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As children, most of us learned the alphabet by singing it over and over. Teaching your child the alphabet can be accomplished in a similar manner. Even though there are many educational tools available, your child can engage in different forms of learning by using repetition.

Here are 5 ideas to introduce your child to the alphabet.

' Make an alphabet chart and add objects or pictures to correspond to the letters.

' Buy alphabet books.

' Use alphabet magnets on your refrigerator.

' Purchase alphabet blocks.

' Purchase a Leap Frog education toy to teach babies and toddlers.

The alphabet chart is one way to engage your child. Add corresponding pictures underneath the letters. By pointing to each letter and repeating it over and over, your child will be able to associate letters with objects.

Educational products such as Leap Frog are a viable method used to teach babies and toddlers. In combination with your own creative style, your child can have fun and learn at the same time. Also important are the use of visual aids, such as the alphabet chart mentioned earlier.

Fundamental in teaching and garnering a child's attention, books can accomplish this in a variety of ways. Every page offers new insight to the child, and repeating the letters over and over allow the child to make the connection between the letters and the characters or objects in the book.

A variety of colorful magnets on refrigerator doors are another way to engage your child.

Because reading scores on a national level have gone down, you as a parent should take whatever measures necessary to ensure your child is able to read before attending school. When your child makes the connection between a letter and an object, the process of learning has just begun. Every word is fundamentally based on learning the alphabet. As an analogy, one could say reading is akin to walking. While walking properly is important for your child's physical health; reading is important to the child's mental health. When your child looks at a letter, such as P for peach; and you know the child fully understands that P is the first letter in the word peach, you may glimpse the excitement on your child's face. To begin the process of learning, your child needs to make the journey on the path to communication and understanding.

The aforementioned 5 ideas to introduce your child to the alphabet are just tip of the iceberg; the real work lies ahead for you and your child. You, as a parent, are teaching your child and encouraging him or her to want to learn more. In addition, once your child begins to understand and recognize that letters have meaning, a new world will open up for them in which the ability to communicate, and fully understand the importance of learning will lead the child on a path to achievement.