Here are some tips on where and how to start teaching your child the alphabet.
• Sing! For very young babies – sing the abc song! They’ll love listening to your voice and start to become familiar with the names of letters.
• Reciting the alphabet. As they grow older, children may be able to recite or sing the alphabet themselves, this is a proud parent moment, but unfortunately doesn’t mean they’ve grasped the alphabet – just yet - learning to recognize each letter is a hard skill to grasp and takes time and lots of practice.
• Alphabet books. When you feel your baby is ready, introduce them to an alphabet book. Alphabet books are fun to read aloud and are also a great way to help young children learn the names and shapes of letters, and to introduce them to the concept of alphabetical order.
• Look for the familiar. When first beginning, you don’t have to use a book in alphabetical order. Look for a letter your child knows (such as the letter that starts their name) and see if they can say or sound that letter. Then, show them how to trace over it with a finger. Point out other pictures in the book that begin with the same letter. Eventually your child will be able to suggest some of their own.
Clever Fox Recommends
Illustrated Alphabet Usborne
A rollicking romp through the alphabet with a different letter and animal on each beautifully illustrated page. With zoo animals from angry alpacas and furious foxes to wild wombats and zebras from Zambia, this is the perfect way to help children learn alphabetical order and remember letter shapes and sounds.
First Alphabet Book
Join Bunny on a fun-filled run through the alphabet, in this playful board book for little children who are starting to learn their ABC. Each letter is brought to life with a new word and a whimsical illustration that grownups and little people can talk about as they read along together.
Big Book of ABC Usborne
Take a whistle-stop tour through the alphabet from amazing aardvarks, big brown bears and crazy cats to dancing ducks, naughty narwhals and sleeping sloths. With gorgeous illustrations by Sophia Touliatou, simple facts and capital and little letters on every page, this is a lovely book to share with a young child.
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