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Oral Language

Talk about the title, author, illustrator, what your child sees on the front cover of the book and what he thinks will be in the book. For example, you might say:

“The title of this book is Trace and Learn the ABC’s. The author and illustrator is Alex Lluch. What do you think we will see in this book? Look at the cover of this book, what do you see? That’s right! We see letters of the alphabet. We can touch the letters with our fingers and feel the letters. Look! There are also flaps — we have to open them to see what’s underneath.”

Beginning Writing

The large print and traceable letters introduce your child to all 26 letters of the alphabet. As you read the letters of the alphabet, touch and trace the letter shape and say its name and sound. Give your child time to touch and trace each letter of the alphabet. You might say: 

“I see the letter A. Touch and trace the letter A.”

Phonological Awareness

Use the pictures of the animals under the flap to introduce beginning sounds and syllables. Take a peek and see which animal is hidden under the flap and play a guessing game with your child by giving clues. You might say:

“Clue #1: See if you can guess what is under the flap. I know what this is. It begins with the sound /a/.

Clue #2:  Listen as I say it slowly: al…li…ga…tor.

Clue #3: It has a long nose and a long tail and lives in the swamp.”

Letter Knowledge

Play a matching game with magnetic or foam letters. Let your child choose a letter and find it in the book. Remember to say the name of the letter and the sound it makes for extra exposure, but don’t expect your child to remember the names and sounds yet.

To develop and strengthen fine motor skills for writing, provide play dough and roll into long, thin, snake-like shapes. Use the letters from the book to help your child form letter shapes with the play dough.

Look for letters in the environment, especially letters your child is starting to recognize.

Find more at-home activities that strengthen letter knowledge in two-year-olds, and learn why this pre-reading skill is so important.