Does anyone know any good books or techniques regarding teaching a 3 yr old reading and the alphabet?

I don't think a three year old would be ready for reading exercises but I do believe that the alphabet and numbers l to l0 could be managed. Use your imagination. Word association such as A is for apple and have an apple on the table is a good idea, etc. but 'slowly' is the key. It all depends on where they are in communication. If they aren't talking yet, then I don't think it is a good idea. Their vocabularly may not be ready enough at 3 years old.

Well, we do do letter recognition. She certainly doesn't know all of them, but knows the lettters that "mean" something to her. She just loves to be read to and also pretends to read books, so I thought she may be ready to learn a bit more, but I have no clue how to teach reading.

Phonics, which teaches by sounds, is a good way to start and may work for a very young one. Visit this website and see what you think:

Hooked on Phonics

At the age of 3, I think a simple alphabet book, like A is for Apple, B is for Bananas, and things like that, would be sufficient enough. I know there are 4 year olds that can read simple words, but right now, at the age of 3, I'd start there.

Simply spending time with your child looking at children's alphabet books is the best schooling they can get. Some of those Vtech toys can be quite educational as well but nothing replaces showing and sharing your knowledge with your child in a fun and happy moment.

From my wife, Director of 4 preschools:

"Our preschool uses the Leap Frog Sing and Read Series. The child learns through music and repetition. Our Pre K Classes love it. Scholastic also put together an "Alpha Tales" Series that we use also. Children just want attention and to have fun, whatever you choose to use, make it fun and creative."

Thanks for all the good suggestions! The only thing I am opposed to is the V Tech/video game stuff. I'd prefer not to go there. I'm old school!

I was thinking maybe we could write our own books together and illustrate them too. She loves doing crafts and is quite creative.

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Originally Posted by passmeby

Thanks for all the good suggestions!! The only thing I am opposed to is the V Tech/video game stuff. I'd prefer not to go there. I'm old school!!

I was thinking maybe we could write our own books together and illustrate them too. She loves doing crafts and is quite creative.

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That would work... could also use old magazines to find letters and sight words in and make a collage on construction paper. Could carry it into making displays or posters with word families such as cat, sat, hat, etc. and she can start recognizing these in the magazines. Children this age also start to "read" environmental words that become very familiar... the stop sign, name of the supermarket you go to, favorite restaurant, etc..

I would suggest little alphabet puzzles, flash cards, and books that have a word that the letter starts with. Those alphabet lines are good too. There are also some electronic keyboard type players that light up and have the letters on them and when you push A is says A is for apple, B is for Boat, C is for cat. My daughter learned her ABC's at two years old, so it is possible. She just now turned three and can count to 10 in english and spanish and is learning sign language. She is also starting to learn how to write. So, it is possible. Her teacher at daycare has worked with her though for the past two years. She would get her alphabet keyboard type player out all the time and sit there and push A, B, C etc and that is how I think she picked up most of it. I wouldn't give her a word to read first, I would break it down into separate letters so she isn't looking at a whole bunch of letters, she would be focusing on one. Another suggestion would be to get a little chalk board and write them one letter at a time. That is what I am doing with my daughter to help her learn how to write. When she just started learning her letters I had a styrofoam puzzle, and the letters would come out. Then she would input the letters into the correct spaces and slowly she would start naming them. A, B, C etc. with my help of course. Good luck!

My son is 5 and still learning. Regarding the idea of books. We love it. My son draws the pictures and dictates the story to my and I write it in the book. We have done about 6 of these and he reads them over and over.