Keira is really good with her ABC’s now and even Riley knows some letters (but he is clever for his age – more on that in a later ‘gushy-mama’ post).
One thing which has helped both of them is this accidental game I invented and would like to share with you all.
Helping preschoolers learn their ABCs
First, you need two sheets of A4 paper. They don’t have to be that big, but it helps. Then in even grid spaces, you write out the letters of the alphabet. Some kids who are old enough can even write for themselves; Keira so far is only really pretty good at writing ‘K’, ‘H’, ‘M’, ‘W’, and ‘N’ (those with nice, connectible sticks).
Then comes the fun part: you rip those letters up in 26 little pieces of paper and stick them into a hat. This is where the ‘game’ part starts, and the kids love to pull out a letter from the hat, which they then identify and – hopefully – match a word to go with it. So when Keira picks out a ‘R’, she knows to say ‘Riley’, but if its a less familiar one (say ‘G’) I’ll say “G for Goat.” And so it goes until the end.
The second last part, which Keira made up, is then to stick the letters on the second piece of paper, either in ‘proper’ order or completely random fashion. This also helps foster their ‘craftiness’.
The last part comes when Riley discovers the pasting and pulls off the letter-scraps you’ve just attached and you get the game a second time, when he comes up to you brandishing a ’tile’, saying “B!” (or whatever) and you have to go round up a paper trail he’s spread around the house.
It works for us. It may for you.
