A visual learner tends to love drawing and painting, bright colours and beautiful picture books. He may enjoy sorting objects, stacking blocks, and looking at people more than talking to them. Show him how to do something, and it's likely that he'll soon be able to do it all by himself. He uses his eyes to match and compare the letter shapes in his alphabet books, on his alphabet blocks, on signs and labels — and often can recall what he has seen. He loves watching you — that's usually how he learns.

Even though visual learners have strong visual skills, they can benefit from auditory and tactile stimulation.

Skills: letter and letter/sound recognition, observation skills, problem solving

INVISIBLE WRITING

In this game you each take turns writing a letter in the air with a finger and guessing what it is. Or you can write the letters on each other's back. Or play in the dark and write the letter on the ceiling or wall using a flashlight!

VANISHING LETTERS

With a small, wet sponge, write a letter on a blackboard. Ask your child to identify the letter quickly, before it disappears! Once your child knows the letter, see if she can write it herself.

Once your child can quickly identify all the letters of the alphabet, try this variation: Ask her to say the letter aloud once in her normal voice, then more and more softly as the letter begins to fade away.

An auditory learner loves repetition and rhyme — so sing the ABC song with her. She has probably memorized many song lyrics and nursery rhymes and can recite books you've read to her word for word — some people think she can read! She enjoys the sound of your voice (especially when you read or sing to her), the sound of her own voice (she tends to talk a lot), and all kinds of music. Watch what you say, she usually remembers everything!

Even though auditory learners have strong listening skills, they can benefit from visual and tactile stimulation.

Skills: letter and letter/sound recognition, word recognition, gross- and fine-motor skills

HAVE FUN WITH THE ABC SONG

With a few small additions, you can turn the ABC song into a new multi-sensory learning experience for your child.

Singing the ABC song is how many children discover the alphabet. They love reciting it again and again and feel so proud once they can sing it perfectly.

Try these playful multi-sensory ideas to help your child learn more about language and sharpen his listening skills.

ADD RHYTHM

As your child sings the ABC song, show him how to clap or tap his feet to the beat. Or make it a more musical experience by providing a simple instrument that he can play as he sings, keeping time to the beat. Try wrist (or ankle) bells. Other instruments that don't require highly coordinated hand movements: a triangle, a tambourine, and a toy drum.

Show your child that even everyday objects can make appealing rhythmic sounds: striking blocks and boxes with sticks or shaking plastic bottles filled with buttons, bells, or pebbles.

Rhythm and movement provide auditory and kinesthetic cues to help your child remember the order of the letters in the song. (The Fisher-Price PLAY WITH LETTERS DESK has a musical "tickle" feature that allows your child to create his own "letter rap" using any letter of the alphabet.)

TRY DIFFERENT VOICES

Encourage your child to use different tones and voices while singing the ABC song. Can he whisper it? Shout it out? Sing it in a very high, then a very low, voice? Maybe he could try the voice of a quacking duck, a teeny mouse, or a growling dog. Make him smile by singing it to him in your silliest voice. Take turns trying out silly singing voices.

Your child might like trying to sing the song very, very slowly, then faster and faster.

Vocal versatility offers excellent auditory and linguistic practice in the skills that support early reading development. As your child learns to listen to and make a variety of sounds, he is using skills needed to hear the difference between some of the most confusing letters — B, D, P, and T!

DANCE TO THE BEAT

Invite your child to dance around the room as she sings the ABC song. Give her props to inspire her movements, such as streamers, a long scarf, or a big square of flowing fabric. Could she dance like a ballerina on her toes? She can march to the beat like a soldier or click-clack like a tap dancer.

LOOK AND SING

As your child sings, point to the letters on an alphabet chart or to letter tiles so she can make the connection between what letters look and sound like.

HAVE A DUET

Sing the ABC song and stop at any point and ask your child to fill in the missing letter. Encourage her to find the missing letter on an alphabet chart or among letter tiles. (If you use the letter tiles in the PLAY WITH LETTERS DESK, your child can roll the letter to hear how it sounds.)

