Kids Writing: Teaching Kids to Write Letters & the Alphabet

Writing skill takes surprisingly a lot to gain. But it doesn’t have to be boring. There are many at-home activities that you can try to teach your child the alphabet and the letters. You don’t have to go in order, but can start with simpler letters like E, F, or T.

After a while, your child’s knowledge and strength will develop as well as their muscles that will help them write better. Acquiring writing skills doesn’t happen overnight. Your kid can start with fun and easy scribbling and coloring, which are important for creating the basis of writing skills.

Through activities and fun games, learning to write can be fun. Repetition and fun-filled activities will boost your kid’s writing skills to the maximum.

How to Teach Kids to Write: Writing the Alphabet

If you would like to learn how to teach kids to write and support their writing skills with at home activities, it is best to start with simple stuff. Integrating fun activities into your routine and gradually increasing the level of difficulty will make your child’s skills develop soundly and they will have fun along the way. Give the below step-by-step activities try to start off.

1. Fill in the letter

This is a great start for young children. To do this activity, you will need to write a large letter on a piece of paper in a block style so that its inside can be filled in. Then, have your child fill this letter with objects. The trick here is to instruct your child to fill in the letter with objects that start with the sound of the letter. For instance, if the letter is A, your kid will fill in the letter with acorns, or if the letter is P, bring in pebbles to fill in the letter.

2. Make a letter with household objects

Gather household items and toys and instruct your kids to make letters with these. To make it a bit easier, start with letters that have straight lines, such as A or L. If you have chopsticks laying around, now is the time to put them to use. Curvy letters can be a bit tricky, but you can still make it work. A yard or shoelaces will do just fine.

3. Scavenger hunt

Go around the house, and instruct your kiddo to find small items and objects. Then, encourage them to make letters with these. These items could be buttons or rice.

4. Get their hands dirty

Once you are done with making letters with objects, you can move on to writing letters with their fingers. You can do this activity with finger paint or even salt. Just put some salt or sand in a flat box and instruct them to write the letter with their fingers. You can even use food for this activity like whipped cream!

5. A blank page

Now that you have practiced, it’s time to bring out the paper. There are templates online that you can print out with letters on them so that your child can trace to write the letters. You can do this with many different sizes of letters on paper.

When Do Kids Learn to Write: Learning to Write Letters & the Alphabet

Many parents and caregivers wonder when their children will learn to write. There is no simple answer for this question. Each kid develops at their own pace and gains skills at their own time. Some children can write letters before they turn one year old, but for others this process may take longer.

There are many reasons for this timeline. Usually, letter forming skills develop in kindergarten or first grade. This development generally depends on the child’s developmental level as well as their environment. With this skill, kids then go on to learn their spelling and cursive writing.

Parents can teach writing skills to their kids through different materials around the age of four to six. Being exposed to letters, words, and sentences can help a lot. Also, spending lots of time with books will benefit them in terms of developing their skills of following a plot and learning new words.

Generally, kids learn to write around the age of three. At this age, they may not know how to spell or how to read. However, they know that letters are used to represent sounds. Writing is a creative process for kids. They have fun while learning and they begin to understand how words work together to make meaning.

Then, the pre-writing stage begins. After the child completes the first stage of language development, which is mostly drawing pictures and scribbling, they use their fingers or crayons to start making shapes on paper.

At kindergarten age of around five, children recognize letter shapes and write basic words. This goes on to being more developed until the age of seven or eight.

Teaching the Alphabet & Letters to Preschoolers

Kids will need to learn the alphabet and letters in order to build a foundation for their reading and writing skills. In preschool, children get exposed to and start showing interest in the alphabet.

Although there is a window where children learn the alphabet and the letters, not all of them learn at the same pace. Some learn the letters very quickly while others need more practice. Here are a couple of ways you can practice the alphabet and the letters at home.

Reading Fun Alphabet Books

Expose your child to alphabet books even when they are babies. Repetition is key when it comes to children’s skill acquisition. When you read them the alphabet and show them the book and the fun images in the book, their alphabet learning will be boosted starting at a young age.

Doing Alphabet Puzzles

You must have seen the wooden alphabet puzzles that come in all shapes and sizes. These are great for little kids to practice their alphabet skills. These alphabet puzzles are useful for both vocabulary and verbal skills as well as the child’s entertainment as they are colorful. Some are shaped like animals, some are flowers. You get to pick!

Sensory Bin + Matching Game

Mix and match! You can use a sensory bin with hidden letters inside. These could be foam or you can print out letters. This will help with repetition for kids that need a little more practice. You can also ask your kiddo to match the lowercase letters with their uppercase counterparts with this activity.

Fun Writing Activities for Kids: Writing Games

Sometimes children may not be thrilled about doing writing exercises by actually writing. So these fun activities would ease them into writing through having fun and being excited about writing.

Fill in the Blanks in the Story

For this activity, you will need a sheet with a story written on it. Only this story will have some blank spaces. You can find stories online and remove some words or sentences from the story and give your kiddo the sheet. If you can play with multiple children, the game will be better as every kid will reflect their imagination and creativity. Then, read aloud the stories and discuss!

Caption the Comic

This activity could be suitable for older kids who already learned to write and read but it is still a great writing practice. Find a comic or a comic strip or even a meme online. The game here is to come up with the funniest caption for each of the comics. Again, if you have multiple children to entertain, this activity would be great for having fun while practicing writing skills. Once everyone is done, read everyone’s caption and vote for the best!

Fictional Holiday Cards

Writing becomes much easier when you have a purpose, right? Why not get some holiday cards or birthday cards early on so that your child can practice their writing and letter skills while also expressing their feelings for their loved ones.