Fun with Letters makes a game of recognizing letters in our environment.

When children are taught the alphabet in school, they are encouraged to learn and imitate one basic typeface. Yet the world around them uses hundreds. So we invite you and your child to hunt for examples of each letter. If your examples appear in several different typefaces, that's great. Talking with your child about the similarities and differences you discover helps your child recognize the characteristics that make an a an a and they will learn that not all a's look the same -- concepts essential for good reading skills.

Look for a different letter each week or at whatever interval is comfortable for your child. The order of the letters is up to you (or the child).

Turn the search into an adventure. Collect or copy the examples you find. Save your letters in a box or envelope or paste them into a scrapbook.

To learn about individual letters, visit the Alphabet Soup Cafe and choose one. You will go to a page that leads to seven pages about the shapes, sounds and other features of that letter and examples of its use in everyday communications. You will also find a link to Spinner, an animated spider who will draw the letter as often as your child wants to watch and imitate him.

Pronounce the words your letter appears in. Help your child with confusing letter shapes and sounds. Our approach gives you a chance to explore shapes and sounds together.

To help your child begin to understand how letters are used to form words and how written words mean the same thing day after day, use our Young Writers Workshop pages. Young children can dictate the ending to one of our "stories" and will be fascinated that you can read it back to them again and again. Older children can write their own words and benefit immensely from the exercise.

Be patient. Make it fun. You'll be surprised how much your child will learn!

For more about reading and writing skills development...

Visit the Parent's Guide or Teacher's Guide on our companion site MeddybempsGuide.com to learn how to help your child build the skills needed for learning to read and write.

Enjoy Fun with Letters!