Learning letters has to be fun and meaningful to young children. It is a long process that happens over several years. Children usually learn to recognize the letters in their name or the names of their loved ones.  It helps when we draw their attention to the lines and shapes that make up those letters. For example, you could look at your child’s name: “Your name start with a letter T and look, T has a loooong line and a very short one on the top”, for extra fun, you can add a little visual image, “like a hat on top”. Or: “Look, this is your name, it starts with C, it looks like O (which most kids recognize early on) but someone took a bite out of it” and demonstrate the “bite”. Or: “B is for Ben and the ball you love so much, to draw a B we make a long line and then two curvy lines (or half a circle)”.

 

Talk about lines; short ones, long ones, straight lines, ziggy zaggy lines, scribble lines, thick lines, thin lines, curvy lines, circles, half circles, etc. as they draw or scribble – even if they are not interested or don’t know any letters. Just make it short and fun!

 

I enjoyed looking for lines and shapes that make accidental letters around my house and in my neighbourhood. This is a fun game for the whole family, look for the “letters” of each other names.  I can’t wait to see the pictures of ABC’s all around you.

 

Please also send pictures of children drawing and scribbling (unfortunately, I can not post children’s faces) and I will post them as well.

If you enjoyed this activity, check the book Alphabet Everywhere by Elliott Kaufman, published by Abbeville Kids.