How to teach a 4 year old the alphabet?

Question

My son has to know his alphabet and shapes and colors and how to write his name before he can start school next year. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Get some alphabet flash cards (with upper and lowercase on 1 card), show him the card, say the letter then tell him what sound it makes.  He should already know his colors and shapes but if he needs help, get more flash cards.  There is a workbook the walmart sells in the flash card isle, it should handle all these topics.  You could also try hooked on phonics systems. try this website www.starfall.com

Answer 2

im sure someone is going to complain about this, but i used my dogs barking collar to teach my son the alphabet. if he missed a letter, he got a small zap. no harm no foul.  he's a senior in high school now and will have 9 AP classes under his belt before graduation.

Answer 3

This is an EVERY day job. You might want to set aside a special time. ( works Best this way)  Start reading the letters to him. point out the letters when you see them on books, signs, or other objects There are so many cute little books. Next teach him the alphabet song...Buy a cute little tape or video. Watch E.T. V.   If you have it in your area... Then let him show off to others what he has learned. Good  Luck!!

Answer 4

There are little workbooks you can find at any WalMart type store in the book section.  

You can discuss it while grocery shopping..."apple, red apple, A apple, apple ah"

When you teach him to write his name, do not use all capital letters.  At least that's what our school told us 12 years ago.  It's good for them to learn upper & lower case letters, but for writing their names they should learn it properly.  

Play games with him.  There are lots of games for kids that have colors (Candy Land for one).

Answer 5

He doesn't have to know. He should know shapes and colours by now. Give him one of those puzzles where shaped pegs are placed through holes. I couldn't read or write before school. I'm now completely literate.

Answer 6

sing or abc music

keep turning it over and over again on a music player

Answer 7

You can buy alphabet magnets, and put them on the refrigerator, and each time the two of you are in the kitchen, you can make a game of the different letters.Leapfrog has a little frog that sings the alphabet and you can sing along with the frog. Bedtime and bath time are good times for play that can be learning experiences, they have your undivided attention. You can make learning a fun experience," I Spy A " is a good example Repetition with young children always helps Do not overlook the tried and true stand -bys, namely Barney and Sesame Street and talk with your little one when he watches them on tv.Everyday, you have all kinds of opportunities to teach, when driving in the car, when shopping in the grocery store, what is this?Do you know what color this is,how do we write this?Take him to the library, and get him a library card, and show him the joy of reading. Even a trip to the zoo presents

plenty of opportunities to teach and learn, if you keep it fun, and teach him a little at a time, and not try to teach everything at one time, you will do fine.

Answer 8

practice wiht him everyday

sing it 2 him

turn it into a fun game he likes

Answer 9

Enroll him in nursery school or a head start program if you aren't able to teach him. There are wonderful toys, blocks, puzzles and games for just this type of activities. Tracing on paper is good for his name, you make dots and he can follow the dots with crayon to write his name. Practice with chalk on sidewalk. There are also activity books for his age. Make it fun.  

Answer 10

write the alphabet down on a piece of paper and say each letter and tell him to repeat it ......... do this for a while then ask him to read the letters

Answer 11

Start two years ago.

Sit down and read a book... sing the alphabet.

The Leapfrog Phonic Factory DVDs are great!!

Answer 12

I would just by him an ABC book if you can, but for sure teach him the alphabet song.  If you remember a certain amount of letters each day, and repeat them from the top everyday, he should do fine.  (Just make sure you are patient with him, for kids can take little or a lot of time)  

Good luck!!

Answer 13

My son is now 4, he picked up on all of that at around 2 though and learned quickly, because he wanted to. I had started off with his name -Every day I would show him his name thing on the wall and spell the letters out and say his name - maybe you could start with your sons name, which might be fun, since it is personal. From there my son surprised me by picking up the rest of the alphabet from Sesame Street, using his alphabet game he had - he would always look for the letter of the day. Then while in the car or shopping I would say the alphabet - but not sing it. (My friends daughter new the song, but not any of the actual letters). And I would point out letters then to. I think a good idea for your 4 year old would be to have a "Letter of the day" and focus on that. Have the alphabet up and see if he can recognize what the letter of the day is. Then Maybe put it on the Refrigerator and have fun while trying to look for that letter all day long, whether your in the house or out of the house. I can guarantee that once he picks up a handful of letters, the rest will start to come really quick. Shapes and Colors can be harder - I did do alot of drawing with sidewalk chalk in our driveway, and that seemed to help my son pick up on the basics. Like another person said - flashcards were fun for my son also. Once he got to know most of them, I would lay them all out and ask him to get me "the triangle" or whatever - it helped to see what he did know well, and what he still needed help with.

Have fun, and good luck.  

Answer 14

He should be enrolled in preschool so he can start learning what will be needed for kindergarten including social skills. The list of things he needs to know is very long.  There are plenty of work books you can find at the stores and there are activities online including folder games that can be played that will start teaching the basics but I would still go with preschool so he can learn what he needs to learn.  An actual preschool (not daycare) knows what all requirements need to be met before kindergarten.