eyes are seeing, such as details and shapes.
These skills also include visual-motor and eye-hand coordination. Helpful kinds of activities include:
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MemoryMemory development relates to storing and using information in the brain.
Stress-free activities to enhance these skills include:
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Auditory Perception
Auditory perception includes the brain’s ability to distinguish sounds and words, which is important for learning the sounds of letters.
These are the kind of activities that can support this skill:
These are the kind of activities that can support this skill:
- Listening to music
- Distinguishing animal sounds
- Clapping out copied rhythm patterns
How do I Teach my Child Letter Recognition?
Even before your child shows an interest in print,
Are all meaningful and fun activities that set the stage for letter recognition. Keep it fresh, keep it new, and be willing to return to their favorite activities when asked. As your child shows a growing interest in print, make it available to them whenever possible. Instead of keeping that book to yourself as you read to them, show children the words, running your fingers over them as you read. Let kids turn the pages of the book. Have books available in the home to which kids have constant access. So many things around the house contain words, like packages, lists, letters, e-mails, screens, magazines and greeting cards.
Point and touch as you read, showing children that you are using words daily, expressing how much can be learned through their use. Write in front of your kids for all different purposes, at least sometimes spelling aloud. Make drawing and writing tools and surfaces available to your child at all times, indoors and outdoors. Don’t just offer the traditional papers and crayons-include:
- Reading to them
- Sharing poems and nursery rhymes
- Talking to them
- Telling stories
- And singing songs to or with them
Are all meaningful and fun activities that set the stage for letter recognition. Keep it fresh, keep it new, and be willing to return to their favorite activities when asked. As your child shows a growing interest in print, make it available to them whenever possible. Instead of keeping that book to yourself as you read to them, show children the words, running your fingers over them as you read. Let kids turn the pages of the book. Have books available in the home to which kids have constant access. So many things around the house contain words, like packages, lists, letters, e-mails, screens, magazines and greeting cards.
Point and touch as you read, showing children that you are using words daily, expressing how much can be learned through their use. Write in front of your kids for all different purposes, at least sometimes spelling aloud. Make drawing and writing tools and surfaces available to your child at all times, indoors and outdoors. Don’t just offer the traditional papers and crayons-include:
- Drawing with sticks in the sand
- Writing on clay or playdough
- Drawing on shower and bath walls with soap
Should I teach the Letters in a Specific Order?
Instead of teaching letters in any special, prescribed order, focus on those that are used most often and in order of importance to your child.
They typically they want to know about the letters:
They typically they want to know about the letters:
- In their name
- In “Mom” and “Dad”
- Siblings’ and friend’s names
- Pet’s name
- Environmental print (like on Stop or Walk signs)
- And even outstanding words from a favorite storybook.
Is it Better to Teach Upper or Lowercase Letters First?
Most children begin to recognize upper case letters first because there are more differences between the formation of the letters.
Letter Recognition Activities and Games for Preschoolers
Here are some fun ways to teach your preschooler letter recognition through play.
1. Point Out Environmental Print
Print is all around us. Point out, talk about and stress the sounds of words on signs (such as favorite restaurants, traffic and street signs), cereal or other product boxes/labels and familiar logos.
2. Sharing Rhyming Books
Read favorite rhyming books to your child, accentuating the rhyme and rhythm. When reading, leave out the second rhyming word and see if your child can fill in the blank. Use the pictures to give your child a clue.
For example,
Humpty dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty dumpty had a great ______.
Afterwards, play an oral game of stating some rhyming words from the story and adding a new rhyming word of your own. Challenge your child to come up with more words that rhyme. Either real or pretend “words” are okay, as it is the rhyming factor that counts.
3. Letter Hunt
Point out and talk about the letters in your child’s name, making them clearly visible in print.
Show them how you find one of those same letters in a magazine or newspaper and cut out or circle the letter.
Challenge them to find other letters from their name in print and cut those out or circle them as well.
4. Play with Plastic/Wooden Letters
Letters may be sorted and put into piles in different ways:
5. Bake Letters
Use bread or pretzel dough to form letters with your child, then bake them to be eaten later.
