The wonderful result of this focus is a plethora of alphabet printables, alphabet games, alphabet books, and alphabet play. Now, all that being said, of all the skills needed to teach your child to read, perhaps none gets as much attention as ABC learning–the art and practice of learning the alphabet. But learning to read in preschool is not the goal. I do know how tempting it is to buy into the “but my child is more special” mentality. Kids who learn to read early are just that - Kids who learned to read early. Studies have proven that kids who learn the alphabet and learn to read after their peers - at age 8, 9, and even 10 - will catch up with those who learn to read before age 5. Providing rich life experiences, encouraging high-value play, and reading out loud to your child are all far, far more important for preschool children than learning the alphabet. Now I know that’s a pretty far-out concept for some of you, but it’s true. Your child doesn’t really even need to know all the alphabet letters before they finish preschool. Before we talk about how to teach alphabet letters for preschoolers, let’s conquer a big misconception about kids learning to read first.
