Tools For Teaching The Alphabet

The key to laying the foundation for reading is, of course, letter sounds. Recognizing letters and their sounds also helps develop language and cognitive skills. You can teach a child their letters with something as simple as a pen and paper but having engaging tools makes the process so much easier. Let’s take a look at some great resources for teaching children the alphabet.

Puzzles

Puzzles are great for learning the alphabet. My favorite is Melissa & Doug Jumbo ABC Wooden Puzzle. The letters are simple and the base has pictures for each letter. The hands on approach helps children retain the information and focus on each letter. Plus, it’s more fun! Talk about words that start with each letter and emphasize what sound each letter makes as you place it.

Alphabet Puzzle

You can find this Melissa & Doug Puzzle on Amazon

Another one of my favorite letter puzzles is this Melissa & Doug Wooden Spelling Boards. Both my son and daughter have used these spelling boards to practice sounding out letters to spell words. These are amazing for learning letter sounds and moving into reading.

Magnetic and Foam Letters

My daughter likes to spell out our names with foam letters in the tub. The tub is where she learned that when we spell, the letters go from left to right. Shoot for a simple design like these. The plain design makes them easier to distinguish.

We have Foam Magnetic Letters that we use on the Magnetic Chalkboard. I really like that we have capital and lower-case. Ahria has quickly learned the difference and that her name starts with a capital letter. We use this chalkboard a ton. Once we have a name or word on the board, she uses chalk to try and write it.

Magnetic Alphabet Box

I made an Alphabet Learning Box with a metal lunchbox, small magnetic letters and popsicle sticks. I wrote letters, sight words and names on the popsicle sticks for my daughter to spell out. It’s easy and portable! We bring this to dinners, in the car and when we camp.

Books

There are a lot of alphabet books to choose from! My favorite is My First Alphabet Touch and Feel Book. It’s simple and fun. The cardboard books are great for letting littles explore. Talk about each letter and picture – what sounds they make and what words start with each letter. Repetition is key for teaching the alphabet!

Here’s a few alphabet books that you can find on amazon

My First Alphabet Touch & Feel Book

Apple Pie ABC Book

LMNO Peas Book

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Book

The Very Hungry Caterpillar's abc

Animal ABC

Worksheets

Worksheets are awesome for teaching the alphabet. If you’ve signed up for our newsletter, you received some amazing worksheets to work on with your little one! Check them out here. You can also download these Tracing Worksheets. Keep them motivated by using a Reward Chart strategy. Check out more worksheets and reward charts I made for you on the Printables Page.

Click the picture to download

Wikki Stix Alphabet Cards

Wikki Stix are wonderful for fine motor skills. I made these Wikki Stix Alphabet Cards to help you teach your little one. You can use a dry erase marker to trace the letters. Just print them out, slip them into a sleeve and use them over and over!

Click the picture to download Wikki Stix Alphabet Cards

Games

There are lots of games that help with letter recognition. Here’s a few:

Sequence Letters – Pick up cards and match your letter to the picture that starts with the letter sound on your card. This is a great game for focusing on letter sounds.

Alphabet Island – This game focuses on matching uppercase letters with lowercase and has an exciting shark to feed! You can start with a few letters so not to overwhelm beginners. Sound out each letter as it is drawn to work on letter sounds too!

Alphabet Go Fish – Just like go fish but with the letters of the alphabet! This is a perfect game for learning the alphabet and letter sounds. We have played our Alphabet Go Fish for over 5 years now and it’s still fun! Click here to see a gameschooling review on Alphabet Go Fish.

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