How To Support Letter Recognition in Early Years!

At our nurseries we do the utmost to support the children with their letter recognition. Within all of our settings we make sure letters are visible in the environment so the children are around them and familiar with them. We have letters on lots of our toys that we know the children are interested in like the wooden train tracks and building blocks. It really helps familiarise them with the letters as well as the sounds of the letters which eventually helps with forming simple words.

Within all of our settings most resources are accessible for the children allowing them to follow their interests independently and explore what they wish to. Our mark making area is a prime example of this. By having an area where pencils, paper and stencils are accessible for the children they’re able to explore and grow their interest by stencilling letters that they are familiar with and have a connection to, attempting to write their own names or form simple sentences.

During our circle times we like to have key focus subjects on different days as this helps the children get the most they can out of circle time. For example letter recognition, or even practising our phonics. This can be done in different ways however we find using the ‘Fred the Frog Phonics’ really useful as it allows the children to be a lot more engaged, which results in them learning more from it.

We support the children with their letter recognition by having them find their names during meal times. By doing this it allows the children to notice the different letters within their names, as well as identify their names independently. When planning activities for the children we constantly follow their interests while also always thinking of ideas on how to expand our activities so the children are always getting the most out of any activity we set up. We are constantly thinking of ways we can embed different areas of learning so the children are noticing and learning about their different letters and numbers.

Lots of love,

Leighs Nurseries x