Alphabets

I agree with letter factory. My girls learned their letters very quickly with this DVD and they loved it.

Try working on just one letter a day! "A" is for apple, spell out some words that start with A and put a lot of emphasis on the A. I've tried doing this with a boy I baby sit. A little bit at a time is perfect for him. Sometimes I even went along with the letter of the day on Sesame Street.

Work the alphabet into everything you do so it doesn't feel like you're forcing it! Look for letters while you're out and about and point them out. Read to your kids often throughout the day. Sing the ABCs when you're in the car.

Buy letters for the fridge -- we have the Leap Frog one (I think it is $15 at Target) and you can pop the letter in and it tells you the letter and its sound. You can also get the basic ones (just plastic letter magnets) usually at the Dollar Store or in any toy aisle for a few dollars.

We love to read "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" which is great for learning to identify letters.

Most toy stores have great alphabet puzzles.

We like the Leap Frog Letter Factory Video. I also found a great Blue's Clue's video at Target for $5, it is called the Alphabet Train I believe -- and it has three episodes about the alphabet.

If you do a bunch of little things all the time, it won't seem like so much work to your child -- it will just be a bunch of fun games.

Good luck!

LeapFrog has a "Talking Letter Factory" DVD that's fantastic. You should be able to pick it up at Target for $10.

When my son was first interested in letters I got a wall border at the Dollar Tree with the each letter above a picture like Aa and then an apple under it. I hung it up in his room and I'd frequently hear him singing and talking about it as he fell asleep at night.

Beyond that, start with the letters in his name and point them out EVERYWHERE. Like if his name is Damon and you see the "OPEN" sign at a store point out that O and N are in Damon, or whatever.

Good luck,
T.

My son loves to play in the bath tub, they have the soft foam letters that stick to the side of the tub that we spell with and also bath tub crayons...there are several cute dvds that focus on the alphabet too.

I would start with reading stories because that means they get your undivided attention and usually LOVE it.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr comes to mind it rhymes and has all the alphabet letters in it. Most kids would love for you to read that over and over and over again to them, and that repetition really helps them name the letters.

Buy Alphabet pretzels, or alphabet cereal, or alphabet soup. if its dry spell out the letters in their name for them, and ask them to eat the E first then the R then the I, etc etc. Or give them a bowl full and ask them to see if they can find to letter F's, if they say they don't know what an F is give them one as an example.

TAlk about signs you see by the road, S T O P stop is all over the place, say Look Johnny, I spy with my little eye something red that has the letters STOP. Or CAn you find a sign with the letter M in it -- McDonalds.

get out some playdough and sit WITH your kid and roll long snakes and form them into the letters of the child's name, or what ever letter he/she is having trouble with.

If your child is in school ask the teacher for some ideas, THEy would LOVE to give you suggestions.

Try going to www.starfall.com, we love it! Also, theres a DVD called "The Letter Factory" which is wonderful. Good luck!!

My son did best with songs. We used to have Comcast cable and he watched "Baby Boost" and they have songs associated with letters. He also loved flash cards and loved associating letters with words. He'll now say, A is for apple, Z is for zebra, etc.
Figure out what catches your childs attention - songs, books, etc. and start with that. I would even make up songs and stories to help out with letters.

Great ideas! Just wanted to add one more...get out shaving cream and put it on an old cookie sheet. Have your child use his or her finger to write out their letters.

I add my vote for starfall.com and Leapfrog's Talking Letter Factory. Both of these teach the sound of the letter with the letter name, which is important to help the child make the reading connection. I also play Alphabet Memory with my son, which he loves. You have to match the upper case letter with the lower case letter, and I had my son say the names and sounds of the letters he turned over. You can make your own set of cards on cardstock or regular paper. A lot of kids learn the upper case letters quickly but have a harder time recognizing the lower case letters, so learning them together is helpful. Making learning time fun is key. Good luck!

When my daughter was around 2.5, I started teaching her letters and their sounds, but not in alphabetical order, and never more than one every few days. I gave her the easiest shapes and sounds to recognize and write first: I, O, S, then added some of the more useful simple-to-write ones: L, T, C.

I'd pin a big sheet of paper to the wall and let her practice with her whole arm (fine motor skills can stop the very young and many older kids, and large muscle activity can help some kids with learning delays). Chalk on a board or liquid soap with a touch of food coloring added were appealing, as were dot-to-dot practice.

Once she got the idea that each distinct shape had a distinct sound, and that she could write a few simple words, she got really excited. That gave her a really solid foundation to begin adding to. I didn't rush it – at any age, pressure to learn better/faster is probably counterproductive.

Music helps: we also sang the alphabet song while snapping alphabet magnets onto the fridge so she could gradually learn the letters in sequence. None of this was for any purpose besides fun and empowerment. If your son has to learn these this year for school, I think it's fine to "play" with letters with him. If he seems to be struggling, try sticking to the most commonly used letters for starters, especially the vowels, which are contained in every word.

I read through all of the responses, and those are all great! I just wanted to add... my son was 2 when he learned his letters. I would like to say it was because of something wonderful I did (lol), but he learned them from watching SuperWhy on TV!

Starfall is a great site (as recommended below). It helped my son a lot.

We also use a lot of Discovery Toys. I sell them, so I have them around the house, and he loves when I take out something new. There are a couple of great letter-learning toys for little kids:

ABSeas Fishing Game: http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/esuite/control/product?P...

Sounds Like Phonics: Letter Fun Lotto - http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/esuite/control/product?P...

ABC Wipe Clean Workbook: http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/esuite/control/product?P...

Please check out these toys and more at http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/karenchao Your 5 year old will have a lot of fun with the games and learn the letters (and other things) at the same time.

K.

Read a lot of books. Libraries usually have a lot of abc books. Use blocks. Use magnetic letters on the refrigerator. Scrabble tiles. Pick a letter a day and focus on everything that starts with that letter. Give him a program from church or a ballgame or use the newspaper and have him circle that one letter that you are focusing on. (for example: Circle all the a's). www.Starfall.com is good. www.learningpage.com is also good for printables.