Two Playroom Features that Promote Letter-Learning!
Children are naturally curious about how our world works. Before we explicitly teach them the alphabet or hand them a handwriting worksheet they experience the meaning of letters in everyday life. They see street signs, logos, storefronts and grocery lists and deduce that those little symbols must mean something.
It’s like a secret code, or a puzzle, FUN! But we make it BORING when we assign it as homework and act like they’re going to hate learning this. More often than not children have an intrinsic motivation to learn letters and it may manifest earlier in some than others. But, often we squash that curiosity with our orientation to it. Learning letters doesn’t have to be a chore, it’s all in how we present it.
Because language is core to how our society functions there are endless opportunities to weave conversation and questions about letters and their sounds into play and daily routines. Here are two features we include in playrooms to facilitate fun letter learning.
CHALKBOARD WALLS!
These deserve all the hype they receive and maybe more! They’re novel and fun and integrate a playfulness into learning that other writing mediums just can’t. Imagine asking your kid to sit down and write letters with a paper and pencil. Now picture doodling at the chalkboard wall and slyly asking them to identify an “A” or “K.” All of the sudden they want to see if THEY’RE able to draw an “A” with their fun dustless chalk on their cool chalkboard wall. Just like that a chore has become a game and there are tons of ways to extend learning once your child is curious and genuinely interested. Here are some ways you could use your chalkboard wall:
Have them guess which letter you’re drawing as fast as they can identify it.
Write five letters and have them identify one, “Can you find the ‘B’ in this group?”
Have them write a letter based on the sound you offer, “Can you write the letter that makes the ‘H-H-H’ sound?”
Have them draw a picture of something that starts with a letter you offer, “Draw something that starts with the letter ‘E’.”
Write 10 letters and do a speed round asking them which sound each letter makes.
MAGNET WALLS!
A magnet wall is the play feature that keeps on giving! Deck it out with alphabet letters and it becomes a great interactive material for both literate and preliterate children. It promotes letter recognition as children move around and manipulate the placement of letters before they even know how to write each one. Here are a few ways to interact with your magnet wall
Explicitly ask your child to find a certain letter, “Can you find me a ‘C’ please?”
Ask them to find the letter that their name starts with.
Ask them to find a letter by only offering the sound, “Can you find me the letter that makes a ‘D-D-D’ sound?”
Find a letter and ask them to tell you what sound the letter makes.
Find all of the letters that are in your child’s name and one that isn’t, then ask them to identify which is not in their name.
TIP: If they’re having trouble you can give them a hint about the magnet’s color. We’ve purchased these alphabet magnets and love their classic vintage look.
