“How to teach toddlers the alphabet? How and when do I start?”
It’s a common question parents ask, especially when they see videos of children who start to read as early as two years old!
In this article, you’ll read:
An example of a book with single characters on one page and objects corresponding on the other. If you cannot find this, you can create your D.I.Y. version as well.
Don’t be pressured
First I would like to say, let’s take the pressure off on ourselves and on our child on which age he or she should learn the alphabet. The age range of learning the alphabet is between 2 to 6 years old.
Because of the broad range, we need to acknowledge that kids develop at different rates. Learning letters is simply a skill that our kids will learn as they are developmentally ready.
Arnold Gessell, one of the leaders in child development in the 20th century, noted in his work that by the end of third grade, things level out.
Early readers don’t become better readers. Early academics don’t mean greater academic success.
His research noted that by the time kids are 9-10 years-old, you can no longer identify kids who learned these academic skills first.
When my daughter Meagan was 2+ years old, I began worrying that she could not identify all the letters yet. I confided this to my daughter’s teacher, Teacher Vangie from Philippine Montessori Center.
She told me that learning the alphabet early does not reflect how smart a child is. She emphasized then that what was important that stage was life skills.
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How to teach toddlers the alphabet
Below is a list of tips and tools on how you can get started in teaching your toddler the alphabet. These come from my actual experiences with my kids, who are now 14 and 10, and my insights as an early child educator.
1. Introduce letters as pictures
Start with their baby mobile. After exposing your child to a black-and-white mobile for visual stimulation, you can now interchange the hanging visuals with your own D.I.Y. letters as seen below.
My handmade black-and-white letters pasted on paper plates. You can stick these letters to baby’s mobile! You can do four letters then introduce new letters every month.
Babies remember letters like a photo image. They do not see it by stroke, like how we adults write it.
The key to teaching babies how to recognize letters is to encourage familiarity to a letter as a picture or symbol. When the alphabet gets introduced in school, learning letters won’t be as intimidating for them.
You can have a learn-with-play corner for your child with activities that focus on learning, creativity, physical activity, and pretend play.
In the learning area, you can put up alphabet posters, alphabet abacus, alphabet stamps, and books with letters and corresponding objects that begin with those letters. These items will help your child see letters as symbols.
Before my kids turned one, I also began exposing them to lower case letters. I would lift these letters up like flash cards and go through them quite quickly 5-10 letters at a time, phonetically.
Do not expect them to repeat the letters. Just imagine them watching a real life movie with letters.
You can start this with lower case again then switch to uppercase. Later on, you can introduce both lower and upper case letters.
2. Learn with play
I have always believed and seen through my kids that “play” allowed my children to absorb information in the most relaxed way.
More than this, I also prescribe to use few, but “hardworking” toys, that can be used for many years. “Hardworking” toys are toys that allow endless free-play possibilities.
This Melissa & Doug toy is one of my tops picks of “hardworking toys.”
Some of the “hardworking” toys that we’ve used over the years are:
- Alphabet puzzles. You can use these letters when you practice sorting colors or when they learn their first words behind the letters in this alphabet puzzle board.
- Alphabet blocks. You can also introduce alphabet blocks to simultaneously encourage gripping and building, while getting more familiar with the alphabet. Also, you can use the blocks to spell your child’s name.
You can also place your baby in an open space or an inflatable pool so baby can move freely with minimal supervision. Pour all the letters into the space. Give them their scoopers and cups to freely play with them.
- Alphabet toys. You can pretend to cook alphabet soup or make alphabet cake. You can play with these letters during bath time or even when you play with sand.
3. Using art to teach toddlers how to write letters
I exposed my kids to art programs very early. When my kids were about to learn writing the alphabet, I discovered how introducing the age-appropriate art materials allowed my kids to look forward to the activity.
I started my son Marcus with egg crayons when he was 12-months old. I used tripod markers when he was 2, then graduated to large washable crayons and markers when he was 3.
We started with basics like vertical lines, horizontal lines, slanted lines and circles. These simple strokes make up most letters of the alphabet.
I also noticed because markers produced a more vibrant color, my son actually looked forward to practicing writing letters and his name because he felt he was just doing art.
I also advise incorporating the alphabet during your story and play time.
In a session with 2-year-old Julian, we each had one crayon. I asked him to follow my lead as we drew in the same paper in the following activity:
- The story of the day was about the letter A.
- Julian and I wrote the letter A on a piece of paper.
- I told Julian that the letter A wants to swim, so we both drew an oblong swimming pool.
- After swimming, the letter A needed to dry off. So Julian and I drew a rectangle, representing the towel.
- Because letter A was so tired from swimming, Julian and I drew rice dots inside a circle bowl.
- After swimming and eating, the letter A was tired. Julian and I drew a rectangle bed.
Then we went back to the first page and recapped the story we made together about the letter, “A”.
As you see, teaching toddlers the alphabet does not have to be rudimentary and repetitive. You can do activities that will not only teach the child the letters, but also hone his motor skills, imagination, and creativity.
Remember, children learn at their own pace. What’s important is instilling a love of learning.
Happy “Alphabet Learning!”
