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There are two schools of thought about how early a child should begin learning the alphabet and other subjects that he or she will learn in school. One theory goes that the child will be bored if he learns too much, too soon, so you should let him “be a child” during his preschool years. After all, if he is too far ahead of his class, it may be stigmatizing for him to be singled out if he can already read while the rest of the class is still learning the ABCs.
But who says that learning can’t be fun? The other school of thought regarding teaching skills such as the alphabet and basic math to very young children is that as long as the parent makes it a fun experience, it is no different (in the child’s eyes) from building a Lego tower together. And if you make learning an exercise in parent-child togetherness, you’ll have the side benefit of building your child’s self-esteem.
If your two-year-old is beginning to learn and sing songs, make sure to teach her the “ABC Song.” This famous song (originally titled “The Schoolmaster”) was copyrighted in 1834 by C. Bradlee of Boston, Massachusetts, and has taught many generations of children their ABCs. The song is set to the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, and the lyrics are:
A-b-c-d-e-f-g
h-i-j-k, l-m-n-o-p
q-r-s
t-u-v
w, x
y and z.
Now I know my A-B-Cs,
Next time won’t you sing with me?
(The last line has some variants, such as “Won’t you come and play with me?” and “Tell me what you think of me”.) Repetition of the song will help your child memorize the order of the letters even before he can identify them by sight.
Other important alphabet-learning materials include classic toys such as a basic set of ABC blocks. Look for a well-made, durable set – they may very well become a family heirloom for your grandchildren! ABC blocks with animal pictures are interesting for your child, and a set of blocks that has numbers and math symbols as well as letters will help with math learning when your child plays “school”. As your child begins to learn the letters by sight, play spelling games with the blocks: ask your child what word she would like you to spell (such as “Mama” or her own name) and then have her help you find the letters.
Alphabet puzzles, too, can assist your preschooler in learning the sequence of the letters. Many alphabet puzzles have a picture under each letter, such as an apple under the letter “A”. ABC puzzles for older children have the lowercase letters as well as the capitals; unless both versions of the letter are on the same puzzle piece, however, this kind of puzzle may be overly confusing for a young child just learning the capitals.
Once your child has learned the ABC song and knows what most of the letters look like, you may wish to make or purchase ABC flash cards. You and your child can take turns quizzing each other – and your little one will have fun “helping” you guess the correct letter.
Again, the key to learning effectively is not to be too heavy-handed, and to focus on the quality of the time you spend together. Don’t continue with any given activity when your child becomes tired of it or isn’t in the mood for it; instead, you can draw pictures together – with your child providing the art and with you writing captions, so the child sees how the alphabet is used in daily life.
And sometimes, it’s perfectly fine to build a tower with the ABC blocks without looking at the letters at all.
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