Teaching children the alphabet
Labels: Language Arts
Singing is a fun way to teach children the alphabet. From birth on up a parent, or caregiver, can sing the alphabet to the baby that they are caring for.
The alphabet is the basis of the English language. We teach our children the sounds of the alphabet from the day they are born and we begin speaking to them. Children have the idea of the alphabet from everything around them. Their toys, books, magazines, street signs, television, license plates, computers, and so on. All of these things have letters and words on them. All of these things influence our children and they learn to read from them. There are different activities at different ages that can be done with children to help them understand the alphabet.
1. Singing is fun for children. Newborn babies especially like the sound of their mother’s voice. It is what they have heard the most since their hearing developed in the womb. From birth on up a parent, or caregiver, can sing the alphabet to the baby that they are caring for.
2. At about six months a baby can be introduced to books with letters and pictures. There are books, especially made for this age group, made from plastic that is virtually indestructible by a baby. They can not only look at these books; they can teeth on them too!
3. Keep singing the alphabet song to them – at about age ten months to one year they are going to start “baby dancing” to the beat of the music. They will get used to the tune, and will start memorizing the letters in the song as they get older.
4. Between the ages of one and a half and two, start pointing the letters out to them as you sing the song with them. They will know the song by now if it has been sung to them from birth, and they will start associating the letters to the letters names as they are pointed out to them. Be patient, they are young yet and things still take a while for young toddlers to memorize.
5. Thus by the time they are about three to three and a half, they will know their alphabet. At about age three the child will probably know the alphabet song for themselves, along with the letters, and will be able to sing along with the parent.
Repetition and consistency are the keys to achieving the goal of them knowing the alphabet by the time they are around the age of three. It is possible to do, and children learn much faster and easier at a younger age than they do when they are older. Such things when done in this way from birth, sort of becomes part of them. The alphabet is almost like instinctual knowledge to them then. Everybody enjoys doing what comes easiest to him or her; therefore reading will most likely be one of the favorite pastimes to these children when they become adults.
The alphabet is the basis of the English language. We teach our children the sounds of the alphabet from the day they are born and we begin speaking to them. Children have the idea of the alphabet from everything around them. Their toys, books, magazines, street signs, television, license plates, computers, and so on. All of these things have letters and words on them. All of these things influence our children and they learn to read from them. There are different activities at different ages that can be done with children to help them understand the alphabet.
1. Singing is fun for children. Newborn babies especially like the sound of their mother’s voice. It is what they have heard the most since their hearing developed in the womb. From birth on up a parent, or caregiver, can sing the alphabet to the baby that they are caring for.
2. At about six months a baby can be introduced to books with letters and pictures. There are books, especially made for this age group, made from plastic that is virtually indestructible by a baby. They can not only look at these books; they can teeth on them too!
3. Keep singing the alphabet song to them – at about age ten months to one year they are going to start “baby dancing” to the beat of the music. They will get used to the tune, and will start memorizing the letters in the song as they get older.
4. Between the ages of one and a half and two, start pointing the letters out to them as you sing the song with them. They will know the song by now if it has been sung to them from birth, and they will start associating the letters to the letters names as they are pointed out to them. Be patient, they are young yet and things still take a while for young toddlers to memorize.
5. Thus by the time they are about three to three and a half, they will know their alphabet. At about age three the child will probably know the alphabet song for themselves, along with the letters, and will be able to sing along with the parent.
Repetition and consistency are the keys to achieving the goal of them knowing the alphabet by the time they are around the age of three. It is possible to do, and children learn much faster and easier at a younger age than they do when they are older. Such things when done in this way from birth, sort of becomes part of them. The alphabet is almost like instinctual knowledge to them then. Everybody enjoys doing what comes easiest to him or her; therefore reading will most likely be one of the favorite pastimes to these children when they become adults.