While you work, talk about the letter names, sounds and easy words (like their names) that may be formed.
Letter shaped cookie cutters can also be used to bake letters.
6. Form Letters with Familiar Materials
Offer kids various types of materials to either glue or lay on a flat surface to form letters.
Have your child choose a letter card. Talk about how the letter looks and sounds.
Depending on your child’s level of development, challenge them to find this letter around the house on items that have that letter printed on it OR find objects that begin with that letter sound.
8. Fish for letters
Cut fish shapes out if construction paper. Print a letter on each fish. Place a paper clip on each fish. Using a stick and string tie a magnet to the stick.
Children try to catch a fish by picking it up with a magnet. If they can name the letter written on the fish, they put the fish on their pile. If they cannot name the letter or name it incorrectly, the fish goes back in the pond.
Some variations of this game are the child catches the fish and names the letter, then needs to think of a word which start with that letter sound.
Children can also catch the fish and then match the upper-case letter with its lower-case letter match.
9. Find Letters on a Keyboard
Make use of an old computer keyboard or typewriter. Your child names the letter as they press the keys.
They can also press the keys of the letters you name.
10. Painting with water
Offer your child a pail of water and a paintbrush, on the sidewalk or driveway have your child paint a letter for you to guess, then ask him/her to paint a letter.
Other alternatives are to use sidewalk chalk, or to use a stick and draw letters in the sand or dirt.
1. Point Out Environmental Print
Print is all around us. Point out, talk about and stress the sounds of words on signs (such as favorite restaurants, traffic and street signs), cereal or other product boxes/labels and familiar logos.
2. Sharing Rhyming Books
Read favorite rhyming books to your child, accentuating the rhyme and rhythm. When reading, leave out the second rhyming word and see if your child can fill in the blank. Use the pictures to give your child a clue.
For example,
Humpty dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty dumpty had a great ______.
Afterwards, play an oral game of stating some rhyming words from the story and adding a new rhyming word of your own. Challenge your child to come up with more words that rhyme. Either real or pretend “words” are okay, as it is the rhyming factor that counts.
3. Letter Hunt
Point out and talk about the letters in your child’s name, making them clearly visible in print.
Show them how you find one of those same letters in a magazine or newspaper and cut out or circle the letter.
Challenge them to find other letters from their name in print and cut those out or circle them as well.
4. Play with Plastic/Wooden Letters
Letters may be sorted and put into piles in different ways:
- Those with curves
- Letters with straight lines
- Those from your child’s name or other important words
- Placed in proper order to spell their name
- Letters they can name
- And those for which they can say the sounds
5. Bake Letters
Use bread or pretzel dough to form letters with your child, then bake them to be eaten later.
While you work, talk about the letter names, sounds and easy words (like their names) that may be formed.
Letter shaped cookie cutters can also be used to bake letters.
6. Form Letters with Familiar Materials
Offer kids various types of materials to either glue or lay on a flat surface to form letters.
- Buttons or pennies
- Pipe cleaners
- Cotton balls
Have your child choose a letter card. Talk about how the letter looks and sounds.
Depending on your child’s level of development, challenge them to find this letter around the house on items that have that letter printed on it OR find objects that begin with that letter sound.
8. Fish for letters
Cut fish shapes out if construction paper. Print a letter on each fish. Place a paper clip on each fish. Using a stick and string tie a magnet to the stick.
Children try to catch a fish by picking it up with a magnet. If they can name the letter written on the fish, they put the fish on their pile. If they cannot name the letter or name it incorrectly, the fish goes back in the pond.
Some variations of this game are the child catches the fish and names the letter, then needs to think of a word which start with that letter sound.
Children can also catch the fish and then match the upper-case letter with its lower-case letter match.
9. Find Letters on a Keyboard
Make use of an old computer keyboard or typewriter. Your child names the letter as they press the keys.
They can also press the keys of the letters you name.
10. Painting with water
Offer your child a pail of water and a paintbrush, on the sidewalk or driveway have your child paint a letter for you to guess, then ask him/her to paint a letter.
Other alternatives are to use sidewalk chalk, or to use a stick and draw letters in the sand or dirt.