Games To Teach The Alphabet To Children
The first steps of learning and games always go hand in hand. Learning should be fun and capturing children’s attention is key. For this reason, we have compiled the best games to teach the alphabet to children.
Wooden letters to teach the alphabet
When children learn the alphabet, they are very young and need to investigate and explore their environment and everything around them. Using this fact to your advantage is a great advantage, since they will be interested from the first moment. Something as simple as the wooden letters will be the starting point.
Game 1: place the letters
Let the children pick them up, move them and turn them. Now, draw on a paper, for example, the alphabet or its name in capital letters, so that it recognizes the letters easily. You will have to find the letters with the same shape and place them on top of the ones that are drawn. It is very similar to the game of putting geometric shapes through the correct hole.
Game 2: draw the letters
How many times have you drawn your children’s hands on paper and they were speechless when they removed them and saw that they were still drawn? Why not do the same with the letters? They can form simple words, like the names of the family or cat or house . Thus, little by little, they will also learn what those words mean.
Game 3: a letter and a picture
For this game you can use animals or everyday objects that children can easily recognize. The more familiar your children are with the words and the easier they are to pronounce, the better.
Since graphical representation is very important, the goal will be for each letter to be associated with its representation. For example, the a can be a yellow bee; the g, a gray cat; or the f, a fountain with flowers around it. If you try to use several pictures of words that begin with those sounds, it will be much easier for them to remember the alphabet.
Secret code to teach the alphabet
The dynamics of this game is very simple and will help children to remember the order of the letters. To do this, you do not need more than a paper and a pencil. Write the alphabet at the top and assign a number to each letter (A 1, B 2, C 3…).
Take the numbers as a reference and write a word or a short phrase only with the corresponding numbers. Children will have to exercise the ability to relate numbers and letters, abstract thinking and writing. Plus, they can go one step further: let them make their own secret messages to see if they can communicate like real spies.
Other games to teach the alphabet
There are dozens of games to teach the alphabet, since creativity has no limits. We have already seen some of them, although now we are going to focus on other games for the little ones. Because how can children be taught the alphabet, children who have not yet written?
songs
The simplest (and most effective) option is through songs. Musical memory is incredible, as we remember the lyrics, rhythm and melody of a song even when a long time passes or we think we have forgotten it.
Why not use it to our advantage? Children will have fun as they learn to recite the letters of the alphabet. Another variant of the songs is that, if they have an alphabet in front of them, they follow the letters with their finger at the same time they sing them. This way they will begin to relate the sound with the spelling.
Mimic and lip reading
Other alternative games, such as mime, help children match the shape of the letters with their name. This can be done in multiple ways for them to exercise body language and abstract thinking:
- They can make the shape of the letters with their fingers or with their body and have someone else guess them.
- Draw the letters in the air or on a piece of paper with your finger for someone else to recognize them.
In addition, the lip reading game helps them to better vocalize the letters when they speak. And since they have to exaggerate the shape of the lips and the position of the mouth, it’s a great pronunciation exercise.
