How to Teach the Alphabet with Lego Duplo Blocks

March 17, 2014 by Vanessa Levin 

 

How to Teach the Alphabet with Lego Duplo Blocks

Do your kids love Lego Duplo blocks? I’ve never met a preschool or kindergarten child who didn’t! So why not leverage this interest and use this classic toy as a vehicle to teach the alphabet?
When you use high interest materials such as Lego Duplo blocks to teach an academic skill it motivates and engages young children. And better yet, research has proven that when children are motivated and engaged they learn more. This fantastic quote from Alfred Mercier says it all, “What we learn with pleasure we never forget.”

Materials Needed

• Permanent marker
• Lego Duplo blocks
• Printable recording sheet {see freebie below}
• Pencils or crayons

Preparation
First, write the letters on the Lego Duplo blocks with your permanent marker. I wrote the uppercase letters on 26 blocks and did the same for the lowercase. Next, I placed the blocks in my alphabet center along with some crayons and copies of the recording sheet.

How Students Use the Lego Duplo Blocks

Students are invited to find the matching upper and lowercase blocks, connect them and then place them on their recording sheet. If they are able, they can write the letters on the sheet using the crayons.


Click on the image above to download your free letter matching recording sheet.
Differentiation
For students who are not ready for the challenge of matching upper to lowercase letters, create two sets of uppercase letters and invite them to match upper to uppercase.
Extensions
You can place the recording sheet in a sheet protector or make your own dry erase sleeves to save paper. You could also invite your students to wear hard hats while participating in this activity to show they are busy “working.” Plastic hard hats can usually be found at the dollar store.
When children play with Lego Duplo blocks they are also developing fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination as they grasp, put together, and take apart the blocks.
Shopping Tips
Spring is almost here and spring means garage sales. At garage sales you can find plenty of Lego Duplo blocks on the cheap! You can also try your local thrift stores. I found a large set of blocks called Mega Blocks at my local Wal-Mart; they are inexpensive but very similar to Lego Duplo blocks and work just as well.

How do I Teach the Alphabet to my Child?

Surround your child with letters:
     Pre-school children need to learn the shapes, names and sounds of  26 different letters—52 shapes, really, because the lower case letters only somewhat resemble the capital letters.   This is a lot to learn when you’re 3 or 4 years old.  This is why we try to make the letters of the alphabet as vivid and “real” as possible.  On this page are games and activities to help young students learn the letters.

 

How to start teaching the letters of the alphabet to a child

     Do what your kids enjoy and find interesting and fun.   Kids like things they can model, see, do, color, decorate, and manipulate.  Make it an alphabet adventure!   

Letter Learning Activities - Click on an Activity, Pattern, or Online Application:

Clothesline Letters — spell names or words from letters arranged on a string.

Print out very large letters—up to 3 feet tall.  Besides being almost as tall as the child., these letters can be decorated with pictures of objects beginning with that letter.

Alphabet cookies — traditional way to teach alphabet letters.  Decorate them with icing or sprinkles.  Chocolate chip cookies can have chocolate chips on top, outlining the letter to emphasize it.

Foam letters (to cut out and decorate and play with)

Felt Animals to represent every letter, to go on a flannel board, and to play with (can also be printed out on paper)

Finger-paint the letters — easier to draw with a finger than with a pencil or pen.  Finger-paint recipe included.

Letters on cards — Print and decorate your own letter cards.  Flash cards shouldn't be dull.

Letter Sounds — online games to learn the sounds represented by the letters.

Palm Letters — spelling letters in the hand (sort of like reading a palm)

Learn Letters - online games to construct the shapes of the letters of the alphabet from circles and lines.  A slightly different way to look at the lower-case letters, and makes the letters while involving less fine hand-eye coordination.

Color Letters – print out and color the letters with an animal whose name begins with that letter.
  

How do you begin teaching the letters of the alphabet to a child?

Start with that most important word—your child’s name. From the clothesline alphabet (the letters that fold over and stand up by themselves on a table, or that drape over a clothesline), or the Letter Cards print out the letters of your child’s first name (the short form, if there is one) and have the child color the letters and help put them in order. Name each letter as you arrange it. The next time you can do your child’s last name, and then middle name and then maybe the long form of the child’s first name. The child does not have to spell the name at this point; only to name the letters in his name. This makes learning the letters personal and important. Because it is something important to the child—his own name--the child “owns” his learning, and will be excited by it.

http://www.yourchildlearns.com/alphabet-activities.html 

 

Begin pointing out words in the environment, such as STOP, McDonalds, EXIT and others.  This is called environmental print.  Kids will really get into this as you drive down the street.  Ask them if they can "read" the words on stores, street signs, or cars.  Some signs are logos and they will recognize the logo.  Discuss what the sound is that the words starts with and then talk about what letter name is begins with.