When did your kid start to learn letter sounds?

[SarahBear]

When did your kid start to learn letter sounds? I was surprised to see Leo catch onto the concept and inquire about it. I don't remember Violet starting to learn letter sounds until closer to 3 and a half-ish.

 

[_Meep_]

Yeah mine has only been interested for a couple of months and doesn't yet know more than about 5 letters or so!

 

[lil' mole]

My dd1 was interested in the letter sounds in her name from about 3ish but zero interest otherwise until she started school at just turned 4. She is in love with learning to read now and doing well.

Dd2 is 2 and was telling me that her name and mummy both start with a ‘mmm’ sound this morning. I’m guessing it’s normal for younger siblings to catch on quicker as she’s so interested in what her big sister is up to.

 

[CaptainMummy]

My dd1 didn't really show much interest at all until she started school at 4.5. She can read just as well as the rest of the class, some of whom knew how to read before they started and are almost a year older than her.
Dd2 was 4 in September (starts school Aug '18) and she knows most of her letter sounds now. No idea how she knows them tbh, but she can decode simple words and spell easy words too. Dd3 could care less lol.

 

[MindUtopia]

She was interested in her name, mum, dad, etc. from the very end of 3, maybe just as she was turning 4 as she was learning to write her name. But we really didn't push it or try to encourage it much as I don't think it really matters before school age. She's 4.5 now and in reception and reading basic books with phonetic words pretty well. I imagine having an older sibling helps though and exposes them to language and basic reading skills more though assuming they are somewhat close in age.

 

[Button#]

2 but he’s hyperlexic. DD doesn’t have a clue yet and isn’t interested. She has her minions to read to her.

 

[SarahBear]

Leo brought me a magnet letter and said "this says?" I thought he was just asking what letter it was, so told him the letter. He then asked again. I answered in a different way but with the same basic answer. He asked AGAIN and I gave him the letter sound. He ran off to the fridge to bring me other letters to ask about. We also used the magnet letters to spell words. I showed him how to make the word poop because he's in the potty humor stage. He added letters and asked what it said. He also wanted me to spell "pee." It will be interesting to see when all the skills come together. Violet has just turned 5 and we don't push any of this, so she's not yet reading, but also has some strong pre-literacy skills.

 

[jessmke]

Isla will be 2 in a couple of weeks and is interested in letter sounds and learning to read, but is also in the stage of not wanting help so she won't really let us teach her. She knows maybe 5 or 6 letter sounds from when we play with her blocks, and knows the names of quite a lot of letters. When we do bedtime stories she always grabs the books and says 'I'll read it!', so we'll ask her what it says and she'll point to the words on the page but then just recite the story from memory. Sometimes she'll ask what something says, but then gets mad when we tell her, and again insists that she is going to read it. It'll be nice once she gets passed this stage of getting mad at us when we try to help or teach her!

 

[Gym knickers]

Probably not until just before 4. She’s now almost 5 and knows all her sounds, reads any Cvc or cvcc word like sand, best, hats etc. She is also learning works like the, here etc that she can’t sound out. She can read simple stories with ease and make reasonable attempts at writing words, eg; caruts for carrots, maws for mouse. I’ve never pushed her either as I knew she wasn’t ready before around 4. Her sister is now almost 3 and starting to show an interest, she can recognise some sounds.

 

[threebirds]

DS recently started showing interest and really quite keen. He is 3yr 4m.

 

[minties]

Thomas never had any interest in letter sounds. He only learnt them through being 'forced' to at school. He has no interest in anything to do with letters or words, unless it is asking me for the millionth time how to spell continental drift...

Sophie is keen but wasn't until she turned 4 really. My kids seem to be drawn more to artistic and engineering ideas, rather than language or sounds.

 

[SarahBear]

Well that interest came and went. I guess we'll revisit it again in the future!

 

[lau86]

I can't remember with ds1 but I think he knew most of his letters going to school. Ds 2 is just 4 and definitely recognises the first letter of his name and I think the other letters in his name too, but none of the others. I know from ds1 that they pick it up very quickly once at school

 

[c1403]

Both mine could do the alphabet song at 2.5 (but not recognise the letters).
I started phonics with DD1 at about 3.5 (she's now 5) and DD2 is picking it up from DD2 (she's 3). Both mine love the Jolly phonics songs

 

[SarahBear]

We've started playing more board games. I should look for a letter game!

 

[adrie]

Our eldest is just starting to learn this stuff, and she is 4. She has much more of an interest in numbers than letters though; counts to 20 or 30 and can count backwards and is understanding basic math concepts. So I have started to teach her the beginning stages of telling time on a manual clock by the hour (since 5 or 15 minute increments are too complex at this point). She loves it. I think I mentioned the concept once, and the next day she correctly said "Mom, it's 9 O'clock. What time does the longer hand say?"

She can write the letters in her name but not all at once. She can spell her name aloud.
I'm so happy when she says things like "mom... "ppp--pop" or similar with other letters because I'd love her interest in the alphabet to increase so we can work on it!! She only recognizes about 6 letters out of the alphabet right now. But she can recognize all our immediate family member's first names in addition to her own.