PLAY MUSICAL LETTERS

Place a set of large alphabet cards in a circle, going from A to Z. As your child sings each letter she can step on the appropriate card. She can sing it slowly at first and then faster and faster.
Or you can sing the song and stop at one point and say “Freeze!” Now she has to name the card on which she is standing.

MAKE A MOVIE

Videotape your child as she is singing and dancing to the song and play it back for her. She'll enjoy listening to her own voice and looking at her movements.

PUT ON A SHOW

Your child might enjoy hearing her favourite hand puppet sing and dance to the ABC song. Or you can make a simple marionette by tying ribbons onto the hands of a small stuffed animal.

You'll often find a tactile learner in the sandbox, building a fort. He usually likes to construct things and tear them down or break them apart just to see how they work. Touchable toys are his favourites, so he'll learn his alphabet by picking up alphabet tiles, tracing letters with a finger, and getting the feel of them. He learns by imitating — so watch what you do!

Although a tactile learner may be more adept at learning by touching, doing and moving, he can sharpen his auditory and visual skills with multi-sensory activities.

Skills: letter recognition, predicting, creative-thinking skills, measuring, comparing, matching and forming letter shapes

SHAPE 'N' BAKE ABCs

Your child will learn about letters and letter shapes when you make easy ABC bread snacks together.

All the senses come into play when you make bread letters with your child. She'll be helping you measure and mix the ingredients, knead the dough, and form the letters, perhaps copying them from a letter chart or letter tiles. While she's enjoying herself, she will also be taking in the delicious aromas that surround her and, when they come out of the oven, finally tasting the yummy results. Say the letters aloud as you shape the dough and you have created a complete sensory experience for your child.

What you need:

• 1 tbsp. quick-acting yeast
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tbsp. oil

Utensils:

• measuring cup
• wooden spoon
• bowl
• plastic knives and forks
• craft sticks
• wooden board
• baking sheet

What to do:

• The parent should preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and be in charge of using the oven.
• Measure the water, sugar, and yeast into a bowl and mix. Wait two or three minutes for the yeast to soften.
• Stir in one cup of flour. Then add the oil, salt and remaining cup of flour.
• Sprinkle flour onto the wooden board. Place the dough on the board, and knead for about five minutes. You can add a bit of flour to the dough if it begins to stick to your hands.
• Put the dough into the bowl and cover it, letting it rise for about 45 minutes.
• Punch the dough down, and work it into a ball. Next, separate the dough into smaller portions.
• Using the plastic knives, forks, and craft sticks, shape the dough into letters. You might shape the dough into the letters in your child's name, in the names of other family members, even in the names of family pets.
• Place your letter shapes on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes.

What your child can do:

• Help you measure, pour, and mix the ingredients.
• Test the yeast with a finger to see if it's soft.
• Sprinkle flour onto the board and knead the dough.
• Decide what letters shapes to make.
• Help you shape the dough into letters, using letter tiles or an alphabet chart as a guide if needed.
• Peek at the dough periodically to see how it's rising.

Teaching Tips:
While you're waiting for the dough to rise and the letters to bake, read an alphabet book together and sing the ABC song.

By incorporating sight, sound, and touch, the multi-sensory approach is right for all learning styles. Whether your child is a visual, auditory, or tactile learner, multi-sensory stimulation will build on his strengths and strengthen his weaknesses. And because multi-sensory techniques call for plenty of action and interaction, it's the perfect approach for active preschoolers who enjoy learning by doing. Plus multi-sensory learning is so much like play, it's always fun!

Skills: name and letter recognition, word recognition, fine-motor skills, sensory integration

GREAT LITTLE LETTER GAMES

Turn playtime into a letter-learning experience with these fun activities that teach the ABCs.

Make the most of your child's love of play to introduce and reinforce her knowledge of letters and letter sounds with these enjoyable multi-sensory games.

Letter Search
Your child will have fun running around the house searching for letter cards you've hidden. Each time he finds a letter he must say it aloud. Once he finds all the letters he can be rewarded with a small prize.

