Introducing Letters to a Preschooler - Games, Ideas?

My son does this to me often. I have had to get creative in our learning ways. One of the ways is that in the shower I gave him the shower crayons and that is where we have learned our ABC's and how to write his names and our shapes. It seems like he was having way more fun in the shower "playing" and "drawing" to realize that Mom was teaching a lesson to him.

I also have bought him a ton of the cheapie notebooks that are especially for him. He can do with them what HE wants to do, if he wants to scribble he can do so. But, I have found him more often coming to me and asking me to help him write "grocery lists". I write grapes, tortillias, milk, etc... and then he copies below.

We are still working on letter recognition but we practice our lists and such.

Good luck!!

2 moms found this helpful

Starfall.com is great for pre-reading, reading and letter recognition.

I wouldn't push the writing. Find a way to make it a game.

Maybe let him try to write on "forbidden" things. Admittedly, this is not for everyone. When I was a nanny the boy I watched hated, and I mean hated anything that had to do with writing. One day in the kitchen I picked up a dry erase marker and let him practice writing on the glass part of the back door. He loved it. We did discuss the rules - only dry erase and only with permission. He was older, but there were never any issues. I allow my son (with supervision and NEVER in front of his little sister) to practice his name in dry erase on the mirror in his bathroom.

You can also try shaving cream. I did this when I taught math. You squirt shaving cream, pudding or whipped cream on a table (not wood) and allow the kids to "write" in it with their fingers.

Writing in sand is fun for some too.

The kids all love writing with sidewalk chalk in our neighborhood around here.

You can also get bathroom crayons and let him write in the tub.

1 mom found this helpful

fisherprice.com
http://funschool.kaboose.com/preschool/learn-abcs/index.html
starfall.com
http://schools.4j.lane.edu/howard/howard_site/Kindergarte...

sand and glitter in a pan to form letter with his fingers.

1 mom found this helpful

Both of you are doing GREAT!!! The most important thing is to have fun. Don't push the writing, it'll come in time. One of the best things you can do, which your already doing is read, read, read. Make weekly trips to the library.

When my daughter was in preschool, they did a letter a week. They would learn it's sound, find objects that started with that letter, etc.

One of the fun ways to write letters, is to cover a table with a cheap plastic table cloth, spray on a large dab of shaving cream. Then write letters or draw pictures with your finger.

Sidewalk chalk may be a way to get him writing. Remember make it fun. Draw pictures of simple items that have 3 or 4 letters, and write the name of the object under it. Let him do whatever he wants, he may follow your lead, he may just scribble, it doesn't matter.

Have fun learning together!!!

1 mom found this helpful

I taught my 3 year old niece how to read and write using a magic doodle. You know those little magnetic boards with the attached special pen that you can slide the bar and erase whatever you drew/wrote. She loved it. Best part is, I would write a word like CAT and she would trace over it then try to write the word under my word.
Wow he speaks Dutch, that might be cool to put the same word in english and Dutch next to each other. But then again I am thinking as an adult who would find it fun. =) Good Luck!

Hi,

At BJ's I bought these little Brain Quest packages. Like your son, my son wanted nothing to do with writing and he's 3 1/2. He loves this Brain Quest and is now having a lot of success at writing his lettlers and numbers with this little packet. It's worth a shot. I think they're around $5. Good luck.

I think it's important to not push so much! He will learn it in time, there's no premium in intense early mastery of academic concepts. Sounds like he already recognizes the letters, but the issue is writing.

Back off on the writing, and instead focus on developing his small motor skills. It may be that he doesn't want to work with a pencil or crayon! Holding it and maneuvering it can be problematic - which may be why he does it with a squirt bottle but not on paper.

He's either refusing because it is difficult, or because he knows he is being pressured. There are other ways to accomplish your goal.

Legos, other building toys, puzzles with regular pieces (not the wooden ones with the pegs at this age), arts & crafts where he has to manage small items - like gluing googly eyes on a face, placing beads on a string, assembling foam shapes on a picture frame, painting with a brush - will help develop another skill set which will help him.

