How do you get your 4 yr old to remember what letter of the alphabet is what?

Question

I have a 4 yr old son and he can't seem to remember what letter is what. Even though I go over it with him 1 min later he can't remember or he say's he does not know and starts to look sad. I don't know if he is just not listening, being lazy, ETC...( I relly want him to learn and excell in school.)

Answer 1

He's probably overwhelemed, 26 letters is a lot for a 4 year old to learn all in one sitting. Break it down. Get some alphabet magnets and set 4 or 5 out at a time. When he is able to recognize the first handful of letters, give him a few more. Keep reverting back to the original ones you worked with him on to make sure he is retaining what he learns. When you see that he is remembering what he learns, be sure to reward him. Good luck ... patience is the key.

Answer 2

This is not necessarily a developmentally appropriate activity for a four year old. The best thing to do is to enjoy reading with your son and play fun word games and songs. The more fun and enthusiasm you have for words and reading and share that with him, the better he will become with them.

Drilling him on the alphabet will only stress him out.

If you spend time reading and playing fun sound and word games, he will love language. Let HIM take the lead learning letters and symbols, answer his questions, he WILL ask them.

Children are naturally inquisitive and will learn naturally. If you push him and he feels shame about what he doesn't know yet, it will make learning a drag.

Dr Seuss books are fabulous with alliteration, playing cool sound games like saying words that start with the same sounds (you don't need to say the letter, JUST PLAY!!!!!)

Answer 3

Try working the alphabet into everything you do throughout the day. Pick one letter each day and look for it everywhere. See if he can be a detective and find the letter of the day in his story books, at the grocery store, in his puzzles, on the refrigerator, on his cereal box. Do a craft project: give him a piece of paper with the letter of the day on it and have him color it, or paint it, or glue macaroni or colored rice on it. Let him draw that letter in shaving cream or finger paint. Trace the letter on his hand or on his back and have him guess what it is. When he plays with his ABC puzzle, sing the ABC song and point to the letters, and really emphasize the letter of the day. Then the next day do a different letter. At his age, children learn best when things are low pressure and fun so keep it light. With lots of variety, patience, and some creativity, your son will soon understand that those strange squiggles he sees everywhere are really symbols/letters and that they mean something.

Answer 4

If he doesn't know the alphabet yet do not confuse him bey saying more than one letter at a time. Get some foam letters or flash cards, he should know his alphabet by now. My son is only two and can recognize most of the letters and can pronounce them all.

Answer 5

Four year olds are not lazy. They are active, developing, growing creatures. They must have things introduced and reinforced in a nonthreatening, fun way. Make everything a game. Have a letter of the day. You could even extend it to letter of the week. Take as much time as your child needs, but only concentrate on one letter at a time and build from there. For "T" day, cut out pictures or words from magazines and newspapers that begin with "T", serve tacos, turkey sandwiches, tangerines and tomatos for meals. Go on a walk and collect things that begin with "T". Label everything in your house with an index card that begins with a "T". Go on a field trip to the theater. And always, always, always read to your child! Just make certain you do not push your child too hard, or she/he will clam up and become overwhelmed. Finally, relax, he/she will learn more letters in kindergarten.

Answer 6

Be sure that your making the learning fun, not pushing. Sometimes things get pushed so much kids shut down and just don't know from either to much repeatition, or because they think they are letting their parents down.

Associate the letters with words things he likes, I know there are many flash cards out there, but think about going around and getting pictures from books, magazines, or printing from online, of his favorite things.

If he likes Thomas the Tank Engine, great way to remember T, if he likes Elmo great way to show him E.

If he likes Cookies, or Hot dogs you have H and C.

There are many books out there with letters. Each page having pictures and words for specific letters. You can get books that have animals, or ones that have a variety of images. Reading different books like that with lots of color can make it more fun.

First go over the pictures, getting him to recognize the pictures, and or colors, eventually he will learn the letters that go with them as well.

When it is a fun game, and you are over the top happy whenever he is right, and never sad but cheerfully telling him the correct answer when he is wrong he may begin learning easier.

http://www.kbears.com/animals/n.html

or you can try to sit with him at the computer at sites like this, and play the game of animals that start with letter.... it might help if he likes animals.

Answer 7

Learning is fun!! Make it fun! I teach 3 and 4's. Letter recognition is a required field of teaching. I was warned not to expect to much. I have high expectation for my class. We started out with letters of the week. The letter of the week was based on the first letter of someones name. Monday's we make the letter out of playdoh. Tuesday they guess what is in the surprise bag by clues given to them. The items always begin with the letter of the week. Wed. teacher cuts the letter out of paper. Thurs. we do a letter pattern on the board with upper and lower case letter of the week. The children finish the pattern. We also make the sound of the letter, change a simple rhymes beginning letter sound to the letter of the week. For example The mitsy mitsy mider mimbed mup the mater mout. The children love this. We draw letters on each others back or in the air. We go on letter hunts through out the room. I now have 3 four year and 2 three year olds writing their names.
Always start with the letters in your child's name. Also use letters in families names. M is for mommy, D is for daddy, etc. A great cheap letter toy is the Leap Frog refrigerator magnet toy found at Walmart. It says the letter name, sound and sings the ABC's. Please remember not to test your son. Have fun so he does not know he's learning.

Answer 8

try working on one letter at a time...maybe the first letter of his name. make it FUN and not 'homework'...like for example, if his name is evan, go on an 'E' hunt. make it a game...you could pretend you are hiking through the jungle in search of the mighty 'e' or something...the whole alphabet would likely be too much for a 4yr old, so back up and slow down a bit.

also..there are two ways a child could show you he knows these things and one is easier than the other. 'expressive' is 'what letter is this?' and he answers you...receptive is if you show him two different letters ('O' and 'E', e.g.) and say 'show me O' and then he points. he may be able to do some letters receptively before he can access his memory to say them when asked.

also...don't worry...four is very young to know all his letters. here in Oregon, kids are not expected to know all their letters until the END of kindergarten.

Answer 9

Give him time...4 is still really young. My son is 6 in March, and has just strted school this week. He learnt his alphabet last year in pre-school. Before that I could only get him to learn a few letters. Unless he is ready, there is no point in pushing him. I had an old scrabble set, and we played around with that. You need to make it fun for him, at that age

Answer 10

I've always found good old fashioned flash cards worked good. Associate the letter with a word he knows.. ie: A is for Apple
After he learns the letters focus on the sounds. Most of all - make learning time fun :-)

Also, check with the pediatrician. Make sure there are no issues hampering his learning - just to be sure.