How do your kids do with their alphabet?

For a long time, we have sang the ABC song to our girls as we brush their teeth, so they can recite their ABCs pretty well. However it only occurred to me a few weeks ago that they couldn't actually recognize most letters. So I made some flash cards and have been working with them and now they know almost all their letters by recognition. I'm proud they have learned so much so quickly. However, they cannot write their letters yet. I think they maybe can write only 1 or 2.

How do your kids do with their letters?

 

My youngest surprised me! He is about a month younger than your girls and he's known his alphabet for sure since he turned 3. Numbers as well. We have a leapfrog alphabet thing on the fridge. He cannot, however, write any. I haven't worked with him at all on that and they haven't gotten that far in preschool I do not think. I am not worried. Good for you for getting them as far as they are!

 

My kids knew the alphabet before they turned 3 (I would say between 2.5-3). Because they started preschool last January right after turning 3, they also learned how to write their letters and names. It's something I would have not thought to teach them that soon.

 

My oldest still doesn't recognize all the letters and can only write a few if copying them and he's almost 4.5. He is in JK this year so I figure it will come. To be honest I haven't spent much time with him on this (and I feel bad about it) as I feel like I'm always so busy with the girls . He didn't go to pre-school either so I guess his first exposure was when he started school.

 

My boys are 4 and know a handful of their letters by sight. I just don't work on it with them at this age. I'm not into flashcards and rote memorization, so I just don't push it. We play rhyming games and the kids all love that kind of stuff (rhyming is a fundamental pre-literacy skill). They go to a Montessori preschool and they teach the letters, but it is very low key for the 4 and under crowd. They are in school for so many years, we are more of a play-based home.

 

My girls were really into the alphabet and could recognize all of the letters (with mistakes here and there) by about 2.5. I have one who learned to write most of her letters by 3.5 and the other is just getting interested at 4.5. She could count to 1,000 by 3.5, though, so I think it's all in what interests them! We never did flashcards or any of the electronic gadgets... just reinforced the letters through reading and talking about them.

 

I honestly don’t care if the boys know or recognize their alphabet. They attend a Montessori preschool 3x a week since I work part time. I am sometimes surprised at the amount they have learned. But at home they play. I read to them. I prefer they use their imaginations and explore their world. They will spend years in school. Most kids who don’t know their alphabet prior to K learn it very quickly.

My nephew didn’t recognize his ABCs when he started K. He didn’t read until he was in 2nd grade. He tested gifted in 4th grade. He is now attending college on a full ride academic scholarship in engineering. I wouldn’t worry about it. When he learned his ABCs was not on the college application.

 

My kiddos knew all their letters and sounds by 3, thanks to The Letter Factory. Best DVD ever! The Leapfrog alphabet fridge magnet is great too.
At about 3.5 they could write all their letters. I taught them a letter a day or so, using fun made-up games, and not going past about 15 minutes. If I make it fun and short it's amazing what they can pick up.

 

I second this! Best DVD ever! My girls learned all of their letters and their numbers because of that DVD. I have since given it to my nephew who just turned two and he already knows all of his sounds and letters and my SIL says it is all because of that video.

 

I think it's all what they're interested in. Miles took a shine to letters one day and learned them all a month after his second birthday. He confuses H and K, but gets most of them right. A month after that he learned all of his numbers. We didn't encourage him other than chatting to him about it when he showed interest. Ozzy still gets things confused but at 2.5 he is starting to show more interest. But there's plenty of things that other kids their age know that they don't.. like they don't know lots of songs etc. I wouldn't really worry about it; even if they get to school age and don't know all their stuff they will learn.. that's what school is for!

 

Mine were actually really fascinated by letters and numbers from an early age. They can't sing the song, but if you point to a capital letter they can tell you. They started asking "what's that" and pointing to the letters before they turned 2, knew their favorites and all their numbers by the time they turned 2, and knew all the letters with no mistakes (picking them out of signs, etc) by 26-27m. This is not the norm and I did not press them to learn it, just their own natural curiosity. We have not even tried writing and they really don't have interest in drawing or coloring yet.