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We’ve been asked on many occasions by friends who have pre-school aged kids for suggestions to help their little ones learn the alphabet. Almost all budding readers will learn their letters as a precursor to learning to read. So, if you feel like your child is ready, we have one proven method that can help them to acquire letter knowledge — have them start “playing” with magnetic letters.

There are some fun activities they can do that are 100% educational. Whether you use plastic or foam letters (we prefer foam for the full magnetic backing), it does not matter, magnetic letters are terrific tools for supporting a child’s development of letter-shape, letter-name and letter-sound knowledge. One important caveat that literacy experts will make about learning the alphabet is that while learning the names of each letter is important, your child’s ability to distinguish the different characteristics and features of each letter’s shape is perhaps more critical to ultimately becoming a fluent reader. So, make sure to point out each letter’s unique shape as well as their name. Over time, a child’s ability to rapidly tell one letter from another will grow until it becomes automatic. As “teachers”, it should be our goal to help chilren begin this process in a fun, accessible way, allowing confidence to be gained through repetition and practice.

Now that you’re convinced you need to buy some magnetic letters. What’s next? Having your child engage in sorting activities with magnetic letters is a good way to enhance their learning. Here are some sorting activities that you can try with your child using magnetic letters.

Today is the last day to enter for one of 7 FREE Letter Buddies AlphaBooks apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch. We have sponsored a giveaway contest that is happening right now at www.LilliesPad.com — a fantastic site that features products and articles for children with special needs. Visit Lillies Pad to learn more and to win a free Letter Buddies AlphaBooks app!

[This app] lays the ground work for learning to read because as the narrator talks, the words in the sentence she is reciting light up…Overall I’d give this my thumbs up. And so does my girl. She now pesters me to see the letters every time we get in the car…

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL REVIEW

Apps For Children with Special Needs (A4cwsn), is a fantastic organization that helps the families and carers of children with special needs and the wider community of educators and therapists who support them, by producing videos that demonstrate how products designed to educate children and build their life skills really work from a user perspective.

This Saturday June 11, 2011 @9am EST, they will be hosting an Apps Party on Facebook where they will be giving away 2500+ apps and 8 iPads! Letter Buddies will be joining in the fun and giving away 10 of our Letter Buddies AlphaBooks apps!

I was contacted by the creators of the Letter Buddies AlphaBooks App to do a review for my readers! I am always a fan of good kid apps, so I jumped all over it.

I am very happy that I did! My two year old loves to change the pages on the books, and she enjoys seeing the pictures, so I would say it’s a hit…

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL REVIEW

When introduced to Bubbles, she was rather captivated. It is on a iPhone after all! That, plus the colourful images and familiar letters that could talk made it even more entertaining.

I really like the personification of the letters, and Bubbles is at a stage where something like that is particularly compelling…

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL REVIEW

As a certified reading teacher, I was very intrigued with an application for younger children that begins to introduce early reading skills. We decided to try our letter F first. JSL receives speech therapy, and this is the sound that he is working on. Within seconds the iPod was pulled out of my hand…

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL REVIEW

I think it is a great app because it really helps kids associate letters with words. My 4 year old son is learning his letters and by showing a picture of an item and showing the word at the bottom it is helping him associate letters and words…

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL REVIEW

Letter Buddies AlphaBooks app for iPad is a great, fun and innovative app for toddlers and pre-schoolers to learn their ABC. We like to see ABC apps that are creative and original and today we like to let you know about Letter Buddies AlphaBooks an ABC learning app that we encourage you to discover…

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL REVIEW