Stay At Home Educator

intentional teaching for purposeful learning

  • About
    • Copyright / Disclosure / Privacy Policy
    • Contact
  • Preschool Lesson Plans
  • Literacy
  • STEAM
  • Development
  • Thematic Activities
  • Play Ideas
  • Shop
    • Cart
    • Checkout
    • My Account

Letter Recognition Activities for Preschool and Kindergarten

This post may contain affiliate links, which means that at no cost to you, I may earn a small sum if you click through and make a purchase.

April 21, 2022 by Sarah Punkoney, MAT

Teachers are always on the look-out for effective letter recognition activities, because learning to recognize letters and sounds is a critical step in learning how to read.

One of the first steps your child will take in learning to read is developing a skill called letter recognition. Before your young learner can start to sound out words, blend syllables together, or master other early reading fundamentals, they’ll need to be able to identify letters.

The Importance of Letter Recognition in Early Childhood

Why teaching letter recognition is important in early childhood
Letter recognition is a critical skill in early childhood.

Are you teaching letter recognition skills to your preschoolers? When it comes to pre-reading skills, letter recognition is an important part!

This post is going to share all about recognition of letters as well as loads of letter recognition activities so your preschooler can start their pre-reading journey.

FAQ About How to Teach Letter Recognition

Teaching letter identification is a lot about teaching preschoolers the alphabet. Here are some frequently asked questions about how to teach the alphabet (and letter recognition skills) to preschoolers.

How do I teach the alphabet to preschoolers?

Preschoolers need a lot of exposure to the alphabet. They need explicit instruction as well as plenty of indirect alphabet instruction.

That’s where letter knowledge builds through playful and natural activities in day to day life. To start teaching your preschooler the alphabet, try these things:

~ Read lots and lots of picture books!
~ Point out print around you.
~ Teach your child the letters of his name.
~ Teach each letter explicitly.
~ Do lots of whole alphabet activities, too.
~ Do hands-on alphabet activities.
~ Sing letter songs.

What order should I teach letters to preschoolers?

The alphabet should not be taught in alphabetical order. Teaching the alphabet in order puts a big focus on those beginning letters. Those are probably going to be the ones that your child sees and remembers most, since that Alphabet Song is so catchy!

Instead, teach the letters in order of how frequently they appear easily decodable words. Letters like s, t, r, m, n, a, o, and p should be taught first. These are “high-frequency” letters and emphasis on these letters first will allow children to quickly start reading simple words.

What are some homeschool alphabet activities?

Many preschool alphabet activities that are done in the classroom can also be done at home. Beginning sound activities like these Beginning Sound Picture Seek Mats are a good option, as well as these Beginning Sound Fill-in Cards and these Year Long Alphabet Find and Circle Worksheets.

  • * Preschool Literacy Centers Bundle
    * Preschool Literacy Centers Bundle
    Sale Product on sale
    $55.00 $45.00
    Add to cart

What is Letter Recognition?

Alphabetic recognition is sometimes called letter recognition or letter identification, but all three terms have the same meaning.  Letter recognition activities refer to the ability to visually recognize letters of the alphabet through hands-on learning activities and these have critical importance in early childhood education.

Effective alphabet activities that aid in teaching letter recognition include:

  • matching same case letters
  • matching uppercase letters with lowercase letters
  • naming letters in both cases
  • distinguishing between similarly shaped letters like C/G, M/W, d/b and p/q

Some might even go so far to say that true letter recognition also includes the ability to name each letter and match that letter name with its written form, both upper and lower case, and in both manuscript and cursive.

Children need frequent exposure to letters through hands-on alphabet games and activities when learning letter recognition.
Child learning letters and numbers. Kid with colorful wooden abc blocks. Little boy spelling words with educational block toys. Kids doing school homework at white desk. Bedroom for preschool children

Why do Letter Recognition Activities with Kids?

Letter recognition is important because it enables beginning readers to figure out how printed text is associated with the spoken language.

