Why Read Alphabet Books
Let's take a look at some of the advantages and benefits to reading children alphabet books and, specifically, in reading MULTIPLE types of alphabet books. Basically, it’s all about EXPOSURE and INVOLVEMENT!
Many simple alphabet books will give you both the capital and lowercase letter. We often see alphabet books with a letter per page along with a word and a simple picture showing the item that is being discussed. This is wonderful for early letter recognition. It also provides some comfort with letters to begin understanding that these lines and these shapes actually represent sounds. It's the beginning of the phonemic awareness and letter recognition. The items pictured in these books are generally nouns. Some alphabet books actually will tell a story that is aligned with the alphabet, so it provides familiarity that the child has with the upper and lowercase letters and uses them within the story, like in B is for Bedtime. You might notice the rhyme, too.
Once your child even begins to recognize the letters there are even more benefits to alphabet books! In the Illustrated Alphabet book, you’ll see the capital and lowercase “A” along with the large, single image, the alpaca and a few other small pics of known nouns that begin with the letter A. Incredible learning opportunities just on this page!
Illustrated Alphabet, Author Felicity Brooks, Illustrator Richard Johnson
You have a story and even more things to find in the picture that begin with that letter and sound.
“It was a bad day for the animals at Alphabet Zoo.
And it began when the alpacas ate all the apples.”
Within the illustration you can see apples and alpacas, AND you can also find other things that begin with the letter A. Each page continues the storyline, as well as having the letter page on the left. Asking your child “What else starts with the buh, buh, buh sound?” when on the B page, for example, is key as it gives some more complexity, more visual discrimination even more critical thinking to your alphabet books.
Bringing FUN and ENGAGEMENT is going to make learning the ABCs even more fun for your child. This book, Alfie and Bet’s ABC, takes your alphabet learning even farther with pop-ups! Each page has pop-up letters and highlights where you are in the alphabet. Kids love pop-up books!
Quick activities that you can do while you're focusing on the alphabet:
When you're taking a walk, talk about the STOP on a stop sign
Draw the alphabet with sidewalk chalk
When reading storybooks, encourage your child to find the letters you’ve been working on. Kids love finding their alphabet friends within all their books.
Make letters in the sand
Draw a letter pair, Aa, for example, on a large paper and let the child put stickers on top of the letter to cover your lines
Include alphabet activity books in your travel activities (sticker books, wipe-clean books, flap books)
Spot letters on license plates
SUCCESS TIP - You could create an alphabet book together with a page for each letter pair. You could use your alphabet books as examples. Decorate with things that start with that letter; stickers, things you draw or cut out of magazines. You might even take pics of the child eating a food that starts with that letter and include that pic in your book! The more you include the child in this project, the more ownership the child has in this book creation. This project might take a while. 📅 It’s ok to work on it each day for several days or spread it out over a few weeks. Creating books is EMPOWERING!
Your child's favorite letter is probably the first letter of their name. You can make a big deal about it - make cookies in that letter shape, draw things in frosting in that shape on their cupcake, draw that letter with sidewalk chalk on the driveway, etc... Using their letter often helps it be special. It helps make pre-reading even more fun.
Alphabet books provide so much more than simply learning to sing the ABC song! A variety of alphabet books helps your child understand letters and sounds and how those letters relate to things around them. Enjoying alphabet books with your children gives them advantages as they learn and grow.
Video with a look inside these books mentioned and more!
Comment with your biggest take-away from this post. You can share it with your friends, as it could be helpful to them, too. 😊
