Here’s The 1-2-3 Of Teaching ABC’s
The thought of sitting down with your preschooler to teach them the ABC’s can immediately make a parent bust out that dusty to-do list to avoid the drama at all costs. I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be maddening or dreadful for either of you! Here are 3 musts when teaching your preschooler the ABC’s!
1.Make ABC’s fun
The first thing to remember when teaching your child the ABC’s is to MAKE IT ENTERTAINING! It can make or break the way they feel about academics. If they are constantly being scolded for getting things wrong or taking too long to answer a question, it can make the environment feel very hostile and cause them to lose confidence.
Try to make it an encouraging, motivating environment. We have foam letters for our bathtub. My son and I worked on letters for over an hour in there before. He was engaged the entire time because I pretended to make each letter sing a song that described what they looked and sounded like.
“My-name-is…B! I look like a butt, b-b-b-b-butt!” Now I have a boy, who thought that was absolutely hilarious. We will see what his teachers say at daycare (hehe), but you get the picture. Make ABC’s fun and memorable for both of you!
2.Break it up
While teaching my 3 year old his ABC’s, I notice that he does very well in the beginning, then about half way through he starts drifting off. He starts to get fidgety and hyper. He does this because he’s bored. Whether you’re using an app, paper and pen, foam letters or flash cards…letters get boring.
Try to break them up into sections. I like to scatter ones that my son knows really well with ones that he struggles with. That way, he doesn’t get too many wrong in a row and gives up. With every one he gets right I cheer really loud and offer pieces of his favorite snack as a reward.
When the motivation starts to die down, I stop. If I try to force him to continue, he will correlate ABC’s with fatigue and boredom…and I don’t want that!
3.Be patient
There are 26 letters in the English alphabet. Every single letter is completely foreign to a preschooler. It can get very overwhelming at times, especially when they are sure of themselves to only find out they were wrong. It can also be maddening for you if your child was getting it right the day before, but now they are getting those ones wrong.
It’s easy to burst out and say “C’mon you know this! You aren’t trying!”…when maybe they really are. The key is positive encouragement. If you change your tone from disappointed to supportive, their reactions will likely be the opposite. “C’mon *smile* you know this silly goose.” If you keep a smile, they are likely to keep a smile.
So there you have it! The 3 musts when teaching your preschooler the ABC’s. Remember to put yourself in their shoes! Happy teaching!
How do you make ABC’s fun for your preschooler?
