A is for apple, B is for ball. That’s how you teach the alphabet to your toddler! Teaching the alphabet to toddlers isn’t always a straight forward task. It sounds easy, but it can get pretty tricky if the child isn’t responding to the attempts. You need to find new ways to make alphabet learning fun and engaging for your little one.
How to teach 2 year old alphabet and numbers
You can start by teaching them the alphabet using objects in their everyday life. For example, you could say “The letter A is for apple” and point out an apple on the table.
Alphabet puzzle printables Free Set. Use these puzzles to work on letter sounds and letter recognition.
Children at this age learn best by listening and imitating examples. The best thing you can do for your child at this age is to read books.
Read as many books as you can to them, even if you think they aren’t listening or understanding it.
The action of you flipping the page and reading the book can do wonders for your little’s one’s perception of language, listening skills and phonetic skills in future.
There are so many books that toddlers will love.
Below are a list of my favorite alphabet books for this age group.
Alphabet books for toddlers
Reading books to toddlers is one of the best ways to promote language and literacy and even speech sounds.
Alphabet speech articulation books
Since doing my practice course on speech articulation and specialising in this area of special needs was the best thing I ever did in my teaching career.
This helped me identify the key areas to target when preparing lesson plans and printables to help my students learn the speech sounds that the letter produce.
Did you know that there are over 44 phonemes in the English language?
No wonder our poor students sometimes struggles with language skills and sounds.
Some of my favorite speech articulation books listed below:
How to teach the alphabet
The first step to teaching your toddler the alphabet is to make sure they are in a safe environment.
This means that you should have a quiet place with few distractions and be able to devote your full attention to them.
The next step is to introduce the letter of the alphabet and what sound it makes.
You can choose the letters in their name to do this, so you don’t need to go by any order of the alphabet.
If you’re confused on what letters to teach first, uppercase or lowercase letters, I’ve got the answer for you here.
You can do this by writing the letter on a piece of paper, or by saying it aloud.
The most important thing is that you have your child repeat what you say in order for them to learn how it sounds when spoken.
Print these dot letter printables on large paper and have the child use dot stickers or dot markers to cover and make the letter.
It’s also important that you don’t teach your child too many letters at once, as they will become overwhelmed and lose interest in the lesson.
Start with introducing two letters at a time and when they master these letters, you can move on to two new ones.
Fun ways to teach the alphabet
Teaching the alphabet to toddlers can be fun and exciting. You can use catchy songs, a variety of props and pictures, or even a storybook that has the alphabet in it.
Using catchy songs is one of my favorite ways to begin teaching the alphabet.
This song has a focus on letter sounds and letter recognition. It’s catchy and works great to toddlers. Remember, their attention span will not last as long as 15 minutes, but having it play on and off when they are watching is key.
Some of my favorite introductory printables for teaching the alphabet:
Hidden alphabet games – a movement game with sticky notes that can be done even without this template! See the printable in the post.
Road letter cards – use these with mini cars or trucks. They work best within a play environment and if they’re laminated.
Alphabet Sensory Bin Ideas
Another way you can introduce the alphabet is by using fun sensory bins. I’ve got some ideas listed below.
Sensory bags for babies and toddlers. Learn ways to make these bags and fill them up with magnetic letter tiles!
Sensory bottle alphabet fun. Learn to make bottles that you can take with you on trips or play at home or outside. These are perfect for babies and toddlers.
In conclusion, when starting off with the alphabet with your child, just be sure to have lots of patience and try to not force the learning idea.
If you find that they are disinterested, leave the task and come back to it later.
Toddlers at that age have super short attention spans, so be sure to only give them 5 minutes at a time of learning and listening skills.
I would also only use a specific form of screen task for less than ten minutes at a time.
I would not give a toddler the iPad and play a song for 15 or 20 minutes and expect them to stare at it from start to finish.
It just doesn’t work that way with toddlers, plus this is detrimental to the development of their eyes and motor skills.
I am a fan of digital activities, but in moderation.
