How to Teach Your Preschooler Letters

Video Transcript

PATTY BURROWS: How to teach your preschooler letters. Letters are a very important part of the rest of your child's academic career. So you can begin by teaching letter recognition at a very early age. Start by pointing out letters. As you're reading to your child, you want to point out letters. As you are shopping, you want to point out letters. Point out letters that are on cards, on cans of food, or boxes. Make sure that children are aware of letters. Say the names of the letters. Let the child understand the name of the letter and how it associates with the letter. For instance, one of the things you can do is you can make letters. "This is a letter B. There are buttons on this letter to represent B because buttons begin with B." You may use stickers as well. "This is a letter P that has stickers for pear, pencil, pig, pumpkin." You may even want to go so far as to, "This is a letter F. It's for fur". Also, making letters with clay is a very good way of having a child to have some tactile involvement with that. The magnetic letters, or I call them refrigerator letters, are wonderful way for you to reinforce letter recognition. Also, whenever you have an opportunity to do something for an award for your child, get some stick-on-letters, and make sure that they recognize those letters as well.