I told my mother a few weeks ago that there was one toy that I loved when I was younger that my daughter didn’t have yet — alphabet blocks. You remember, those wooden blocks with the letters painted in upper case on one side and lower case on the other? So as any Nana would do, she went out and bought some for her.
Alphabet blocks are a great learning tool for your child. Yes, they can help you teach your child the letters of the alphabet, but they can be so much more than that. For example, my daughter has not quite caught on to recognizing the letters of the alphabet yet. That’s okay, I’m not worried — she’s not even a year and a half old yet. She does, however, like stacking the blocks on top of each other. She doesn’t make shapes like houses or train tracks yet. She is more into stacking them in a tall tower and then knocking them over. You know what? That’s great! That is a fantastic way to help her develop hand-eye coordination. Plus, these blocks tend to have pictures of objects that start with the letter on the block. My daughter does recognize some of the pictures, so it’s a good way for me to help her learn to associate those objects with each letter.
I am not sure which brand of blocks my mother bought, but there are letters and numbers — an ABC/123, if you will. It is a 50-piece set and comes with its own carrying bag for easy portability. Each letter has its upper case represented on one side in one color and in lower case on the other side in another color. There are only five number blocks, but there are also blocks that have an equal sign, a plus, a minus, etc. I think that there are doubles of some letters also, but I have not taken the time to see which ones. Not only does each letter block have pictures of objects that begin with that letter, but the name of the object is printed underneath.
Through some research I have learned that there are alphabet blocks of all types. At Uncle Goose Toys, you can find Braille alphabet blocks, blocks that have sign language letters printed on them, and alphabet blocks in 10 languages other than English! Experts say that teaching a foreign language is best during the formative years. That’s a lot of learning and fun for your child!
So the traditional toy known as the alphabet block is not only fun, but of course a great learning experience for your child. Alphabet blocks are available at most retailers including Target, Toys-R-Us, and Amazon.