Having a mastery of letter names can make learning letter sounds easier for young readers. The sounds of many letter names are closely related to the sound the letter makes.

For example, say letter “d” and you will hear the /d/ sound.  Say letter “m” and you will hear the /m/ sound.  Many letters of the alphabet follow this, so even while focusing on letter recognition, children are also being exposed to and learning letter sound. This increases their overall letter knowledge.

This is why alphabetic recognition is one of the very first skills children learn while they are beginning readers.  It parallels phonological awareness and comes before phonemic awareness and decoding.

  • Phonics Preschool Lesson Plans
    Phonics Preschool Lesson Plans
    $36.00
    Add to cart
  • Phonological Awareness Preschool Lesson Plans
    Phonological Awareness Preschool Lesson Plans
    $22.00
    Add to cart

How Do You Teach Recognition of Letters?

Researchers and seasoned teachers agree that effective letter identification instruction is a careful balance of both an explicit introduction and instruction of specific letters and frequent exposure to those letters in multiple forms, both isolated and within the text.

More simply put, the best way to teach your preschoolers the alphabet is to follow these perimeters:

  • explicit introduction of letters
  • explicit instruction of individual letters
  • frequent exposure to letters in multiple forms
  • frequent isolated exposure
  • frequent within-text exposure

This kind of combined instruction helps children learn letter names, shapes, and sounds within relation to each other in a fun and exciting way.

Alphabet cards can be used when teaching letter recognition and letter identification skills to young children.
Children should be offered a variety of learning materials for learning the alphabet. This can include hands-on alphabet activities and some letter recognition worksheets for older children.

Easy Letter Recognition Activities for Preschoolers and Kindergarteners

Following are a few very simple, easy to prepare letter recognition activities to help you get started. You’ll find some free alphabet cards, hands-on activities like sensory bins, and even visual discrimination practice. Use these ideas for providing extra practice for struggling kindergarten students, or for small group practice in preschool.

ABC Song

Sing the alphabet song to your child everyday and invite your little one to join in.  If you have alphabet cards at home, point out each letter as you sing.

Here is one of our favorite YouTube playlists of alphabet songs that feature each letter of the alphabet.

ABC Books

Read alphabet books to your child. There are literally hundreds available, some even story like.  Invite your child to talk with you about the pictures. Have your preschooler trace the letter on each page, too.

Here are some of our all-time favorite alphabet books by the author Jerry Pallota. Preschoolers love his ABC books because they are centered around a specific theme.

Additionally, you can create your own alphabet books. My interactive alphabet books are one of my most popular products.

  • Interactive Alphabet Books
    Interactive Alphabet Books
    $8.00
    Add to cart

ABC Cards

Display alphabet cards in your child’s bedroom or somewhere else very visible to your child.  Say the alphabet each day, pointing to the letters as you say them.  Make it a part of your child’s bedtime or morning time routine.

Alphabet Activities to Do with Alphabet Photo Cards

Write ABCs

Give your child every opportunity to explore letters by allowing time to write focus letters.  Allow your child to explore writing through sensory play and various writing materials.  Try markers, crayons, pencils, finger paints, or writing in various materials such as hair gel, shaving cream, paint, sand, or salt.

FREE Alphabet Tracing Cards with Beginning Sounds

 

Build ABCs

Give your child buttons, pom poms, cotton balls, small rocks, bolts, unifix cubes, or another set of counters to place on a letter print out. Letter building is the preferred way to teach letter formation, over pen and paper activities like preschooler letter recognition worksheets.

  • Letter Formation Mats with Beginning Sounds
    Letter Formation Mats with Beginning Sounds
    $5.00
    Add to cart
  • Fine Motor Letter Formation Practice Mats
    Fine Motor Letter Formation Practice Mats
    $4.00
    Add to cart

 

Create ABC Crafts

Make an animal out of the letter staring with the same animal sound.  For example, make a duck out of the letter d, or a moose out of letter m.  Totally Tots has a great collection of ideas here.  Red Ted has a fun collection of hand print letter ideas that are so fun!