Then let the writing develop in kindergarten with the help of the teacher without you forcing him into it before he has the necessary skills or interest. Rest assured that he is learning and developing, maybe in an area that is of less interest to you, but which will serve him well. Allow him to be a bit of an individual and I promise you he will learn to write in due time!

We worked with my daughter everyday trying to integrate recognizing the letters and their sounds but it never seemed to make much impact despite constant work. So I got leap frog letter factory dvd(which I saw on here from other mom recomendations) and literaly within 2 weeks she knew every single leter without fail, and understood their sounds and how they work together in words(not just the beginning letter of a word either). So after that, our everyday discusions she actually starts about leters and words and just a month later she is doing kindergarten level workbooks and can write about a third of the alphebet completely on her own.
I know some people don't like movies or tv but the dvd really isolates what the letters look and sound like in a fun way and if your child is a visual learner this could be the best way for them.

My daughter is 5 and has no interest in writing. Flat out refuses to write anything. She has been at home with me, no daycare or preschool, and is starting kindergarten this year. We had a woman come out to our house 3 times to see if she could encourage her to write her name. She had us use shaving creme to write in, pipe cleaners to build letters (she loved this one, all the colors and bending them into the shapes of letters) also had us write her name and then had her use the dots (the things they use in bingo to mark the letters) they come in a bunch of colors and she would have to dot along the lines of each letter in her name. She finally wrote her name. She still is not real excited about writing but with these different ideas she will at least do some writing. Sounds like you are really on the right track. Good Luck!!

www.starfall.com (someone else mentioned this) is a great site for teaching letters and reading.

I taught my eldest son to read when he was 3, and his younger brother is learning at 2 1/2. The younger one has always been interested in writing, but his older brother, despite being an early reader, had no interest in writing until well past 4. So I just wanted to mention that all kids show interest at different stages. If your child is interested in something, explore that area, but don't push the others. It sounds like you're already on track here, but I worried about my son's lack of interest in writing when other kids his age were already writing their names. Then one day he just decided he was interested. So don't worry; it will come.

As for letters and reading, try taking a walk and finding sticks that look like letters. Try sidewalk chalk. Alphabet books -- my boys love "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and "Have you Ever Seen?" (which is out of print, but check the library or used bookstores on Amazon). Also Dr. Seuss's ABC Book. These three are all good because they have both lowercase and uppercase letters.

"Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" is the book I've used with my kids.

Rebus stories (where the kids "read" the pictures and you read the words) are supposed to help with the concept of reading. My kids love these. Highlights Magazine has them. There are others; search for "rebus" on Amazon.

Find alphabet cookies (Trader Joe's has some) or cereal or pasta and help your child hunt for letters or spell his name.

My older son also really liked the Hooked on Phonics DVD. We found it really cheap (with the rest of the Hooked on Phonics material) at Building 19 years ago, but the library might have it as well.

Good luck, and have fun!

My daughter was writing her name at 3 1/2 but neice who is a year older had no interest at all. I tried to get her to write her name and she wanted nothing to do with it. Then, for no apparent reason, she just wrote it. Don't push him. It might just make him not want to more. You'll be surprised at the leaps and bounds he'll seem to make all of a sudden. I suppose he knows how, but just doesn't want to right now. Don't worry, he will eventually. Just leave it up to him. Leap Frog Letter Factory is a great DVD for learning letters. When I bought it, my daughter already knew all her letters but this helped her with the sounds the letters made. She knew then after 2 times of watching it. I tested her and she was right every time, even after a week or two. Its geared to children and does a great job.

A chalkboard might be nice – your son may not feel confident about his fine motor skills (these develop later sometimes, especially in boys), but making larger letters with his whole arm might work for him. Or forming letter shapes with clay, or an assortment of dry noodles, or with a large paintbrush or fingerpaints. He is obviously already learning to recognize the letters, even if he won't write yet.

Also, starfall.com is a nice reading site that my grandson (same age) enjoys occasionally. I wouldn't push too hard on the writing yet. He'll learn that in school when he needs to, and you just want all his learning to be encouraging fun until then.