Fun with Letters
Learning to read starts with the alphabet, and more specifically phonics — which simply means matching the spoken sounds of the English language with individual letters or groups of letters. For ex, the sound “k” can be spelled as c, k, ck or ch.
Learning phonics can feel grueling or boring for kids. Whenever possible, I like to turn activities that could be an ordinary worksheet into a game or proactive play. Children love games. Here are some other benefits of letter activities:
Fine-motor skills: children learn how to use their fingers to write, shape letters, or sort letter parts
Serves different learning styles: visual, kinesthetic, (verbal and auditory if the child does this activity with you or others)
Can be done alone, together with you, or with other children
Writing letters and words:
Chalkboard Wall
I always wanted to draw on the walls as a kid. When we bought our house this year, we made that dream come true. It took a can of chalkboard paint, a roller, blue tape, and my tall husband. I was fortunate to have his help :)
My son drawing on our big chalkboard wall in the entry way.
We write words together. But mostly, we draw pictures and have fun.
Tracing our hands in chalk.
Spontaneous drawings and their words
Maybe a wall isn’t your thing, but you can chalkboard paint pretty much anything. You can also use…
whiteboards with dry erase markers
fingerpaint and construction paper
pudding or shaving cream on a baking tray
Prompts for your child, depending on age:
Write the ABCs and say the sounds of the letters. Click here for a review of the long and short vowel sounds of A, E, I, O, U
Write your child’s name together
Point to different objects in the room, write the beginning or the entire word, depending on your child’s age. Ex. rug, cat, fork, couch, chair, plant
Practice their spelling homework
Pair drawing with writing if your child likes to draw
Manipulating Letters or Puzzles:
Magnetic Letters
These are great on a fridge or in my preference, a baking sheet. If your child already knows how to spell some words, let them play independently at first and then guide them as needed. My son doesn’t know his alphabet. So we took turns saying the sounds of each letter and spelled out the words with the capital “mommy/daddy” letters and the lowercase “baby” letters directly below.
Building magnetic words together. Ezra. Dog.
Word building puzzles
I’ve found some great ones at Costco lately. Having visuals with the letters helps your child spell bigger words they otherwise couldn’t on their own. Here is my niece learning to spell without needing much of my help at at all.
Esther, 6 years (kindergarten), solving picture-word puzzles
Look at all those words! Cake. Fox. Duck. Bird…
In this activity, I first modeled how to put a few words together, then I stepped back and let her solve the puzzles herself. Then we sounded out the parts of words together (phonics).
ex. Fox: f- o - x. Cat: c - a -t
Some words are trickier: Tree: t-r-ee (the two e’s stay together) Cake: c-ake (the e makes the a sound change) Duck: d-u-ck (the ck is one sound)
*Remember, with phonics we look at the sounds groups of letters make, too. Sometimes individual letters don’t mean anything without their group. Don’t stress too much about doing this perfectly, but it is something that be mindful of.)
In future posts, I’ll take a deeper dive into how to specifically teach your child phonics skills. Stay tuned :) Although we’re just scratching the surface today, I hope these ideas might spark your interest or creativity!
