Your child’s name is very special and is a great place to start teaching letters of the alphabet. Your child will enjoy singing the song, the “Letters on the Bus,” while holding an index card with one letter of her name.
- song: “ Letters on the Bus”
- index cards
- marker
- piece of plain paper
Step 1: Draw a bus shape on a sheet of paper. Create letter cards by writing each letter of your child’s name on an index card, one letter per card. Place each letter card on top of the bus to spell your child’s name.
Step 2: Show your child the bus with her name. Touch the first letter of your child’s name and tell your child the name of the letter. For example, if your child’s name is Sophie, you might say: “Your name begins with the letter S. This is the letter S.”
Step 3: Ask your child to hold the letter card as you sing the song, “Letters on the Bus,” to the tune of the “Wheels on the Bus.”
The letter on the bus is S, S, S..…S, S, S…..S, S, S;
The letter on the bus is S, S , S, Sophie starts with S.
Step 4: Continue with the next letters of your child’s name. The second verse could go something like this:
The letter on the bus is O, O, O..…O, O, O…..O, O, O;
The letter on the bus is O, O , O, Sophie has an O.
To make it easier, start with just the first 2-3 letters in your child’s name.
To add some challenge, ask your child to match letters. Write the letters of your child’s name on the bus shape. Ask your child to match the letter cards with the written letters on the bus. To do this, you can give your child the letter card with the first letter of her name and see if she can match it to the correct letter on the bus. You might say: “Your name begins with the letter S. This is the letter S. Find the letter S on the bus.”
Step 2: Then sing:
The letter on the bus is S, S, S..…S, S, S…..S, S, S;
The letter on the bus is S, S , S, Sophie starts with S.
Step 3: Continue with the remaining letters.
