Let’s Learn Our Abc’s Using Magnetic Letters
Now that we have a list of all of the letters that are known, unknown, and confusions, we can get started teaching the rest of the alphabet. I’m sure there are people who start with A and trudge through the alphabet in alphabetical sequence, but there really isn’t any reason to do that. Not all letters are created equal! There are some letters that a beginning reader and writer will not find as useful in the beginning. Let’s start with something that is very useful and something that your child will be excited about!
Teaching Their Name
One of the most important words to your child is their name! They own that word. It’s how people identify them. Those are the most important first letters to teach. If you are lucky, their name is magical like Christopher! So many letters that can be used to make new words. If their name is Ann, it will be easy to teach, but we will have a harder time making words with just the first name. It would be useful to teach their middle name or last name as well.
Different ways to teach The Alphabet and their name
- Magnetic Letters
- Skywriting
- Rainbow Writing
- Letter Bead Necklace
- Alphabet DIY Book
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Magnetic Letters
Make sure you have enough magnetic letters to make their name on either the refrigerator or on a magnetic whiteboard or easel. If you have Capital letters in your set, talk about how their name is special and begins with a Capital letter. If not, just use all lowercase.
Letters In Their Name
Put all the letters at your child’s eye level on the fridge or magnetic surface. Tell them, “These are the letters in your name”. Show them how to make their name while you say their name slowly. (I never miss an opportunity to link the idea that the letters make sounds, even this early) Now that you have demonstrated for them, take the letters back apart and put them back at eye level in order from Left to Right with space between them. Have your child make their name by pulling the letters down and putting them close together. Their name does not have any spaces between the letters, so take this opportunity to reinforce that. It makes teaching other words easier later.
Directionality
Make sure they are going in order from Left to Right, not just grabbing letters randomly. You want to encourage directionality from the beginning. When they are able to make their name with the letters in order, the next step is speed. Have them put their name together as fast as they can. Speed equals Mastery!
Make a Tornado
Once they have mastered their name with the letters presented in order, its time to mix them up! Since I like to make everything more dramatic and fun, we always have a tornado mix them up and make wind noises! Use both hands and mix up the letters while making wind noises, put them back at eye level and have your child make their name. If they can’t do it, use more magnetic letters for an example or give them a written copy if you don’t have enough letters.
Magnetic Letter Recommendation
Using Magnetic Letters is the most concrete version of the alphabet, so it’s the best one to begin with. My most economical recommendation for a large set of letters is the Educational Insights Color-Coded AlphaMagnets and MathMagnets, 214 piece set on Amazon. I purchased the small set that was multi-colored so I could review them, but if I was buying letters for the first time, this is the set I would get.
These include the Uppercase and Lowercase letters that you need as well as numbers and math symbols. They also come in assorted colors, but for beginning readers having all the vowels red will be a real plus when you tell them that every word has a vowel. There is also a lower price collection that has 42 letters if you would prefer that.
Check out my Best Products for Teaching Beginning Reading post to read more about why I like these letters.
Hands On Learning
None of these ways to learn the alphabet need a workbook or worksheet. All of these ways are memorable and build on each other. When teaching the alphabet, you will not need to work on only one way until it’s mastered. You will work on all of these ways at the same time… just maybe not the same day!
Such great ideas! I will pass this along to my daughter for my granddaughter
Thanks so much for your comments! So happy that it will be useful for your granddaughter!
I don’t have any little ones of my own yet, but I love your practical advice for teaching the letters of their names. I will keep this in mind for when it’s my turn!
Thanks so much for your comments! I’m glad you feel the information is useful!
Some great ideas. Love the tornado one.
Thanks so much for your comments! The tornado idea is a fun one!
Wonderful! I was in Early Childhood Education for 20+ years and this is inspiring to see!
Thanks, Rachel!
Great ideas! I will be using some of these with my Grandchildren, I find that they love to learn while playing and they don’t even know it a lesson!
Thanks, Holly! I agree if it seems like playing they will keep learning and not even realize it!
What great info! Plan on sharing this with my daughter!
Great tips. My kids loved magnetic letters on the fridge!
I love the tornado idea instead of me just messing them up and saying do it again! Thanks for the tips, I’ll put them to use!
Since it’s fun to do, you can get them to practice many more times – which is the point!
My kids are almost grown, but I wish I had known this 15 years ago! Thanks for sharing 🙂
You’re welcome!
Thank you for the great info!!! My son is getting to be that age and this is so helpful.
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Super ideas! Magnets make learning so much fun! Great post!
Thanks! Magnets do make learning fun!
Great ideas. I definitely implemented some of these when I was a nanny!
Thanks, Katie!
This looks like a great way to get kids involved with the letters in their name. I know my granddaughter has learned her name, and it made her feel so much more confident about learning more! Now she is picking up speed.
The Name is the key when just getting started. The names of other people in the family and pets are also very motivating!
I LOVED playing with magnet letters when I was a kid. We had them all over the fridge!
I have a 2-year-old, and she sings the alphabet song all the time, but I don’t feel it means much to her. I’ll try this approach, I think she’ll find it super fun! Thanks for sharing
Singing the Alphabet is a great tool when they get stuck and haven’t quite memorized the names of all the letters. Sometimes kids will see a letter and sing the Alphabet until they get to its name. It helps them remember what the letter is called.
Great ideas! My 22-month-old granddaughter will be here soon and I will use some of these with her. She knows her alphabet and recognizes most of the letters. She points them out in signs. Thanks for sharing!
This is one of the tools we used to teach our boys the alphabet. They were on the refrigerator and they were always trying to identify and spell. Highly recommend!
Great ideas! Thank you!
I love that magnetic letters have been around so long and they are still just as useful as always.