Any suggestions on the best way to teach a three year old the letters of the alphabet? We have tried flash cards, dry erase boards and "bathtub" sticky letters, but there seems to be very little retention. Any ideas would be helpful. Thanks!
From what I've read, most children don't know all the letters of the alphabet when they enter kindergarten. So first of all, I wouldn't sweat it. That being said, my eldest learned them from one of those big foam mats where all the letters connect together. You can probably get one in any toy store. With my second I got those little books that come in a set and each one contains 2 letters with corresponding pictures. Kids love them because they are small enough for them to hold in their hands. Just as she learned vocabulary words from the books (that she'd eventually repeat as we looked through the books), she learned the names of the letters too. Good luck!
I don't know whether your little one is an old 3 or young 3, but every 6 months makes a tremendous difference in their ability to retain and recite info. We started teaching each of ours to recognize letters and numbers as older 2 year olds. They each one reached the little learning milestones at different times. We used a mix of hands on, and traditional class room activities. I spent a lot of time visiting teacher to parent resource centers. There are just so many different options out there now. Just keep at it, but mix it up ao that he or she doesn't get bored or even realize the're learning. Check out all the great computer games, each of my kids had computer lab in school beginning with Kindergarten. You may kill two birds with one stone there. (computer skills and academics fused with fun)
Your child will get it when he/she is ready. Just keep trying and don't let him/her see your frustration. Something also fun is using shaving cream/pudding. Spread on table or on plastic wrap if don't want to clean up mess and write letters in the "mess". Just yet another way to approach. My dd is 4 and knows her letters but was thinking of using this today to help her "write" her letters. Enjoy your child
Magnetic letters on the fridge are fun for everyone, tho (unless you have a stainless steel fridge. I hear they won't stick on those, so use the washer or dryer, cooking range, a metal dry-erase board or whatever), but d'ya know what? . . . All you can do is make sure he's EXPOSED to diverse learning experiences. You can't drill a hole and pour it in! LOL Every kid has different interests and learns different things at different ages. Maybe he'd rather play with a tool kit, singing and playing music, coloring books, or even dolls! Prompt him and praise him in whatever he succeeds at, and the rest will follow in good time.
I have not read the other comments. Sometimes these things take time. At 3 they are still growing and absorbing so much. Keep working with your child and make it fun. One of my children could write their name and recognized their letters and numbers by the time they were about 3 and half - my other child developed in other areas and really did not get the letters, numbers, writing thing until they were 5. It's important to work with the child - but they are going to learn at their own pace. Try not to stress about it - the child is 3. Keep going over it. You might try focusing on one letter each week.
Hi Nicole
I hope you are doing well.
Yes I have a great idea.
I had this thought and was going to see if I could have it out there for a educational game for young children.
Here it goes.
Get your self a nice size bag.
Nothing on it.
It should have a handle on it so that the child can carry it easily.
On the bag
Have a place for his or her name one it.
Then make a place to put alot of awarding stickers on it.
I call it P. U. P. (Play. u Pick)
Have the child go around and pick up his toys and things.
And as he or she picks them up. Teach them to count. Learn the colors.
And on the other side of the bag You print out the letters of the alphabets Upper and lower cases. Set with them and point them out. Have them to say them. And if they say them correctly you can place a sticker by their name.
Also you can put numbers and differents shapes on the bag.
They could color in the shape. And also learn to count.
This will give you and your child quality time and have alot of fun learning.
You will be teaching and showing them how to pick up after they are done playing and helping Mommy and Daddy.
You also can put their picture by their name or the family.
This will also recycle the bag a few time too.
i hope you like the idea.
Pass it on to other parents if you like.
I will never make any money frommy idea.
But I am so very glad to help.
God Bless you all
My two-year old loves the Leapfrog Letter Factory DVD, and it's taught her all of her letters and their sounds. We also have soft letters, foam letters for the tub, and an ABC book; sometimes we go through them on her chalkboard. But I have to admit, it's the Letter Factory that really got her hooked on them!
That being said, I did my student teaching in a Kindergarten and many of the children learned it in that context. There's nothing wrong with that! I think just exposing your child to letters and the fact that they have meaning is huge. Reading together is huge. Making it a game is fun. My daughter now likes to point out letters on signs as we're driving, and it's a game to her. I think it's important to keep it that way when they're so little! :)
My 2 year old knows all of her capital letters. She learned some by watching Wheel of Fortune. The rest she has learned by a playing on the computer. What we do, while we are making dinner, is pull up the word processing program and make the font big enough for us to see from where we are. We then call out letters and numbers for her to find on the keyboard. She pushes it once and if we say it is correct she pushes it a lot of times. She has fun. She is learning where the letters are on the keyboard and learning her letters. All kids love to play on computers like their parents.
