What is the practice?
Playing, talking, and asking questions as your child enjoys alphabet toys makes letter learning fun and exciting. Letter blocks, magnetic letters, and alphabet puzzles are the kinds of toys that can spark parent-child talks about letters and let children become familiar with the ABCs. Such toys also help preschoolers begin to form words without the added pressure of writing.
What does the practice look like?
Let your child play with letter-shaped cookie cutters in corn- meal, play dough, or real biscuit dough. Cut letter shapes from sponges for her to play with in the bathtub or use as stamps to make designs with washable paint. Talk to her about what she’s doing as she plays. As your child lines up magnetic letters on the oven door, stacks alphabet blocks, or strings alphabet beads, talk with her about what she is doing and encourage her interest and curiosity about letter sounds.
How do you do the practice?
When your child plays with alphabet toys, add to the fun by providing a variety of such toys, praising his efforts, and following his lead.
How do you know the practice worked?
- Does your child play eagerly with alphabet toys?
- Does your child point out familiar letters on his toys, and other places he sees them?
- Does your child name sounds and letters when you are playing with alphabet toys together?
- Ask your child to identify the letters in his name by pointing out the blocks, stamps, or other toys that have those letters. Show him how to use them to form his name. Help him discover that even though letters may be different colors or sizes on different toys, their names and sounds stay the same...
- Show your child how the letters on her alphabet toys are paired with sounds. For example, when your child hands you the block with T on it, help her name the letter and its sound. Together try to think of words that start with the Ttt sound.
- Try to avoid making alphabet toys seem too “hard” or too much like work. Most preschoolers are beginning to understand that we use letters to make words, but they are often unsure about their exact sounds and shapes. Showing interest and appreciation for his attempts at learning through play is more important than espect- ing your child to remember all the letters right away.
Take a look at more fun with alphabet toys
Singing to Remember
Three-year-old Jake brings an ABC puzzle to his mom at the kitchen table. “I need help,” he says. “Let’s take a look,” his mom responds. She helps Jake tip the brightly colored foam pieces out onto the table. “Where should we start?” his mom asks. Jake picks up the purple J. “You found your letter,” his mom says. “J is for…?” “Jake,” Jake fnishes, and he fts the piece into the right spot. He places a few more letters cor- rectly based on their colors and shapes. Then Jake pauses. “What’s the frst letter?” his mom asks. “Should we sing The Alphabet Song and fgure it out?” They use the song to place the A, and Jake’s mom helps him return to the song each time he gets confused about where the pieces go.
Magnetic Grocery List
Four-year-old Sam likes playing with the colorful magnets his mom got him. There are numbers, letters, and basic shapes in the set. Sam loves moving them around on the refrigerator door. Whenever his mom runs out of something she’ll need to buy at the grocery store, she asks Sam to use his magnets to “write” a reminder. “We’re all out of milk, Sam,” his mom says. “Can you put that on the refrigerator with your letters so we remember to get more?” Sam can hear the frst Mmm sound in the word, and, with his mom’s help, fgures out other let- ters to use. Sam likes this important family job. Before each shopping trip, he gets to read back the list to his mom to make sure they don’t forget anything.
Stringing Along
Jordan, who is 4 years old and deaf since birth, is stringing large plastic beads with her dad. The beads are dif- ferent colors and have letters printed on their sides. Jordan shows her dad the beads she has strung on a cord, signing the colors and letter names. “That’s right,” her dad says, speaking and signing. “And what’s this one?” He points to a letter A on her cord. Jordan signs the letter A. “That’s right, that’s A,” Dad signs. “What words start with the letter A?” They take turns signing apple, arm, and ant. “We can make those words,” Jordan signs. Together they sort through the beads for more letters they can add to the cord to form words.
