Teach the ABCs to Your Toddler – and Have Fun!

I accidentally made up a great way to start teaching your child the ABCs before they’re even three years old. I did some random things with my firstborn that seemed to work beautifully, and now I am doing them intentionally with my second child. While it’s probably not what you’ll read about it in the official literary guides, it’s a simple set of strategies that really click with little minds! Read on to see how to teach the ABCs to your toddler – and have fun!

Let me first clarify that there’s no need to push your child to learn the ABCs in a hurry. There’s no research that suggest it’ll benefit your toddler later in life if you battle them to learn their alphabet sooner rather than later. So just like learning to walk, potty training, or anything else, it’s not worth the fight. Feel free to try these things with your kid but then if they’re really resistant, put it away for a few weeks and come back to it. No worries and no stress!

Make it fun and be consistent!

Think about the various aspects of the letters: knowing the ABC song, recognizing the letters’ names, recognizing the letters’ symbols. The more advanced step, which is pre-reading, is knowing the letter sounds too.

Sing the ABCs. All. The. Time.

The first step for me was just to sing the ABC song all the time. We sang it in the car, we sang it while getting ready for lunch, just so that my kids knew it really well.

You’ll hear your child start trying to sing along even though it may just be mush. That’s great! They’re starting to try and mimic the sounds. Don’t worry about correcting them or anything yet. Just emphasize a clear enunciation when you sing and let them keep copying.

Read Books About the ABCs

Casually reading about the ABCs in a book like this one by Dr. Seuss (affiliate link) is another fun way to introduce your child to the letters.

Rhymes are immensely helpful. So are silly references like “The Ssssss lookssssss like a ssssssnake”. If you feel ridiculous, chances are it’s just goofy enough to be memorable. And that’s what we want!

Find Other Ways to Let Your Child Feel the Letters

Roll thin pieces of Playdoh to build letters on a mat. Use a Lego to “punch” out letters on flat clay. Find some alphabet magnets that your child can manipulate.

A lot of kids will really relate to being able to touch and feel the pieces, whether it’s learning about instruments or money or time or letters. So find ways to let them put the ABCs into their hands!

Let your child lead the way! What activities are you doing that they connect to?

Letter Recognition – Don’t Go In Order

Now let’s get into more advanced ideas. This is really what accidentally and unintentionally worked so well for us!

We pick letters that are visually unique, meaning that they don’t look like a lot of other letters. While M, N, and W are easily confused, other letters like X and S and O pop out because of their shape.

Like I mentioned above, feel free to associate letters’ appearance with something: an S becomes a slithery slimy snake (bonus for alliteration!), an X always makes a “ksss ksss” sound and we always draw it like a Zorro-style sword maneuver.

I didn’t plan to do this, but I just started picking letters at random for my kids to recognize and identify. We definitely didn’t learn “A” first, then “B”, etc. There’s no rule that says you have to teach the ABCs in order!

Curved or Angular Letters?

I also categorized letters in my own mind by ones that are more curved versus ones built on straight lines. Both of my kids have seemed to identify and relate better to letters with curves; this may be a coincidence, but that allowed me to start teaching them those letters first. C, G, Q, etc.

Use Lots of Methods

We have flashcards. We have dry erase boards. We have chalk. We have playdoh. We have books with the ABCs in them. Showing your kids the same content in many different methods helps to develop their various learning skills and it’s a great reinforcement tool! Plus it’ll help you teach the ABCs without getting too bored… I hope.

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

The younger the child, the more often you have to repeat something. So try to teach the ABCs in one form or another as often as you can. Sing the song in the car. Point out letters at the store. Find them around your house. It’s fascinating to open up your child’s eyes and let them see that letters really are all around us!

Be Encouraging

A general tip when working with your child: be positive! You’re literally teaching a toddler their letters. I don’t think you need to worry that your child will never get it. So make sure you and your kid view “ABC learning time” as something to look forward to, not something that causes stress. You want your kids to be excited to learn, not dread it!

You can read my core values about homeschooling here for more suggestions!

Yay! Now you know all the secrets to help teach the ABCs to your toddler or child. My two year old recognizes about 12 letters and she loves practicing! That’s the best part, knowing that I’m trying to help her love the discovery and self-esteem that can come from learning!

Let me know your thoughts in the comments – what’s working for you? What suggestions did you enjoy?

And thanks as always for sharing and pinning!

You can also see all of my homeschool content, including some free lesson plans, in my Education section.