The A-Z Of Alphabet Learning

Here at NEST we acknowledge that the alphabet is the building block of literacy and that learning the alphabet should begin early in a child’s life. We understand that children must learn to recognise and name the letters of the alphabet, both in and out of order plus the sounds associated with each letter. In fact, children should be well on their way to alphabet mastery before preschool age and should certainly be at least introduced to the letters before the age of 3.

Do you remember learning the alphabet?

When we asked Geraldine Grandidier, founder of Tidy Books this question, this is what she had to say;

“Yes, I do. At school we got to know the letters by singing them to our teacher. It was such a fun way to learn and really helped me to become familiar with all the different letters of the alphabet.”

In 2004, Geraldine designed the Alphabet Bookcase for Tidy Books. She then went on to tell us;

“When it came to my daughter’s turn to learn the alphabet, she had a bit of extra help thanks to my Tidy Bookcase Bookcase. 

I designed the front-facing bookcase to make it easier for Adele – and other kids – to find the books they wanted. It also struck me that having colourful A to Z letters on the bookcase would help kids to learn their letters at the same time, so I added those as an option if customers wanted them.

As a mum, it was lovely to watch Adele with her alphabet bookcase. She was able to build up her vocabulary gradually and casually by pointing to the bright wooden 3D letters and saying them out loud.

When I designed the bookcase in 2004 it was an instant hit with Adele – and today it’s one of our best sellers. I did make one adjustment along the way, though. To begin with, the letters were in capitals but then I got chatting to a schoolteacher who told me that kids start by learning lower case letters. If you think about it, with books those are the letters kids that see most and they are the ones that they become familiar with – so of course, it made perfect sense for me to change the bookcase letters to lowercase.

Learning the alphabet is so important for the development of children’s reading and literacy. Once they’ve mastered the different letters and their sounds, they then have the building blocks of language – and the wonderful world of books awaits them!”

At NEST we know that if you are going to help children learn, then the most important teaching tip of all, is to make it fun!

To help reinforce your child’s knowledge of letters we have included some great products in the NEST range that will certainly assist in allowing your child to see, hear, and experience letters in a variety of different ways.

By making it more of a game, your child will love learning with you and from you.

How do you help your kids learn the alphabet?

Shop our featured alphabet products by clicking on these links:

1. Wooden Alphabet Truck – https://www.nestdesigns.co.za/product/toys-gifts/all-toys-gifts/wooden-alphabet-truck/ 
2. Magnetic Wooden Lowercase Letters – https://www.nestdesigns.co.za/product/toys-gifts/all-toys-gifts/magnetic-wooden-lowercase-letters/
3. Self Correcting Letter Puzzle – https://www.nestdesigns.co.za/product/toys-gifts/all-toys-gifts/self-correcting-letter-puzzle/
4. Babywalker with ABC Blocks – https://www.nestdesigns.co.za/product/toys-gifts/all-toys-gifts/babywalker-with-abc-blocks/
5. Write-a-Mat Alphabet – https://www.nestdesigns.co.za/product/toys-gifts/all-toys-gifts/write-a-mat-alphabet/

Happy ABC’s!