How to Teach the Alphabet in Preschool

If you’re wondering how to teach the alphabet to preschoolers in a fun and engaging way, keep reading. Teaching the alphabet can be an exciting time in your preschool classroom. There are so many fun ways to teach the alphabet!

Some children begin preschool with an interest in letters and books. Others may be more reluctant to learn the letters and their sounds. One of the best ways you can encourage preschoolers is by reading aloud to them from alphabet books. In this article, I’ll share some of our favorite alphabet books for learning letters.

Then, you can begin learning those letters while having fun with alphabet songs, alphabet coloring pages, a letter of the week theme, and my letter tracing worksheets for preschoolers. Keep reading to discover all of my favorite ways to make learning the alphabet lots of fun.

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Tips for Getting Started Teaching the Alphabet

There’s lots of advice out there and it can be a bit of a challenge to determine the best way to teach the alphabet to your preschooler, especially if he seems reluctant to learn his letters. Here are some of my favorite tips for getting started learning letters:

Be Flexible

There are lots of different methods for teaching letters and tons of fun letter activities for preschoolers. You can use a letter of the week theme, music, alphabet books, letter crafts, alphabet worksheets, and hands-on activities to help your preschoolers learn the alphabet. Don’t feel tied to any one method, experiment with all of these fun alphabet activities and ideas! Pick and choose what your preschoolers like. Stick with what they respond to best.

Have Fun

If you do your best to have fun teaching the alphabet, your preschoolers will pick up on it. At this stage, kids learn best through play, so incorporating fun alphabet activities into your letter learning lessons will ensure your kids both learn and remember the alphabet.

Focus on alphabet activities that your child enjoys and trust that he will learn the letters along the way. If your preschooler is a kinesthetic learner, try some of the hands-on alphabet activities below or get them up and dancing with alphabet songs. Alphabet songs are great for auditory learners too. Auditory and visual learners will love alphabet books. You can use some of my letter worksheets for preschoolers to incorporate extra letter learning practice too.

Start By Spelling Their Names

Another way to get reluctant preschoolers excited or at least interested in learning the letters of the alphabet is by beginning with their names. If your preschooler is struggling to learn the alphabet or seems disengaged, try making it all about her by starting with her name.

There are so many fun ways to help preschoolers learn to spell their names and it’s a fantastic way to help them learn at least a few letters of the alphabet. Check out my name tracing templates for a fun way to practice writing names with your preschool learners this year.

Alphabet Books to Read Aloud

One of my favorite ways to teach the alphabet to preschoolers is to read. Read lots of books!

Reading aloud to preschoolers is the best way to help them fall in love with reading and books too. Listening to you read books will help your preschoolers expand their vocabulary, gain exposure to letters and the written word, and develop all kinds of language skills too.

Plus, there are tons of great alphabet books to read aloud at home or in the classroom while you’re learning the alphabet with your preschoolers this year. Here are my top 10 favorite alphabet books:

You can use these alphabet books in lots of fun ways to teach the alphabet to your preschoolers this year. Incorporate these silly alphabet books into your morning circle time, snuggle up with an alphabet book at bedtime, or fill your bookshelf and let your preschooler choose a new ABC story every day.

Whatever you do, I know your preschoolers will love the beautiful illustrations and silly stories in these letter learning books.

Interactive Alphabet Notebook

I love teaching children in hands on ways, especially when it mixes learning the alphabet and crafting. This interactive alphabet notebook is a perfect way for kids to learn letters as they craft.

Create the letters A to Z in lowercase or uppercase with these adorable alphabet crafts. Then work together to find, trace, color, and write the letters in different ways with my worksheets. This interactive alphabet notebook would be perfect to use during your next letter of the week theme this Fall!

Letter Worksheets for Preschool

Sometimes worksheets get a bad wrap, but there are lots of benefits to incorporating these alphabet printables and letter worksheets into your preschool lessons this year. Here are some of the reasons you should use alphabet worksheets in your lessons:

Worksheets help preschoolers develop proper pencil grip and practice handwriting skills
Printables are an easy no-prep way to incorporate extra alphabet learning practice on a rainy day
Alphabet pages can help your preschoolers get more exposure to the written word and become a tool to check for comprehension at the end of a lesson
Preschool worksheets can be fun! My alphabet tracing pages incorporate coloring and letter games to help your preschoolers identify letters and remember their sounds too.

Alphabet Tracing Worksheets

My alphabet tracing worksheets are perfect for daily use in your classroom. You can focus on a different letter each day or go at a slower pace and use one printable page for the whole week.

alphabet worksheets to teach kids letters of the alphabet

These tracing activities will help your preschoolers practice their handwriting as they learn to trace the uppercase and lowercase alphabet letters. Preschoolers can practice discriminating between uppercase and lowercase letters with a coloring activity while building fine motor skills too. Plus, there are activities for learning beginning sounds too.

All these alphabet activities and printables are easy to use at home and in the classroom. Whether your school has returned to the classroom or is learning remotely, you can use these fun ideas to help your preschoolers learn. They’re perfect for homeschool unit studies too. Keep reading to discover more fun ways to teach the alphabet to your preschool learners this year.

Alphabet Songs to Sing with Preschoolers

I love incorporating music into my preschool lessons. There are tons of great reasons to use alphabet songs while teaching the alphabet to preschoolers this year.

