The Preschooler

Build an Alphabet

Last week while on a visit to Nana’s, my four-year-old son was playing with some of those large brick-like blocks.  He was laying them out on the floor when he shouted, “Look!  I made the letter ‘L!’”  He was right.  He had made the letter ‘L’, and this simple, little activity gave me an idea.  He loves to build things out of blocks, Leggos®, and even train tracks.  He isn’t, however, very fond of using a writing implement of any kind to write his name or any other letters.  Although I feel he still needs the practice holding and using a pencil, using toys to form letters is a great activity that we can use to expand his letter identification and formation skills.

What are your child’s favorite activities?  Does she love painting or play-dough?  If so, allow her to paint the letters or form dough into the letter shapes.   Maybe  she enjoys moving her body.  She can try to make the letters using her arms and legs (Think YMCA).  If your child likes to bake, purchase letter-shaped cookie cutters or markers with food-dye so she can write on the cookies.  You could even form the dough to form letter-shaped cookies.  Simply put, use your child’s interest to guide activities that you can do with her to help her learn while having fun.

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Written by Laura on July 22, 2009