Fun Ways to Teach the Alphabet

Let’s Teach The Alphabet!

Learning the alphabet is such a crucial part of the kindergarten learning experience. Aside from phonological awareness skills, it is the first step our young students take towards becoming readers. Knowing this, I am always coming up with fun, engaging ways for children to learn the letters of the alphabet.

 

Young children thrive with consistency. Using similar activities to teach alphabet letters will help with independent practice. Center activities, alphabet crafts, books, and even the alphabet song all have a place in teaching the alphabet, especially since we know how important multiple exposures to content is for our young learners. The following listed activities are some of my favorite ways to teach the alphabet. 

 

Center Activities

Center time is a great time to reinforce students’ alphabet knowledge through different games and fun alphabet activities. There are so many different activities that students can do independently to practice the alphabet, such as using snap cubes to build the letters. This helps them to think about the shapes within each letter; plus, they get to have fun while building.

Another fun activity that could be used in centers is clip cards. Not only are clip cards easy to prepare, but they also require minimal supplies. Just print the cards and have some clothespins ready for student use. Clip cards can also be used in a variety of ways to teach the alphabet. Students can do an uppercase and lower case letters match, or even begin making the letter sounds connection with first sound/picture clip cards. Teaching in playful ways like this makes kids feel like they are playing fun games. Having these fun learning activities is such a great tool for most lesson plans!

You can even use fluency strips as a center activity. Students can point and say the name of each letter, or they can practice saying the sounds each letter makes.This can do wonders for their letter recognition skills. Either way, they are letter learning in a fun, hands-on way. 

Alphabet Books

Books about the alphabet can be another great way to teach the alphabet and spike student interest in the letters. This is a personal favorite book of mine: Chicka Chicka, Boom Boom. Students always love the silly things that the letters do and how the book creates characters from the letters. Teachers love that the book treats lowercase letters as the “babies,” while the uppercase letters are “mamas and papas.” This helps students see that there is a difference between uppercase and lowercase, even if they are the same letter. Overall, reading different books about the letters to students can be such a fun way to teach the alphabet and get students interested in it. 

 

Alphabet Crafts

Good news! The fun doesn’t stop yet. I’m excited to share with you great resources for alphabet crafts! Any time that students can use craft supplies in the classroom, they are sure to have a fun time, which is why students love the hands-on activities to practice the alphabet. These are great for building fine motor skills and coloring, cutting, and gluing are definitely an added bonus.

A long-time student favorite is creating letters using play dough. More advanced students can think about the shapes within the letter and mold it from memory, while other students may need the help of a letter mat to help them with letter formation. 

Bingo daubers are another fun craft supply that students can use when learning the alphabet. When given an outline of a letter, kindergarteners can use the paint dauber to dot the letter’s path of movement. As you can see, using craft supplies can help bring a lot of fun and novelty to learning the alphabet. 

Videos for Teaching the Alphabet

Another fun way to teach the alphabet is by using videos. YouTube has a lot of great creators who are constantly making new alphabet videos that teachers and parents can use with their students. Many of them include showing the letter on screen, while students listen to and sing a song about the letter. In other videos, students can trace the letter in the air while following along with the person on screen. There are even videos where students can dance along and use other body movements to help them remember letters in the alphabet. Using videos can be a great multisensory way to keep students engaged in learning the alphabet.

Throughout the school year, using various ways to teach the alphabet helps students master phonics and stay engaged in learning. The variety keeps things fun and interesting for young learners. It also reinforces students’ alphabet knowledge, so we can build upon it later and help students become successful readers. Click here to check out this amazing ALPHABET BUNDLE. 

 

Of course there are many different ways to teach the alphabet. What is the best way you’ve found to teach your kindergarten kids the English alphabet? I’m always open to learning new ideas to better help the children. I know there are tons of ideas out there and I know trying them out can lead to so much fun! I’d love to hear about your great ideas if you have one you’d like to share. Let me know in the comments below!