Some kids "get it" faster than others, and others are slower. My brother's two kids are night and day when it came to learning letters. They're 19 months apart in age, and the older one took a long time to learn his letters, while the younger one picked it up in a snap. They'd be sitting together on the floor playing with Winnie the Pooh letter cards (at 2 & 3 y/o or 3 & 4 y/o), and the younger one knew almost all of them, while the older one still struggled with recognizing any one letter.
nicole, everyone has had great ideas but i also agree with those who say just to relax - i am a mom to four - three of my kids picked up letters and reading easily but i have one daughter who has struggled - i worried over it for a long time until i had some very sweet and experienced mom's and educators tell me that some kids really aren't ready at the same time other kids are - try not to push it and make it fun when you do go over letters or numbers or any new concept - i have a two year old son that loves the website www.starfall.com - they have a link to videos for each letter - he loves that and we visit that site a few times a week - i focus on one letter at a time and only spend as much time as he wants - usually only about 10 minutes - i hope this helps :-)
Put the letter drills on hold for a while, and just keep pointing them out in every-day situations whenever it seems appropriate. My oldest didn't seem to be getting his letters at three, so I just dropped it for a while and focused on the things he did seem interested in: mazes and cutting. The next thing I knew he was asking me how to spell words and writing out the letters all by himself--without ever having practiced writing most of them! Kids will pick these things up eventually, and it may be hard because of feeling the pressure of what other people's kids are doing, but three year olds don't actually need to know their letters. If you child doesn't start picking them around age five, then you can be concerned, but for now, just wait and don't worry. Focus on the things your child does seem interested in. You have plenty of time for letters later. :)
We used a wooden puzzle with the alphabet. Under each letter was a picture of something that started with that letter.
Do you have a school supply store around where you live? I went to one here and got alphabet posters (that teachers use in the classroom) with pictures of letters and corresponding animals or objects that begin with that letter. Then I put them all along his wall at his level. I didn't really even have point them out- He was naturally curious about the pictures on the posters and it went from there. Good luck!
Nicole, I am a 30 year old stay at home mother of 6 ages 10 years down to 18 months. I home school my children and reading young of one of the biggest helpers for me. Having said that I have a little girl that just turned 4 and she doesn't know all her letters. I am just starting her on "100 easy lessons to reading". A great book for reading. But through the years I have found that they all learn so differently and will pick up on things if you keep exposing them to whatever it is you want them to learn. My oldest knew his letters when he was about 18 months and started to teach himself to read at 3yrs. My baby right now 18 months hardly speaks. Such extremes. My oldest learned from a little board book that said Aa is for... he wanted to read it all the time and when we'd read it every page I would point to the letter say the name of the letter and the sound. I haven't done this with my others, and they have all been reading at a 2-3 grade level by the age of 5. My oldest was reading at a 3rd grade comprehention level with a 5th-6th grade word recognition. If you have any ?'s let me know. Mostly I would say don't worry about it, just keep doing what you are doing. But if you are worried I would get a basic A, B, C book and stick with the same book and read it at least once a day. I usually start my little ones on "100 easy lessons to reading" when they are 4. I swear by this book. It teaches the sound recognition before the name of the letter. Great book if you are looking to have your child read early. Sorry about he novel.
Megan
Hi Nicole,
I have to agree with Kate T. The LeapFrog Letter Facory DVD made it fun and easy for my kids.
Good luck!
without a doubt...LeapFrog Letter Factory. :)
plus when your next little one arrives, you can have him learning while you sit next to him and feed the baby or whatever. trust me he'll love this video so much he'll be happy to watch and you'll have a few minutes of quiet - maybe
Hey we bought my son this leap frog for the refrigerator, you and put the letters in and it tells you what the letter is and what is sounds like and it also has a button that sings the alphabet. He loves it and has just started singing along with it. My son is about 19 months. Hope this helps. I think it was about 20 at walmart
We love the Leap Frog fridge set. It took about two weeks and our 2 yr old knows her letters.
My son learned his letters and sounds with the Leap Frog Video called "The Letter Factory". You can find it at Walmart in the toy section.
My son was reading by age 3. It is an awesome video.