Reading and Writing

Motivating a young child to practice printing letters of the alphabet can be quite tricky. Printing is not an easy activity for kids–the necessary muscles and coordination for such fine motor control are still growing.  We can spark their interest and help them practice and develop control with activities that have a little challenge and a big appeal. Felts and colors supply the appeal. Parents supply the challenge: on a plain piece of paper and with a dark pencil trace out a few letters of the alphabet , about an inch high, using upper case capitals. Let your munchkin trace the letters using several different colors. At first, just getting them to more or less follow the lines is enough. There’s time later to work on proper letter formation. It’s helpful to start tracing the letters at the top of the letter and gently encourage left to right work. The whole world of writing is at the end of this rainbow!

Put on a jacket. We’re going for a walk around the alphabet. For children to really learn a new concept, it is helpful to input the information in all manner of ways. To learn the alphabet children need to hear it, say it, sing it, feel it, manipulate it, roll it, and more and do these things over and over and over. For another way to experience it, take an alphabet walk.  I like to introduce this by reading the book Alphabet City by Stephen T. Johnson.

If you do not have the book, notice something in your neighborhood that makes a letter of the alphabet. Go for a walk and see what else you can find. Take a list of the letters and mark each one off as you find it.  STOP signs are good for 4 letters. Some house trim looks like L’s and K’s. An upright and top for a fence could be a T. Find a few today, save the list, and soon those letters will be popping up all over the place. A-maZing, isn’t it?

Not all children are interested in school-type work. Learning the letters of the alphabet does not appeal to all kids.  But there are ways to engage reluctant children in learning activities. Hands-on materials capture attention and  motivate. Voices practiced letters of the alphabet,  yesterday. Today, fingers get a turn. Play-dough or plasticine are just right. Did you know that one lump of play-dough can make all the letters of the alphabet? Amazing! Beautiful! Clever! D…you get the idea.  Roll some long shapes and bend them to make the letters–the capital or upper case ones, first. Doing all 26 at a time requires a great deal of patience so break the task up into a few letters now and more later. Make some favorite letters. One time, do the letters round. Another day, do them again and make them flat. Sometimes skinny, sometimes fat, sometimes plain, or fancy.. like that.  Learning the letters is easier when it’s fun.

When children arrive in kindergarten and throughout the year, they will be doing all kinds of alphabet activities with their teachers. Children who have some  familiarity with letters and sounds even before starting school are much more capable to tackle these tasks. Some programs assess children’s alphabet knowledge as part of evaluating readiness for school. For … Continue reading Kindergarten Readiness – Sing to Learn the ABC’s →