Using letters and numbers without having to write them down, takes away much of the cognitive load young children experience when learning to write. The struggle to grip the pencil correctly, and form letters perfectly is gone, and they can focus simply on letter sounds. In this way, many grasp the concept of reading long before they can write, and why deprive them of that chance?
Whether magnetic, wooden or printed on cards, you can use them in all kinds of ways:
- Create a sound tray. Put today’s letter in the tray and fill the tray with objects that begin with that sound.
- Swap letters to make new words. Spell out cat. Now swap the c for h, then p and b and so on.
- Hang letters and numbers on a washing line and play around with their order, take one away etc
