Guest Post: Alphabet Ideas for Tots

Guest post by Carisa from 1+1+1=1

I am honored to share my collection of very favorite alphabet ideas for tots from my Tot School archives!

Bean Bag Monster…
When my son was 2 1/2 we began playing a fun game which we named “Bean Bag Monster.” This is the best game we ever played for identifying letters, probably because it is loud and obnoxious!! Here’s what we do…

• Lay out a set of alphabet bean bags in a row {start with just a few to build confidence}. My mom hand made our bean bags, but you can buy sets for reasonable prices on Amazon. If you don’t have bean bags you could always just write the letters on paper or use magnetic letters.
• Give your child a toy hammer
• Call out a letter and have your child bang the hammer on the correct letter.
• After the child hammers the letter, the “Bean Bag Monster” eats the letter-which to a tot is hilarious!!! In the photo my older son is being the monster.
• If your tot gets the letter wrong-just tell him/her the correct letter!

Bottle Top Names
Working with familiar faces is one of the best ways to introduce letters to a younger tot. The thrill of seeing photos of people they love is highly motivating! I created the bottle top name cards and my son began using these around age 2 1/2 and still uses them now at age 4!
Hammering the ABCs
Our favorite ABC puzzles are made by Lauri, because they can be hammered! Krash has been hammering his ABCs since he was 2 and still loves to do it!

Foam Letter Fun
We use the letters from our large foam ABC floor puzzle all the time! Here are just a few uses, other than the normal! We got our puzzle at a discount store {Ross I think} for about $10, here is a similar one on Amazon. Here are just a few of our ideas with each photo linked back to the blog post it came from. You can also see tons of ideas for this puzzle here on Totally Tots.

ABC Crafts

The very first set of Alphabet Crafts I did with my son, we began when he had just turned 3. Before this my son hated any sort of craft, although some kids will enjoy them a bit younger. For each letter, I just printed out a blackline copy of the letter and glued it to a bright colored piece of paper. Then we chose something to decorate the letter with.
The best part about this whole experience wasn’t actually making the crafts-it was displaying them above our kitchen table on the wall where my son sat everyday and showed anybody and everybody his artwork-which reinforced the letter ID every time! You can get ideas for these simple crafts all over the internet, here is the main source of my inspiration.

Those are just a few of our favorite ideas for exposing tots to the alphabet!

Carisa is a homeschooling, missionary, former public school K teacher, mom of 3.  You can find her at 1+1+1=1 and also at Totally Tots.

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