Learning Letters Playfully
I smiled when I saw this Twitter tweet last week, in response to my post, 10 Ways to Motivate Your Child to Love Reading – “And not one of them involves learning letters.”
I had wondered if anyone would notice that my post about loving reading indeed did not talk about learning letters. That is not to say that I think young children shouldn’t or can’t learn about letters, their sounds and connections to words. But that post was about motivating children to love to read, something which I believe needs to happen first, so that the process of learning about letters then flows naturally out of their love for the written word.
Immy is alomst 3 and she knows that I is for Immy, M is for Mummy, D is for Daddy, G is for Grandma and Grumpy and Grug!, B is for Barbar (a much loved doll), and A, B, C and L all relate to her aunts, uncle and cousin. Most children will begin to first recognise those letters that are personally significant to them, like the letters in their name.
Have I set out to explicitly teach Immy these letters using flashcards or other methods of direct instruction? Nope. It has happened incidentally, through our play and everyday learning. It has happened because I taking advantage of these opportunities when they occur. It happens playfully and if Immy is not interested, I don’t force it.
For children who are prior to formal school age, learning about letters should be about fun and play and awareness, not rote learning and repetition. Here are six simple ideas to help introduce your child to learning about letters playfully;
1. Alphabet Puzzles: One of the first jigsaw puzzles I ever bought Immy was a personalised name puzzle. Children love having their own name featured on their belongings, toys and in books. The puzzle allows us to reconstruct her name over and over again, looking at, touching and observing the letter names as we do. We also have a large format foam alphabet floor puzzle and a wooden alphabet puzzle like this one, both of which are on regular rotation in our playroom.
2. Aphabet Cookie Cutters: Add a set of alphabet cutters to your playdough box. Make finding letters that they are familiar with (like your child’s first initial) a game. Remember this is about familiarity and awareness through fun so follow your child’s lead. When they ask what a letter is tell them and give them an example of a word which also begins with that letter sound. This is the set we have.
3. Alphabet Magnets: As with the cookie cutters, having a set of bright colourful alphabet magnets on your fridge virtually guarantees playful interaction with letters and sounds. We love this set of alphabet magnets.
4. Read the Signs: Make some signs for your play spaces or for your child’s bedroom. Because of our open/closed shop sign, Immy knows that o is for open. Notice the letters on street signs when you are out in the car or out for a walk.
5. Letters & Notes: Make a mailbox or treasure box together and write short notes or messages to leave for your child. Immy loves finding the little notes I write for her and messages like, “Mummy loves Immy,” help to develop her ability to recognise her own name.
6. Books: Sometimes when you read together, search for familiar letters in the titles of the book.
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For us, I couldn't imagine waiting until school age, if by that you mean age 5. But my son was doing letter sounds before he could talk — by which, I don't really mean to brag about his letter abilities, but just to say that other kids were focusing more on vocalizing words (which he was slower at) and he was more into letter sounds. I agree it should all be fun, or else you extinguish the spark/love of learning, and then you're really in trouble. So it seems to me that the most important thing is to follow their queues. (Now my son is a great reader while none of his friends are reading yet BUT he has 0 interest in potty training, which they've all tackled. I'm interested in seeing how my daughter develops. It seems like every child is different).
You are right, every child is different and following their cues is the best course of action. Unfortunately, I think that parents feel pressured to introduce letter concepts in more formal ways (like workbooks) when their children are not yet ready or interested. Keeping it light and playful is much more in tune with the learning styles of young children.
Oh how I wish I would have had information like this a few years back (when my oldest was two). I saw that children around him (mostly older children) already knew their letters and sounds, and I started thinking "Oh. I better teach him his letters!" So I went out and got some letter flash cards and sat down with him, which led to both of us getting very frustrated. I cringe when I think of it now– my poor boy! I was introducing and trying to force on him, something he wasn't ready for.
