Friday, July 30, 2021

5 Top Tips for Learning the Alphabet in Daycare

Felt alphabet letters of different colors laid out on a black background.

Daycare is the ideal time for children to begin learning the basics of reading and writing. Starting by learning the alphabet and continuing through discovering how the alphabet can be rearranged to make an endless variety of words, each step logically follows the one before it and offer many opportunities for hands-on activities that encourage learning and help develop other important skills.


  1. Letter Matching
    Learning to match letter objects in daycare can begin immediately after infancy. Use large wooden or plastic letter pairs to make them easy for small hands to manipulate. Variations include arranging the alphabet in order, and pronouncing each letter name as it is matched. This activity builds fine motor skills, increases verbal skills, and teaches the basics of reading.

  2. The Alphabet Song
    Singing the alphabet song helps children organize the order of the letters, and learn verbal skills as well as various social skills. Singing the alphabet is time-tested and can begin by singing it to small children even before they are able to talk themselves.

  3. Drawing the Alphabet
    There are a number of approaches to learning how to draw the alphabet, but one of the best ones is to create a notebook with each letter draw on a line for the children to reproduce next to it. This method allows progression straight from drawing letters to writing words and creates its own journal to show how the child progresses.

  4. Letter-Object Days

Whether you do it one letter a week or a letter every day, playing an ongoing game where objects with names beginning with a chosen letter helps children memorize the alphabet, builds vocal skills, and encourages critical thinking as each child tries to add to the list of objects that fit the game.

  1. Letter Foods
    From alphabet cereal and soup to exploring the spelling of favorite dishes, daycare children enjoy learning with food. This method of learning the alphabet is both a hands-on experience, and it stimulates memory through other senses such as sight, smell, and taste. 


These teaching tips will help daycare children learn the alphabet, but you should feel free to try any other ideas which come to mind. The more ways you are able to integrate the alphabet and reading skills into other games and activities, the more it will illustrate to the child how important the role of the alphabet is in their lives.