Alphabet blocks are such a classic; ABC blocks often come with numbers along with the letters, as well as a storage box or trolley. They make a great gift, by the way, too!
Toddlers love 'em, and will happily play with you as you do your bit of educational letter teaching, and by themselves, when they can chatter away happily to themselves, looking at the letters, building their wonderful creations... then knocking them down again!
Children really enjoy combining the blocks, manipulating them, stacking, touching and holding them - and they're great for individual or group play, too.
So how can you use this toy with your child? Here are some suggestions:
Ideas for games with alphabet blocks
Get musical Set out the letters in alphabetical order and sing the alphabet song, tapping each block as you sing the letter. This only works if your little one doesn't mess up all the blocks first ;) But hey - you can still sing the song!
Or just sing the song as you start playing with the blocks - pointing at some of the letters so that younger kids realize the song is about the letters.
Hide a block somewhere obvious Let your child catch you hide it, then ask "Where's the block?" - if your child doesn't understand what's going on, reveal the block, then do exactly the same thing again - they'll soon get the idea! When revealing the block, say what letter it is - "Ohhh! Here's the letter C!" At some point your son or daughter will begin hiding the blocks themselves for you to find.
Build simple words with the blocks
Mom
and
Dad
hat
cat
bee
box
sun
yes
no
- and your child's name, of course
At first, you might build a word or two, say it, and that's it. Next time, build a word, say it, muddle up the pieces, build it again... and eventually get your child to help you un-muddle the letters and make the word.
Build an alphabet tower You can start building small towers, two, three, four blocks and more.... then ask where a letter is.
Make this more fun (maybe!) by finding a letter on the tower, then poking it to make the tower fall down!
Some kids will enjoy making a tower starting with, say, the first three or four letters of the alphabet in order - ABCD.
Popular blocks
Melissa and Doug's wooden blocks are pretty popular; classic blocks, an ABC block cart and ABC123 blocks are the delights on offer.
Uncle Goose Blocks have some really interesting designs on offer, and also produce blocks in other languages.
You can check out their websites above, or search for these and other alphabet block toys on Amazon.