Luckily for both of us, part way into this, I saw how it was scaring him, and realized that I was going about it all the wrong way. I decided to not say a thing about letters until he started asking for it. It did come naturally about a year later. He now at four recognizes all of his letters, knows the sounds that they make, and is constantly asking me how to spell certain words. I can see how it is all clicking together for him, and none of it has been forced on him.
A few things that have helped us are to read alphabet books, to let him have access to alphabet stickers and magnets, and to give him a little "writing kit" where he can "write" letters to his friends and relatives, which he loves.
I'm glad I learned my lesson, on not forcing learning and concepts onto kids before they are ready!
well, i have noticed my toddler has a real interest in letters at the moment so I have decided to go with it for a while….he is constantly asking me "what is that letter" and I am not sure where it came from as I don't feel I have talked to him much about letters….
If he hadn't expressed an interest, I don't think I would be bothering with it at this stage…
But as he wants to know, we have been doing a few letter activities…we have been making letters out of playdough (his name starts with O so it has been a nice easy one for my playdough skills!)
I'm happy to explictly teach letters if they are interested. I have a thomas the tank engine alphabet chart on the wall, and my first was obsessed with reading them, but my second couldn't have cared less if she had tried. And you know what, they can both read 🙂 I'm a big fan of not using the preschool years as an extension of school – there's more than enough time for that!! xxxCate
ALL learning should be play–I 100% agree. Yes, all kids are different and if a child shows an interest in something, I'm not going to snatch it away because they "aren't ready"…nor am I going to push academics on a very young child who does not show an interest.
My daughter just loves language and learned her letters very early and could read simple words at 3.5…but that was all child-led. My son (now 2.5) is showing less interest, so we just play with fridge magnets or puzzles when he wants to, point out the first letter of his name, etc. He's also very bright, just not as interested in letters at this moment.
Sooner or later, they all get to more or less the same place unless there is a disability or other serious barrier.
Ultimately, keeping everything fun ensures lifelong learners and that should be the goal…it is a marathon, not a sprint.
I agree with you. To me, the love of reading comes first and is a natural outcome of being read to on at least a daily basis. Cate has it in a nutshell – formal learning comes at school, so let's for children's sakes allow them to play, imagine, pretend, explore, dance, sing and dream.
Some of Selena's favorite early books were ABC and Number books. They were simple such as A is for apple. Did I buy them to teach her the ABC's and the sounds, no I bought them for the easy text to introduce her to reading. By age 2 Selena was running through the house saying B and making the sound is for boat, book, the list could go on and on. She did that for all the letters of the alphabet, but especially letters that represented daily used items in the house. Selena moved on from there to discover how putting letters together she could form words. I don't feel it is something we need to force, such as flashcards. I truly believe a child will pick these skills up through our daily reading with them and through their natural desire to learn. I also feel very strongly if we listen to our child close enough they will tell us just exactly what they are and are not ready to learn.
My son who is also 33 months old loves reading and is just now showing an interest in letters. I agree with you … keep it fun, and we do, and it is amazing how many letters he remembers through that informal learning.
PS – I really enjoy reading your blog … thanks 🙂
Great post!
Like the concept of learning letters playfully. We tried to do this with our two sons when they were very young. Now that they are 4 and 7, they both love to read but also still enjoy having books read to them. Learning about letters should not be through blah worksheets. It should be fun and playful for children.
Like you, we have a set of letter and number cookie cutters. My younger son still loves using the letter and number cookie cutters with Play-Doh, edible peanut butter play dough, regular cookie dough when we actually bake the letters into cookies instead of just eating the dough, and even little letter shaped tea sandwiches.