ABCs in the Environment

Point out letters in everyday print, such as product boxes, store signs, and billboards.  Click here for my post on environmental print.

Free Printable Letter Recognition Activities

Researchers and educators agree that beginning readers experience more success in reading when they can rapidly and accurately recall letter names before they learn basic phonics. This post was loaded with information on why we should teach the abs, but also will activities to teach the alphabet.

Here are a few more free letter identification printables for preschoolers.

Free Chicken & Egg Alphabet Matching Cards
5 Alphabet Activities + Free Printable
FREE Animal Alphabet Puzzles Printable for Preschoolers

More Resources on Letter Recognition Activities

Teaching Reading Sourcebook by CORE 
Phonics from A to Z by Wiley Blevins
Straight Talk about Reading: How Parents Can Make a Difference During the Early Years by Susan L. Hall and Louisa C. Moats 

Sarah Punkoney, MAT

I’m Sarah, an educator turned stay-at-home-mama of five! I’m the owner and creator of Stay At Home Educator, a website about intentional teaching and purposeful learning in the early childhood years. I’ve taught a range of levels, from preschool to college and a little bit of everything in between. Right now my focus is teaching my children and running a preschool from my home. Credentials include: Bachelors in Art, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction.

stayathomeeducator.com/

Filed Under: alphabetic principle, Letter Identification and Sounds, Literacy Tagged With: featured

« The Ultimate Guide to Teaching Shapes to Preschoolers
The Ultimate Guide to Teaching Positions and Patterns »

Comments

  1. JDaniel4's Mom says

    June 8, 2012 at 1:26 pm

    I totally agree. I think you can start early with reading alphabet books and putting out letter in our environment.

Trackbacks

  1. Letter Identification: Alphabet Train » Stay At Home Educator says:
    June 4, 2012 at 10:07 am

    […] play alphabet review games frequently because of the research that supports it.  Check out my post here for more […]

  2. Step 2: Decide On How To Teach Reading And Math says:
    May 10, 2015 at 2:21 pm

    […] development, phonological and phonemic awareness, and listening comprehension, and well as weekly letter identification and sound practice, and lots and lots of picture book reading.  The skills introduced are incremental, and therefor […]

  3. ABC Letter Stack Game - Stay At Home Educator says:
    December 7, 2016 at 10:51 am

    […] Why Teach the ABC’s by Stay at Home Educator […]

  4. Simple Alphabet Printables - The Letter B Worksheet says:
    September 14, 2017 at 4:58 pm

    […] There are many different ways to teach your children the alphabet. One of these is to focus on one letter at a time, and that’s where these worksheets come in handy. Of course, not all children thrive with worksheets, but my boys love them. It is important that you don’t solely rely on worksheets for your child to learn – instead, include games and other activities to make it more fun and help the information stick. If you’re looking for other ways to help your child learn the alphabet, check out this handy post from Stay at Home Educator. […]

  5. 5 Alphabet Activities for Preschoolers Using Just a Set of Letters says:
    April 2, 2018 at 2:58 pm

    […] you have a set of letter manipulatives (or even just an alphabet puzzle?) Make the most of that simple letter learning toy with these five fun alphabet activities for preschoolers using just a single set of letter […]

  6. 6 Snowy Printable Winter Activities for Preschoolers says:
    January 3, 2019 at 5:16 am

    […] printable winter activities consist of three letter activities and three math activities. You only need a few extra materials that I’m sure you already have […]

Search This Site

Stay Connected

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter


PRINTABLE SHOP
PLANNING
LITERACY
MATH
DEVELOPMENT
THEMES
PLAY
Visit Sarah @ Stay At Home Educator's profile on Pinterest.
Stay At Home Educator

© Copyright 2015 Foodie Pro Theme · Genesis Framework · Customizations by Kara Carrero ·

Wordpress