Letter L
Teaching The Letter L
You need to teach your child to make the correct letter L sound. Tell them to slightly press the tip of their tongue on the top part of their mouth. Then get them to expel the air and make the sound of the letter L.
Your child may already be familiar with some L words and here are a few words that start with L that they may know:
Lion
Long
Lamb
Like
Leg
Lot
If you are going to teach the letter L to your child, then you will need to be consistent and show a lot of patience as they are likely to make mistakes. Reading a lot to your toddler is very important, and there are many L books available. You can find these books at stores, online or at the library. Choose books that have nursery rhymes and fun drawings in them as this will improve the learning process.
If the letter L is in your child’s name then you can use cut-out or toy letters to spell this out for them. Show them where the letter L appears. If there is no L in your child’s name you can use family members who have names with L, or TV characters that have names with the letter L. Be sure to spell out these names for your child.
There are a lot of names that start with L and your child may know some of these:
Len
Leo
Lily
Lexi
Luke
Leah
As your child becomes more confident with the letter L, introduce them to more complex names that begin with L such as:
Lorraine
Lawrence
Leonard
Louise
Larissa
Leonardo
Why You Must Have Fun Teaching Letter L
A young child wants to have fun, and when you link fun with learning you will help them immensely. You need to teach the letter L in a way that is fun for your child and for you. You will find some fun letter L activities later in this article. One fun way you can start is by using letter L worksheets. These worksheets are available online. Make a point to choose those that have fun illustrations.
Do you think that singing letter L songs will help? Of course it will. Find good letter L songs and learn them and sing them with your toddler. What about letter L videos? Yes they will interest your child too. You can actually find letter L videos that are Letter L songs and there is a good example of this below.
You must sing these songs and watch these videos together as much as you can. Your child will love this togetherness, and will look forward to it. They will probably pester you a lot to sing their favorite letter L song or watch their favorite video. Always do this wherever you can, as it will encourage them to learn and enjoy it.
Some Other Fun Letter L Activities For You And Your Child
It is really easy to do some fun letter L activities at home and when you are outside with your child. Start this off with:
Finding Things That Start With The Letter L In Your Home
When you and your child are at home you can look for things starting with L. This will be fun for the two of you and there are several examples of this. There is lamp, light, ladder, letter, lemon, lime, lollipop and lock to name but a few. When you show them these objects, use cut-out letters or other means to spell out the words.
Next move on to L words for kids that they could have heard you speak or other members of your family. If they watch TV there will be examples there too. You can start with lips, long, lady, legs, leaf, like, love, law, lunch and lever. If you can, use real life examples here (pointing to your lips for example), and if not use pictures that show the meaning of the words. Show all the letters in these words too.
After this you can think of words with L in them but not words starting with L. There are literally thousands of these words, so start with some easy ones such as ball, call, tall, bell, tell, bull, help, girl, curl, real, heel and smile. Don’t forget to spell these words out for your child so that they understand where the letter L appears. Use pictures or real life examples as well.
Take these letter L activities outside with you when you go out with your toddler. There will be many road signs that have the letter L in them when you are in the car or on the bus. When you visit a store, look for the letter L words there too.
Animals That Start With Letter L
Because most kids like animals they will enjoy looking for pictures of animals starting with the letter L. There are some they will already know such as lion, leopard, ladybug and lizard. Then there is a lamb, lemur, lobster and a lynx. As usual show pictures and spell out the names of these animals so that your child can see that they begin with L.
Make this even more fun by trying to find letter L animals that do not start with L but have an L in their name. There are quite a few of these, so start with antelope, beetle, butterfly, crocodile, dolphin, elephant, flamingo, gorilla, eagle, koala, owl, polar bear and whale. As always show pictures and spell the names of these animals, so that your child can spot where the letter L is placed.
Teach Them About Capital L And Lowercase Letter L
Use pictures of the letter L showing the two different formats to do this. You can find plenty of examples of the big letter L (capital letter L) and the small letter L (lowercase letter L) online that you can print out for your child. Alternatively you can just type these and print them.
Make the letter formats as large as possible so that your child can trace around them to learn the formats. Help them to understand the importance of capital letters by telling them that people’s names always start with a capital.
Letter L Phonics Are Very Important
Every letter of the alphabet has a sound known as a phoneme, and some combinations of letters produce phonemes as well. Your child will be a good reader if they are taught how to read using phonics instruction. This will develop their phonemic awareness, and they will be able to create words easily from these sounds. There is more about the letter L sounds below.
English Alphabet LETTER L SOUNDS:
L /l/:
The 12th letter in the alphabet is L and it is slightly different from the other consonants. It has two different sounds known as light sound and dark sound. When a word has the letter l before a vowel, it is the light L sound and if it is after a vowel then it is a dark L or stronger sound. Our advice is to always teach the lighter L sound and then later to teach the stronger L sound to your child.
Take a moment to say each word out loud while drawing out the LLLLLLAUGH sound while you speak.
Examples:
LET: /l/ /e/ /t/
LAP: /l/ /a/ /p/
CLUB: /c/ /l/ /u/ /b/
Exercises for /l/
- Before you begin, print a piece of paper for the Letter L/l/
- Also print a piece of paper with the following words for L:
LEG
LID
LAP
JAIL
WILL
FLAG
CLOCK
- Use the printout with the Letter and repeat the letter sound several times: L
- Take time with your child to be sure the /l/ sound is pronounced correctly
- Listen carefully as your child repeats the sound after you
- Ask your child if different words have the /l/ sound and wait to see the response. Always repeat the word using the letter sound to be sure your child knows the sound
- Continue to repeat other short sound I words such as LAKE, LOVE, LAME, LAUGH
- Finalize the lesson by asking your child to tell you the sound of the letters
Teaching Your Child To Read Is Easy If You Follow A Proven Reading Program
There is a lot to be gained by teaching your child to read at home before they go to school. You do not have to be a qualified teacher to do this. In fact you are the best person to teach your child as they love you and trust you. All you need is the right guidance and the correct materials to do this.
There are many reading programs available and some are very expensive. It is best to choose a program that is proven and has many satisfied customers. A reading program that has helped thousands of parents teach their children to read is Jim Yang’s Children Learning Reading. This program is proven and inexpensive. Find out more here.
Please click through to the next section where you will discover teaching letter M the easy way.
Please click through to the next section where you will discover teaching letter M the easy way.
Very helpful…