Letters

At my school, we use ZooPhonics to teach kids the letters and sounds, using an animal, a sound, and a motion for each letter. If you're interested in a crash course, check out this YouTube video.

More handy resources for practicing letters:

• Leap Frog's Letter Factory DVD
• Printable alphabet flash cards
• Dr. Seuss’ ABC by Dr. Seuss
• Chicka Chicka Boom-Boom by Bill Martin, Jr.
• Shiver Me Letters: A Pirate ABC by June Sobel
• Alphabet Floor Mat (foam puzzle)
• Printable Alphabet Coloring Pages
• Bathtub letters
• Magnetic fridge letters
• Ten Creative Ways to Teach Your Child the Alphabet

Other tips for practicing letter identification at home:

• Teach the letters in your child’s name. Point to the letters as you say each one. When you come across a letter that appears in his/her name, you might say, “Hey, here’s a J, just like in your name! J-A-C-O-B! A J for Jacob!”
• Word Searches: At restaurants, the children’s menu often has word searches that are too hard for younger kids; but ask if your child can find any letters he/she knows, and celebrate each one he/she can point out. You might throw in one you know is new: “Do you know what letter this is? This is an M for Mommy. Let’s see if we can find some more M’s…”
• Make it Memorable: Instead of just naming letters alone, call it “D for Daddy” or “C for caterpillar”. This gives you a head start on teaching the sounds, too.
• Storytime: When you read to your child, look at the front cover together. Ask if s/he sees any letters s/he knows. Keep it casual. If they don’t know any, point out one (“Oooh, I see an M like in Mommy!”) and then move on.
• Play-Doh: Form a letter your child knows and ask, “Hey, guess what I made?” Let your child squish it in celebration, then do another one. Throw in a new letter or two. (My 3-year-old loves to do this with markers or paint: I make a letter, she names it and then scribbles/paints all over it, and I get pretend-mad and call her a little stinker for destroying my letter. Repeat, repeat, repeat. She finds this hilarious.)
• Alphabet Mat: Call out letters and have your child jump on them on an alphabet floor mat (or write them with sidewalk chalk outside). Or, take turns rolling a ball onto the mat and calling out the letter it lands on.
• Have a letter hunt. You can focus on just one letter, or a few, or do all of them if your child knows most or all of the alphabet. Print up big letters on sheets of paper, or use the letters from the foam alphabet mat, and hide them around one room or the whole house. Help your child find and announce each one: “Hey, here’s one! What letter is this? We found K for kangaroo!”
• Don't Forget the Babies! Match the “baby letters” (lower case) with their Mommy/Daddy (capital) letters using flash cards spread out on the floor. Many lower-case letters look just like the capitals, or are very similar, so those are much easier; throw in one or two of the harder ones (i.e. E and e or G and g) at a time.
• Sing the alphabet song together as you point to each letter, or jump to each one on the floor mat.