Alphabet letter recognition for preschoolers

Is your preschooler ready to start learning the alphabet? Read on to learn more about this important pre-reading skill for young children.

What Is Letter Recognition?

Letter recognition—also known as alphabet recognition—is the ability to:

• distinguish between the 26 letters of the alphabet
• say the letter name

If your child already knows “The Alphabet Song,” that is a great start! But there is more to letter recognition than being able to sing the ABCs. You want your child to be able to pick out the individual letters and name them. 

Advantages of Learning the Letter Names

Children who know the names of the letters have three major advantages:

1. Kids who know letter names will learn the sounds of the letters much more easily. By contrast, children who don’t know the letter names often have tremendous difficulty in learning the sounds of the letters.1
2. Children who can easily name the letters of the alphabet have an easier time learning to read.2, 3
3. As they learn the letter names, children tend to be more motivated to discover more about the letters and the words around them.4, 5, 6

Keep Track of Which Letters Your Child Knows

When you are teaching letters to your child, make sure that you get to the end of the alphabet. This may seem obvious, but all too often, young children don’t master the last several letters. Be sure that your child knows U, V, and W as well as he knows A, B, and C!

Work Cited

Rippel, Marie. “How to Teach the Alphabet to Preschoolers + 8 Free Printable Activities.” About Learning Press, https://blog.allaboutlearningpress.com/teach-alphabet/. Accessed 11 June 2024.