ABC Hopscotch
Play hopscotch but fill the sidewalk squares with letters or letter tiles instead of numbers!

Mix 'n' Match
Make two sets of alphabet cards: one of lowercase and one of uppercase letters. The object of the game is to match the uppercase and lowercase versions of each letter.

Letter March
Place alphabet cards on the floor forming a circle. Now play marching music and invite your child to step on the cards while marching to the beat. When you stop the music he must freeze in place and say the names of the letter he is standing on. Remove that letter, as in musical chairs, and repeat until only one special letter remains.

Play Tic Tac Toe
Instead of an X and an O, play with lowercase b and d, which are among the more difficult letters for children to recognize because they look so similar. Or choose any two letters your child might be having trouble identifying, or let your child choose any two letters she likes. It's an engaging way to practice visual discrimination.

Beautiful babies bounce balls — if your child heard those words, could she tell you that they begin with the letter B? Understanding that letters have sounds is an essential step every child must take on the road to becoming a successful reader and writer. The multi-sensory activities that follow will help open your child's ears to the sounds letters make. An auditory learner might be more adept at distinguishing between letter sounds, but even visual and tactile learners can learn to listen and listen to learn.

Skills: letter and letter/sound recognition, word recognition, listening and observation skills, fine-motor skills

MULTI-SENSORY I SPY

Here's a favourite game with a fun twist designed to teach letter sounds.

Using sight, sound, and touch, your child will learn more about letters, particularly letter sounds, with this version of I Spy. Included are different levels of complexity and a few variations so that you can create a game that suits your child to a T.

Let's play:
Your child listens to your directions and searches for an object that begins with the letter sound you make.

Level 1:
For children 3 and under, keep the game very visual and concrete. Also, the object he is searching for should be close by so that he can make the connection easily. You want your child to succeed and have a sense of accomplishment.

Begin by displaying a tray of four or five objects — such as a pen, a top, a marshmallow, a key. Say the intial consonant sound: P-P-P-P-pen, T-T-T-T-top, M-M-M-M-marshmallow, K-K-K-K-key. Choose initial consonant sounds only (no initial vowel sounds at this level) that are not blended (no “sh” as in “shoes”).

Now say, “I spy with my little eye something in the tray that starts with P-P-P-P.” Your child finds the pen, picks it up and says, “Pen!”

Variations: You can spy objects in an illustration from a picture book. You can also use the letter tiles from the PLAY WITH LETTERS DESK. Once your child chooses the right object, such as the pen, he can find the P tile, and roll it to hear the P sound.

Level 2:
This next level would expand the complexity and field of vision — to the wall, for example, or the floor. You would say, “I spy with my little eye something that is on the floor that starts with R-R-R-R” (a rug).

You can then move to an even broader field such as “something in the room,” or “in the house.” You can even play the game outside in your backyard or in the park.

By slowly expanding the field, you take the child from the concrete experience to greater and greater levels of abstraction and, at the same time, you are inviting her to apply the letter sounds to her world.

Tip: If at any point your child is having difficulty, you can add clues. For example, “I spy with my little eye something on the floor that starts with P-P-P-P and you can write with it.” Once your child gets better at the game, you simply take away the clues.

GO SOUND SHOPPING

Your child will learn letter sounds and much more when he creates his very own supermarket-shopping list.

Let's play:
You'll need supermarket circulars and food advertisements from magazines, children's scissors, glue, and a long sheet of paper. Show your child the materials and explain that you will be creating a pretend grocery-shopping list together.

To begin, choose two letters that have very different sounds, such as M and D. Divide the paper into two columns and write M on top of one column and D on top of the other (both in upper- and lowercase).

Invite your child to help you search the circulars and advertisements for food items that begin with the letter sounds M and D. Help him in his search by reading aloud the words in the ads, exaggerating the initial letter sounds: “Yes, that's pizza you see! P-P-P-P-pizza! Does pizza begin with an M or D sound?” He will use his sense of sight to identify items and may even recognize some words.