Using music in your classroom gets your preschoolers’ minds and bodies working together. Plus, singing alphabet songs with your preschoolers will help them learn letter sounds and expand their vocabulary. Songs are also a fantastic way to strengthen memory skills with your preschool learners.

Music is a fantastic way to get your preschoolers up and moving too. Dancing to alphabet songs helps preschoolers build motor skills, practice balance and coordination, and it’s a great way to encourage healthy physical activity too.

Check out some of my favorite alphabet songs to sing with preschool learners:

Learning Letter Sounds with Jack Hartmann
Usher’s ABCs from Sesame Street
The ABC Song A. J. Jenkins
ABC Rock by Greg & Steve
ABC Phonics Song by The Learning Station
Alphabet Workout by Jack Hartmann
Letter Sounds by Barbara Milne
Alphabet Chant by Busy Beavers
Who Let the Letters Out? by Dr. Jean
The Alphabet Song by Have Fun Teaching

These letter songs are a great way to add some movement breaks into your school day. Movement breaks have lots of benefits for your preschoolers and you too. You can use these times to save the day when your preschoolers are beginning to lose focus.

A quick alphabet song might be just what your need to get your early learners back on task. Plus, it’s a great way to get the wiggles out and the blood flowing. Sometimes getting up and moving around can be just what you need to get your preschoolers’ ready to learn all kinds of new things.

Letter of the Week Preschool Theme Ideas

A letter of the week preschool theme is a great way to expose your preschoolers to the alphabet and help them learn to identify letters, letter sounds, and early literacy skills. There are so many fun ways to build a letter of the week theme! I like to start by introducing a new letter in circle time at the start of the school week. Show kids the uppercase letter and the lowercase letter. Practice saying their names together and reciting the letter’s sound.

Begin focusing on early literacy skills by helping your preschoolers to identify whether the letter is a consonant or vowel and listing all kinds of words that start with your letter of the week. You can fill your whiteboard with words that begin with your letter as preschoolers call them out. It’s a super fun way to get everyone engaged in practicing beginning sounds with the letter of the week.

Then, practice singing the alphabet aloud with one of your favorite alphabet songs from the list above. Be sure to put a little extra emphasis on your letter of the week as you sing the song. To do this, you can have your preschoolers sing that letter extra loud or teach them a special movement for the letter of the week. Have them do their special dance move whenever the letter of the week is sung.

All week long, focus on your letter with special alphabet tracing worksheets and letter printables. Have fun learning about and exploring each letter of the alphabet with alphabet crafts, hands-on alphabet activities, and all kinds of letter learning printables to help you teach the alphabet to preschoolers in the classroom or at home.

Hands-On Alphabet Activities for Preschool

Are your preschoolers kinesthetic learners? Kinesthetic learners need hands-on alphabet activities where they can touch and manipulate letters to help them learn best. No matter what you’re preschoolers’ learning style is, these hands-on alphabet activities for preschool will help them learn the alphabet and master each letter as they prepare for kindergarten and learning to read independently.

You can use some of my favorite hands-on alphabet activities to introduce your preschoolers to phonics with lots of kinesthetic learning fun. Check out these letter learning activities:

Uppercase Alphabet Crafts

These uppercase alphabet crafts are perfect for incorporating in a letter of the week theme or do one alphabet craft each day until your preschoolers have mastered every letter. These uppercase letter templates are perfect for creating a fun new bulletin board or alphabet wall for your preschoolers too!

Just print these alphabet letters on colored cardstock and have your preschoolers practice their cutting and pasting skills they assemble these uppercase letter crafts. To add in even more learning fun, print on white cardstock and have your preschoolers express their creativity and build concentration as they color each alphabet letter craft.

Lowercase Alphabet Crafts

Looking for lowercase alphabet crafts? These lowercase letter crafts are the perfect addition to your uppercase letter crafts with preschoolers. You can do these lowercase letters in much the same way. Print on cardstock and allow your preschoolers to assemble each letter. Incorporate coloring for even more learning fun.

Another idea for these alphabet crafts is to glue them to construction paper pages and create your very own alphabet books to share in the classroom or read at home with parents and siblings. That way, each preschooler will have their very own alphabet book to practice learning the letters of the alphabet at home with family and friends too.

Sensory Bin Letter Activity to Teach the Alphabet

I love using sensory bins and activities in my preschool classroom. Preschoolers learn best through play and incorporating multiple senses simultaneously. That’s part of why sensory bins are a really effective tool for teaching the alphabet in preschool.

This sensory bin letter activity provides an opportunity for your preschoolers to seek and identify letters as they find them in the sensory bin. All you need for this extremely low prep alphabet activity is a piece of construction paper, a marker, and clothes pins. On top of this being a simple and effective letter activity, it’s also a great way to reinforce fine motor skills as your child squeezes the clothes pins to match the letters.

Check out my sensory bin post for more information on what they are as well as sensory bin ideas for kids.

In Conclusion

Are you looking forward to teaching the alphabet in your preschool classroom or homeschool lessons this year? Have you planned a letter of the week theme for your preschoolers? I hope all these great ideas and activities for teaching the alphabet have inspired you. Don’t forget to share your favorite alphabet learning ideas in the comments. I can’t wait to read them!

How to Teach the Alphabet in Preschool