A, B, C, D, E, F, G – As an adult, you probably started singing the alphabet song in your head as soon as you read those letters. You likely don’t even remember when you learned the ABCs. But, for those of you with little ones, you are likely trying all the tricks to teach your kids their ABCs so your kids can sing the alphabet song along with you.
There are tons of ways to teach your child the ABCs, but today, we are focusing on creating an alphabet photo book. Your little one will be able to sing “Now I know my ABCs, next time won’t you sing with me” before you know it!
Helps Baby Recognize Faces
When you create a personalized ABC board book, you have the opportunity to include photos of your family members. By including photos of loved ones, your little one will begin to recognize faces. When parents read the book to their baby before bedtime, they can point to pictures of their loved ones and speak their name aloud. This is especially helpful for teaching your child to recognize family members and friends they may not get to see often.
Teaches Early Literacy Skills
Along with teaching facial recognition, a personalized ABC board book is a fantastic education tool! You may not realize it, but teaching the ABCs is a fundamental early literacy skill. Michigan State University researchers explain, “Two additional emergent literacy skills that are important for children to learn to read are the concepts of letter knowledge and alphabetical principle. Letter knowledge is knowing the letters of the alphabet and recognizing them in print. Alphabetical principle is the concept of associating letters with sounds and sounds with words, knowing for instance, that ‘B’ makes the ‘buh’ sound.”
With a personalized ABC photo book, parents are teaching both of these fundamental skills! Your little one will start to learn how to identify different letters and the sounds they make from reading their customized ABC board book in your lap!
There is no reason to feel intimidated when it comes to making your own ABC book for your child. You will likely find that it is a fun way to stretch your creative mind! All you need to do is write out all 26 letters of the alphabet. Then, brainstorm different people, places, and things that start with each letter of the alphabet. Since you are making the book for a young child, you want to choose kid-friendly words and photos, such as “B for Ball” or “D for Daddy.”
A Few ABC Suggestions to Get You Started
The key word to focus on as you are crafting your personalized ABC photo book for your little is “personalized.” The point is to include personal photos, so it is important to start by identifying the special people or things you would like to include in this special board book.
A good idea is to start with family members and the names your child calls them such as “M for Mommy,” “G for Grandma,” or “S for Sissy.” Move on to names of other important people or pets in your little one’s life. Then, look to see what remaining letters you have and try to think of your child’s favorite toys or animals to fill in the missing alphabet letters and photos.
Here are some kid-friendly basics to help you get started:
A – alligator, airplane, aunt
B – ball, balloon, brother, blocks
C – cat, car, Christmas
D – daddy, dog, dinosaur
E – elephant, egg, Easter
F – family, frog, friend
G – grandma, grandpa, giraffe,
H – horse, Halloween, hat
I – ice cream
J – jelly, jump
K- kangaroo, kitty, kiss, keys
L – llama, library, lion
M – mommy, monkey
N – nighttime
O – owl, ocean
P – papa, prince/princess, puppy, pumpkin, pizza
Q – queen
R – rabbit, run
S – Santa, sister, snow, swing
T – teddy, truck
U – umbrella, uncle
V – vegetables, van
W – wagon, wheel, window
X – xylophone
Y – yogurt, yummy
Z – zebra, zoo
Pint Size Productions Makes It Easy
Fortunately, Pint Size Productions makes it easy to design your personalized ABC board book quickly. In their pre-designed ABC board book, all you have to do is upload a photo for each letter. Each letter has a capital and lowercase letter and a set space for the corresponding photo – Aa is for [your photo]. Then, you add a personal photo and your child’s name to the cover. Your child will be tickled!