Once he finds an item (“Yes! M-M-M-M-milk begins with the M sound!”), help your child cut out the picture (include the name of the item) and glue it onto his shopping list in the correct column.

Variations:

• Take the grocery-shopping list to the supermarket, encouraging your child to try to find the food items on his list. As he sees the relationship between the written list and the real objects, your child is making an important letter/sound connection and also experiencing the usefulness of reading.
• An older child can use markers to write the names of the M and D items on the list rather than cutting out and gluing the pictures to his list.
• You can play the same game using toy store catalogs, asking your child to make a shopping list of toys he likes that begin with two or three letter sounds you have chosen.

Download and print out the game board. This file is in PDF format. To open this file, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader software. If you do not have this software already installed, you can download it free.

Skills: letter and letter/sound recognition, word recognition, observation skills, problem solving, pre-writing skills, large- and fine-motor skills

GET ON BOARD FOR FUN . . .

These fun-filled games and activities use the power of sight, sound, and touch to teach the alphabet.

colour It Bright!
You'll need: art materials

Your child might like to colour the board using crayons, scented markers, or coloured pencils.

Trace the Letters
You'll need: sheet protector or clear contact paper

Put the game board in a sheet protector or cover it with clear contact paper — it's now a reusable wipe-off board. Your child can trace the game board letters using a crayon — then wipe them off and start again!

Make an Alphabet Book
You'll need: the game board cut into 26 squares

Glue each square onto a separate page of a small sketchbook. Your child could then glue pictures clipped from magazines and catalogs or draw objects that start with that letter onto the appropriate letter page.

Alpha-Land
You'll need: game pieces (such as jelly beans), and one die

Each player takes turns rolling the die and moving his game piece as many squares as the number thrown, going from A to Z. A five would land on the E square, for example. The player then says the letter and the object: E as in Egg. To add difficulty, the player should say another word that begins with the letter he lands on, such as E as in Elephant.

Concentration Squares
You'll need: two copies of the game board cut into 26 letter squares

Choose five pairs of letter squares (two squares for each letter) and place them face down on a table or the floor. Take turns turning over two squares. If the letter squares don't match, the player turns them face down again. If the letter squares match, the player takes those squares and puts them in his pile. Continue to play until you have matched all the letter squares.

ABC Charades
You'll need: one copy of the game board cut into 26 letter squares (or you can use alphabet letter tiles)

Place the letter squares or the alphabet tiles face down in a shirt-box top. Players take turns choosing a letter. The player forms the letter he has chosen using his hands, his fingers, and/or his body. The other player or players then guess what that letter is.

It isn't at all difficult, once you show your child how it's done. For example: Lay on the floor with your arms and legs spread out for an X. Curve your fingers and thumb into a C. Use your imagination and have fun!

NOW TRY THIS!

Make the ABCs AROUND THE HOUSE game multi-sensory by asking your child to find each of the objects shown on the game board and descoted in the riddles. Once you find the object, say the letter and the name of the object aloud ("B is for Bubble") then the letter sound (Buh-buh-buh). Now explore the object together, using sight, sound, touch — and sometimes taste!

Here are some tips on how to explore the objects the multi-sensory way.

A is for Apple
Ask your child to descote the apple's shape and how it feels in her hand. Does it feel round and smooth? What colour is it on the outside? When she takes a bite, what does she hear? Listen for the crunch. What colour is the apple on the inside?

B is for Bubble
Blow bubbles together. Ask your child to descote the bubbles. Are they smooth, shiny and round? Can he see through the bubbles? Do the bubbles float up? When he pokes a bubble with a finger, what happens? If he stays very still, one may land on his hand. How does it feel?

C is for Cup
Give your child a cup of water. Is the cup hard, smooth and round? What colour is it on the outside? Is the colour on the inside the same? Can she see through the water? When she touches the water with a finger how does it feel? How does the water taste and feel in her mouth? Ask her to pour out the water and listen for the sound.

D is for Desk
Invite your child to touch a desk. Is it hard? Is it rough? If he knocks on the desk does it make a sound? Does it make a different

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