Letter Recognition and Phonemic Awareness in Preschoolers

"So, what do I need to do to prepare my child for kindergarten?" is a question all caregivers ask their librarians before their child enters school.

Librarians will gladly handover stacks and stacks of the very best books which are essential for every child starting from day one. When a child turns 4, they developmentally ready to start gradually learning the alphabetic principle. The alphabetic principle is the understanding that there are systematic and predictable relationships between written letters and spoken sounds (Reading Rockets).

The core of the alphabetic principle has two key components—letter recognition and phonemic awareness (individual letter sounds). If a child has a strong foundation in letter recognition and phonemic awareness, they are more likely to read successfully in the years to come.

Developing these skills takes time and patience. Learning to decipher the individual sounds and letters isn’t easy. Take a moment to say the sound /b/ and the sound /p/. Notice how the mouth makes the same formation for both letter sounds, but one letter is voiced and other is unvoiced. Can you guess which one?

Unlike learning to talk, learning to read is not an innate process and it takes time to grow. Take it a step at a time by introducing letters and letter sounds gradually. Move to the next letter after the first one is mastered. Multisensory activities with letters and sounds are a perfect way to introduce these skills. Better yet, children have oodles of fun tracing letters in sand or forming letters from playdough.

It is important not to skip these early steps and jump directly into memorizing words. Word memorization could lead to reading challenges further down the road. Rather, hone in on teaching letter identification and practicing the letter sounds in ways that are appealing to your preschooler. 

Below are some examples of how to incorporate multisensory learning at home:

How to Make Letter Manipulatives at Home

1. Sandpaper letters:
   Use a pack of 9 by 11 sandpaper sheets from your local hardware store.
   Cut the sheets in half and write one letter on each one of the sheets.
   Let children practice tracing the letters using their index and middle finger.
    
2. Playdough letters:
   Write one letter on an 8.5 by 11 sheet of white paper and place the letter in a page protector.
   Use playdough to create the letter on top of the drawn letter

For more activities, visit Bright Start and Reading Rockets. 

Richland Library Main's Education Studio has parenting books to help guide you in creating learning spaces and activities at home.