Letter Recognition

Learning the alphabet is such an exciting accomplishment for kids. Letters and words in the environment are starting to have meaning and children are at one of the beginning stages of learning how to read.

However, sometimes the crossover from the alphabet they learn at home and recognizing those same letters and words in other places can prove difficult for some children.
That's where this activity can help. Have you noticed that more books are published in different fonts? Letters and numbers are presented in many different ways in real life. Not every book is published in "Times New Roman," nor are advertisements, signs, magazines, or websites. Take these examples:

Your child may know the alphabet, but would they recognize the alphabet if it was presented a new way?

Ages: As soon as they begin recognizing letters!

Prep: Print the letters that they are learning in different fonts. I went to my Word program and typed the letter 10 times and then printed it off in 10 different fonts. Print them out as large as possible. I also printed them off in small squares (approximately 24 point font).

Activity: Here are a few activities:

• Hide different letters (in the different fonts) around the house or around the room. Go on a hunt!
• Hide the letters and let them hunt, but this time give clues. Call out the letters as they search. "Find all Ys that you can!" "Can you find a capital T?" "I see a letter that makes the /p/ sound. Can you find it?" "I see a letter that is only made of curvy lines (S,O,C)."
• If you are using the entire alphabet, have them put the alphabet in order after they find the letters.
• Fold a large piece of construction paper in half (or thirds, depending if you want to work with 2 or 3 letters). Have them sort two different letters into piles (for example, M vs. R). Glue on paper according to the letter. You could also have them do the same letter, but sort capital and lower case. This works really well when you are working on letters that are similar, like M and N or P and R.
• Play ABC Relay.
• Play Find the Letter.