Great Way to Teach 3 Yr Old the Alphabet

Start with his name. Then you can point out (or he can) places where he can find the same letters at the store, driving, etc. Also shapes of things, like "Hey, that stick looks like a letter y!". There are also kids' placemats with the alphabet on them so he can look at it and talk about it when eating.

I started with doing letter of the week when my son was about 2. Print out on paper that letter in large print and put it somewhere he can see it throughout the day.

Then everywhere you go point to that letter and make its sound, point to it at home, on food labels, signs, etc. Get the wooden alphabet letters by Melissa & Doug. My son loved those. Get finger paints and paint the letter and let him paint on it or sidewalk chalk.

A good way to start is with the letters of his name.

Also the LeapFrog videos are great. Have fun!

Singing in the car is easy....also alphabet puzzles with pictures (example letter A looks like Apple)....I have a great Melissa and Doug brand ABC puzzle that my 3-year old loves...and we can spell is name, I'll say M is for Mom and Monkey (like the pic of puzzle). Good luck.....he'll get it!!

When you are walking or driving and you see something, point out what letter it starts with. When you see words, signs, letters, etc. point out the letters (make it seem real casual). Sing the alphabet song (there are lots of fun variations....Choo Choo Soul has a great one). Make it fun.

Also, the Preschool Prep Company has a great DVD set for letters, numbers, colors, shapes, and sight words.

I bet when he sees a McDonald's he knows its McDonald.. Always point to the "M".
"Sonic starts with an S.. do you see another S?" What is the S sound? What others things start with SSSS?" These are the things we would talk about while driving around doing errands..

Our daughter's name starts with the letter P and we sometimes call her "P".. she was always pointing that letter out too. Then she asked about the letter my name started with and I told her L, so she would be on the look out for "moms letter"... The A's were always important since our Last name and my husbands first name begin with A.. This is one way that we searched for letters practically every day to and from day care..

I also used to let her bring in the mail and see who they were addressed to based on the first name initials. She was our mailman..

We never just taught her. she just kind of picked it up, through curiosity and through everyday experiences,, Grocery store, riding in the car, looking at her books, looking at the newspaper.. Talking about "what everybody's first letter was"..

I did not even realize she could read until I purchased some BOB books and she read the entire first set to me in the car on the way home, I had to turn the car around and exchange them fr the second set..

Such an exciting time for your son! Have fun..

I loved alphabet books, but best of all, go to the website STARFALL.com,
my son wasn't interested at all in the alphabet, but that website, made it all fun,check it out !!!

I dont remember just how we taught him the alphabet now, but we read a lot with him. I do remember how we got him into reading - somewhere between 3-4-5, we'd be reading and I'd pick out a easily recognizable word/name (like Max for example) that appeared throughout the book and I'd tell him that it was "his word" to read, and show it to him then as I read, I pointed to the words and paused with my finger on "his word" and because it was only one, and it was easily recognized, he would say "Max" (or whatever that word was). Of course it was different for every book and of course he didn't always want to play this game but we did it maybe for one of every 4 or so books we read together at a sitting.
As he grows and gets older/more confident, pick out some "normal" words like dragon or truck or whatever fits into the story you're reading because those are a little harder to pick out and they do help with word/letter recognition because they're not capitalized and look more like so many of the other words on the page. They are more challenging, do this closer to kindergarten.

My son started with the foam letters and just me pointing them out in everyday conversation. Reading together... Oh yes, Dr. Seuss's ABC book was a favorite at that stage.

When walking on sidewalks, stairs, etc, "count" by saying the ABC's.
One of my sister's kids did well with the leapfrog letter toy that stuck on the refrigerator- when you pressed a button the alphabet song would play. When you stuck a letter in and pushed it, it'd say that letter.

Hi. don't know how you feel about a little bit of TV, but try the video "Do the Alphabet" from Sesame Street. It is excellent, funny, and my daughter could say and alphabet forwards and backwards by the time she was 18 months because of it! Your baby will love it!

Dear A., Sing the alphabet song but be sure to separate L M N O P and don't let them blend into one sound. Grandma Mary

My son learned it very young. Trying to remember how he learned but I think it was a combination of things. I would sing the ABC song all the time but also had books with the alphabet (Max's ABCs, Dr. Seuss and baby einstein alphabooks are great), puzzles. Any toy that sings the alphabet, Leapfrog alphabet pal is a good one as it sings the alphabet and also has the letters to push. So much stuff out there. Good luck!

I sing the ABCs when I brush teeth, and figure they'll just pick it up. I also insist on them trying to go on the potty even when they say they don't have to "Ok," I say, " I'll sing the ABCs, and when I'm done you can get up"

I would say not to push it too much. At this age they start to pick up things . My son got into those magnetic fridge letters. We had then on our washer which is in the kitchen since our fridge isn't magnetic but you can also use a cookie sheet. Then he'd pick out letters on signs (random order.) So maybe we'd point out a certain letter he "liked" if it was big, like on a subway sign. Sesame St is great with letters of the day and he began recognizing the alphabet song in different places- toys, us singing it, some tv shows...my sil says the leap frog DVD, I don't remember the name, might be letter factory, helped teach her kids the letter sounds after they knew the letters (a says aah, b says buh, etc.) But again she didn't push it too much. I don't know about the NYPL but our library also had toddler story times where sometimes at the end they'd get papers with a big letter, like "E" and there'd be a picture of an elephant for them to color ( or whatever the story was about.) You can find stuff like that online.

My kids loved puzzles so we had an ABC puzzle they played with. Every time they placed a piece, I'd say "that's a d, it makes a 'd' sound, it starts the word dog," etc. They learned the alphabet in two weeks.

I don't know how you feel about TV but the Leapfrog Letter Factory DVD is excellent. It taught my son the sounds letters make after only 2 viewings. http://www.amazon.com/Leap-Frog-Letter-Factory/dp/B0000INU6S

The best way to start is to sing the traditional alphabet song....in the car...in line at the grocery store...

As an educator whose expertise is in dyslexia, I suggest you play with sounds first:
I spy withy my little eye something that starts with the sound "buh" - have a banana, an orange, and a cucumber near by. see if he can guess.
Then, once he's good at that game, you can ask him what is the first sound he hears in "bear" and "bugle" etc.
Finally, you can make 3 little squares with the letters "b" "u" and "g" on them, and make a little picture of a bug. Mix them up and say that these letters are pictures of sounds. the b is a picture of the sound "buh", the u is a picure of the sound "uh" and the g is a picture of the sound "guh". What is the first sound you hear in the word bug? When he says "buh" you bring the b down to the next line.

Go through the other two sounds the same way, and he has spelled the word bug. Then get a white board and marker and have him copy the sound pictures (letters) onto the white board.

This is a very natural way to learn the letter sounds and pictures. I don't use letter names, and they are frustrating (d says "duh" but whatr does w say?) and not natural. But your son has heard sounds and words since before he was born.

For more on this, get the book "Reading Reflex" by Carmen McGuinness. I have taught many children to read this way in very little time. And it's fun! Lots of games!

Enjoy,

K. Johnson, MS Ed