Most recently, a fun addition to learning letters playfully for Little Bro has been for him to find the beginning letter sounds as he is playing in our themed sensory table. He loves this. Had gotten the idea to do a sensory table from Counting Coconuts but then, since my boys are a bit older than her son, my older one actually looks for thematic words (Santa, snowman, Christmas, holiday, present, Nativity, etc.) in the table while my younger one looks for beginning letter sounds of themed words (T for tree, S for Santa, P for presents, etc.)… Here is a link to my post that shows the sensory table with the letter tiles in the mix:
http://sunriselearninglab.blogspot.com/2010/12/on-our-shelves-december-activities.html
🙂 Colleen
I agree, keep it fun, keep it playful and follow the child's lead and interest. Leave the formalised learning to school (and even then I think we start too early!).
I agree too. My daughter, who is four, picked up letters one at a time, gradually. As well as the letters in her name she seemed to just be attracted to different letters at different times, and go back to them again and again. I remember the M stage well. And one day I walked into the kitchen to find Y and K scrawled all over the cupboards in whiteboard marker!
My son, 22 months, loves having his name spelled out to him and he can recognise G which is the first letter of his name. He is really starting to show an interest so we'll just point letters out when we see them in our environment (if he's interested!)
This is a great post and for me reading is something that I am passionate about too. I did a post on it too a while back with some similar ideas but I really enjoyed reading your helpful tips.It's such and important skill but one that should be enjoyable too.
Creativity is definitely the way to go when it comes to learning letters, and anything really!! I'm a big believer in using repetitive gorgeous songs and ditties with movement (a la 'morning ring') to inspire oral language and from a love of oral language, (and the corresponding increased language ability) lead children into the written word. I just love anyone who is using a bit of their imagination to find ways to inspire learning! Good job!! Amber (You might like to visit my blog http://www.mamamoontime.com for some other creative parenting ideas!)
Great post!
I totally agree. There are ways to teach the letters directly within playful situations. That will be much more meaningful than drilling and will create a desire to learn more, rather than a repulsion and negative association. It takes more awareness and preparation than expecting them to learn according to our own schedule, but it is so much better in the long run. Thanks for the great suggestions! I plan to include your link for my next weekend reads post.
Thanks, Christie, for another great post. What I love most about your approach is the faith in the natural progression of a child's growth and development. There is not even a hint of force of anything external, so it honors the child's spirit. Your approach is very much in alignment with what we we teach in Redirecting this article will be in the December 14 issue of Parenting News You Can Use, our free weekly e-zine for parents and teachers. If any of your readers would like to receive Parenting News, please visit us at http://www.WholeHeartedParenting.com. Happy holidays!
Maggie Macaulay, MS Ed
An interesting post Christie – very timely for me as Miss26mo taught herself numbers and the alphabet before she turned two, with virtually no help from me. I couldn't believe it. It was just a natural thing – she pointed at the magnets on the fridge, her puzzles, books etc and just seemed so keen! I answered her queries but left it at that.
Funnily enough she's not talking much so maybe she's going to be one of those quiet little bookworms?!
I love these ideas.
I gave you a spruik on Australian Mums (http://www.australianmums.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=16)
All the letter play is fun – great ideas – and many children will learn their letters and sounds at age 2/3. But just keep in mind, that many children have no interest and will NOT learn their letters or sounds in preschool. This doesn’t mean they are behind!!! One of my boys learned his letters at age 2. The other didn’t know them all until age 5 and a half. Both boys (now 8 and 9) are amazing readers – and still show very different learning styles. I have to say, honestly, that my child who didn’t show any interest in letters/sounds until much later was a more proficient reader/writer at a much younger age (first grade) when everything exploded for him on his own time. Just a good reminder that earlier is not better and Education is not a race.
I completely agree with you, Carol, but I also want to show parents the value of play for all sorts of learning as in my teaching experience I have often found that parents get stuck in the thinking that teaching their children letters using flashcards is how it should be done and most children are just not into flashcards. Talking to children about all aspects of literacy as we use them in meaningful ways in our everyday lives gives them such a good grounding for when they do come to that place of discovery, whatever age that is for them.
My kids and I love Letterland to help learn letter sounds. It is so playful and fun and really makes sense to them. Especially great for those visual learners…