Letter Recognition: How to Teach Kids the Letters of the Alphabet

Are you teaching letter recognition skills to your children? When it comes to pre-reading skills, Letter Recognition is an important part!

Learn how to teach and help your children learn their ABC’s with these tips and strategies!

If your kids are eager to learn the letters of the alphabet, provide them with a literacy-rich environment which includes letters and words around your classroom or home.

You can also add letters to your children’s play and introduce them to many different letter recognition activities.

What You'll Find On This Page

What is Letter Recognition?

One of the 5 Pre-Reading Skills Kids Need To Be Successful Readers is Letter Knowledge. Letter Knowledge begins with Letter Recognition which is also known as Alphabet Recognition.

Letter Recognition is the ability to recognize and name all of the lowercase and capital letters. Children who know the letters can also distinguish between them.

Why Is Letter Recognition Important?

Being able to say the names of the letters quickly in sequential order will help children learn the sounds more easily.

Sometimes, a letter name will give children clues as to the sound that it makes too.

Kids who can easily name the letters of the alphabet are also more motivated to learn about words and how to spell. They have an easier time learning to read too.

Is My Child Ready To Learn The ABC’s?

Just like learning to walk or potty training, children need to be developmentally ready to learn the letters of the alphabet.

Before they can begin, they need to visually discriminate or recognize the similarities and differences between the different letter shapes.

Children need to able to differentiate between straight and curved lines or tall and short letters.

They also need to understand the difference between letters, numbers, and other symbols.

What Order Should The Letters Be Taught?

When teaching your children the letters, you don’t have to introduce them in alphabetical order.

You should start with high-frequency ones like the letters in their names.

The letters in their names will have more meaning to them and give them more chances to practice recognizing those letters in different ways.

When first introducing the letters in their names and the rest of the alphabet, only give your children two unknown letters to work on at a time.

After they have mastered those letters, give them one or two more letters to learn until they know all 26!

Should My Child Learn Capital Letters or Lowercase Letters First?

Young children need to be exposed to both capital and lowercase and will need to learn all of them before becoming a successful reader.

Even though lowercase letters are more common in reading, it’s easier for children to learn capital letters first.

They don’t confuse them like they do lowercase letters, because capital letters are easier to visually distinguish.

If you look at all of the capital letters, the only ones that are commonly mistaken for one another are capital M and W.

When teaching children two letters that can be mistaken for one another such as capital M and W, teach one at a time.

After your children know both letters, give them activities to reinforce the differences between the two such as sorting the two letters.

Letter recognition is an important part of pre-reading! Your children are on their way to learning how to read!

Your May Also Like:

Are you looking for Alphabet Activities to help you teach and your children learn the letters of the alphabet? From Letter Dot Painting to Letter Mazes, there are so many printable activities that will give your children a fun, hand-on way to learn the letters.

These interactive resources will help your kids to work on letter identification, formation, and much more. Click on the picture to learn more about the activities included in this bundle!