What is the best way to teach a 4yr. old how to write and read the alphabet?

Question

She is 31/2 and knows her abc's but has trouble writing them

Answer 1

My daughter is 4 and is learning how to write letters and numbers. She takes a calculator and uses it for the numbers (as she can recognize them) and then uses the keyboard to look at the letters, but, has a harder time because she cannot recoginze all of them. You know those tablets that are available for children that have the letters in the beginning pages. You might find some and have her practice looking at them, then copying them. Another thing, you write the letter and leave her a space beside your letters so that she can write hers beside yours.
My daughter likes to "sign" my letters by tracing over them.

Answer 2

I found a wonderful computer game on the Internet for reading the alphabet. It's called Elmo's Key-board-o-rama and is on the Sesame Street website: http://www.sesameworkshop.org/sesamestreet/games/flash.php?contentId=9495524. Type in a letter or number from the keyboard and Elmo says what it is and there is a short animation.

My son took an early interest in the alphabet so I would have him sit on my lap to play the game at the computer. By the time he was two he could type the letters himself and knew all the letters. He just loved the game. I've told fome friends about this and their children loved the game, too. If you are feeling challenged getting your child to be interested in the alphabet, this may get you over the hump.

For writing the alphabet, I've picked up some dry-erase books that have traceable letters. I also found that doing mazes helps with his ability to move his hand in different directions much like what is required with drawing letters.

One final thought: my son picked up on letters early because it was something he was good at and so it was fun for him. On the other hand, he had been delayed with certain motor skills. He got there eventually, but the key was to try and stay patient and find new ways to help him learn so that it would be fun.

Good luck!

Answer 3

First of all, make certain that she can hold a pencil in an orthodox way. You don't want her to develop bad writing habits. If she cannot hold a pencil properly, do things with her to help her develop hand strength. She can use manipulative toys (Lego's, K Nex), play with play dough, use a small scrub brush to scrub a table or potatoes. When you feel her hand is strong enough, you can get her a pencil grip to teach her how to hold a pencil.

Start off having her trace letters in a dish of cornmeal or sand with her finger. This helps eliminate frustration because it can easily be erased. You can also use a yellow marker and write letters on a piece of paper that she can trace. Stencils are great too.

You can play "I Spy" with her for her to learn letter sounds and recognize letters. Have some cards with the letter symbols on them and get some objects that start with those symbol sounds. For example, you can have a doll, a fork, and a car. Lay them in front of you. Hold up the symbol "d" and say "I spy something that starts with the sound "d." She can then take the card and lay it next to the doll.

Remember, you don't want her knowing all of the Kindergarten curriculum before she starts school otherwise she will become bored. It's like learning German before you take a German class. She should know the abc song, be able to recognize most letters and know some letter sounds, and be able to write her name (Upper case first letter followed by lower case letters). Teach her only lower case letters except when writing her name. Keep it fun! Good luck!

Answer 4

It is not developmentally appropriate to expect a child of that age to write and read the alphabet. Work on developing fine motor skills at an age appropriate level. Fine motor development is the precursor to writing ability. Ideas for developing the fine muscles in the hand are:
* painting and drawing with crayons (drawing recognizable shapes and representational pictures come before writing letters- crawl before you walk)
*squeezing, rolling, pinching playdough to build strength
*squirt/water plant with those spritzy/ spray bottles
*scooping sand/rice/beans with the hand and filling cups,etc to strengthen the muscles in the palms of the hand
*Roll playdough snakes and form into shapes and letters
Alphabet letters & numbers should be taught incidentally as you encounter them in the environment "Look at the big yellow M in front of MacDonald's !!, "I see a 4 on that sign- you are 4 years old!" etc.

Answer 5

I dont know about the "best"
But what we did with my son is we started him by identifing the letters while reading to him.
So when we would read we would pick out all the letter A's on the page. So on and so forth. I also think colouring help him get a grasp on using a pencil.

After a while of idendifiying the letters he would follow along while I read with his finger.
Then we started writing his name and family members.

Answer 6

She does not have the motor skills to write. You will just make her feel bad by forcing the issue. At 3-1/2, she should be playing with other children and learning how get along with them.

Answer 7

It is okay. Try mazes in the shapes of letters then when she follows the maze it makes the letter. Try play-dough to build hand strength. Sidewalk chalk is also a good tactic. It takes boys longer than girls usually to grasp the concept. DOn't push and she/he will develop skills as she gets the "big picture" of how letters make words.

Answer 8

Practice on her name first. Then go letter by letter each week. Have a letter for the day and have her write it like 5 times each day. Then the following week, practice the next letter. Keep going till she learns them all

Answer 9

Look on line for a program called "Handwriting Without Tears". I have a 4 year old who is developmentally delayed and thanks to this program recognizes every letter of the alphabet and can write them on cue.

Answer 10

Start with flash cards. I'm amazed you waited this long to start teaching something as basic as the alphabet.