The first step in learning to read is letter recognition. If you can remember life before this skill, you will recall that letters were once mysterious symbols that everyone seemed to understand but you. Once you learned your alphabet and letter sounds, you, like most children, probably felt elated as you began to crack the code of the written word. Relive that excitement as you teach your own child letter recognition, and begin to build pre-reading skills using these delightful activities.

• Use The Pointer Method – When it comes to teaching, sometimes the old ways are the best ways, such as singing the alphabet with your child as you point to each letter. Do this each day, and soon the letters will be easily identified. To test, after a week or so ask the child to use the pointer to point out specific letters. After three to four weeks, add the phonetic alphabet song after the regular one by singing the letter sounds to the same tune as the alphabet song while you point.
• Play With Flash Cards – Another tried and true teaching method is the flash card game. To add a fun twist, let your child keep each card he correctly identifies. You keep the ones he gets incorrect. Whoever has the most cards at the end wins! Once the letters are mastered, have the child identify the sound of each letter. You can also play a game of memory with the flashcards, matching capital to lowercase letters.
• Play Hide and Seek – Hide letters around the house and send the child to find specific ones.  These can be large foam letters or simple sheets of paper with letters written on them. As time goes by, you can make the game more challenging by finding lower case letters, letters that make specific sounds or the letter that starts a particular word.
• Go Letter Fishing – Drop magnetic letters into a tub, bowl or onto a blue blanket. Create a fishing pole by tying another magnet to a string and a stick. Fish for the letters.  If the child can correctly identify the letter caught, they can keep it. If not, throw it back in!
• Create a Sensory Experience – Using all the senses helps to commit information to memory while stimulating the brain. It also makes things more interesting! Shape letters out of carrot sticks or pretzels. Write them in mashed potato. Cut them out of sandpaper. Use finger paints and clay. Cover paper letters in feathers or fur, and trace them with a finger as you say their name. Glue dried herbs and spices to letters for scent. Any way that you can tie a sensory experience into the process will help to reinforce your child’s ability to recognize letters.
• Build a Letter Path – Place large, colorful letter cards on the floor, creating a pathway. If you have stairs in your home, have some go up the steps as well. Encourage your child to say each letter name as she steps on it. For the letters on the floor, it can be fun to hop on each letter or to touch some with a hand instead of a foot.
• Write a Book – Get a loose leaf binder or photo album, and dedicate one page to each letter. Then, your child can trace both the capital and lower case of the letter. Together, cut out the letter from various books or magazines. If you don’t have any books or magazines you are willing to part with, simply create some pages with random letters on them so the child can practice spotting the letter of the day. Then, draw or cut out pictures of items whose names begin with the letter, and paste them on the page.
• Take Learning the Alphabet on the Go – Have your child find a designated letter of the day wherever you go: on road signs, menus, movie credits, newspapers, mail and more.
• Make it delicious – Alphabet soup, cereal, and pasta are available at every grocery store. Children enjoy seeing which letters will wind up on their spoons, and will often ask what a letter is if they do not know it.
• Play Letter Toss – Write letters on bean bags or small balls. Throw the bean bag or ball to the child as you say the letter name. Have him take a good look at the letter, and then throw it back to you while he repeats its name. After he masters most letters, try giving him three or four different ones and asking him to throw you a specific character.

The more fun you can create surrounding letter games, the more your child will enjoy reading as she gets older. Spending just a few minutes each day reviewing letters, even if it means working it into your daily tasks, will help your little one learn her alphabet quickly. As with anything else, all it takes is practice and consistency. Don’t worry about perfection. If the focus remains on making learning enjoyable and entertaining, mastery will soon follow!