Introducing Capital Letters To Preschooler

The alphabet is the base of the English language, which helps children to learn the language and use them in their communication. We start teaching our kids about the language by first teaching them the letters of the alphabet. There are two sets of letters that kids must know about – capital letters and lowercase letters.

In this article, we have covered the information about capital letters in English along with the capital letter rules and activities for children. Let’s read!

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What Are Capital Letters?

Let’s take a look at the meaning of uppercase letters for kids!

Capital letters or uppercase letters are letters of the alphabet that are used at the beginning of a sentence or for a proper noun. Capital letters are also used at the beginning of the important words in a title or sign.

Uppercase letters are: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

What Is The Purpose Of Uppercase Letter?

Let’s read why we must teach our kids the capital alphabet.

1. Uppercase letters are easy to learn and write as they are primarily composed of straight- letters and circles.
2. Uppercase letters help to understand formation and orientation, which eliminates letter reversing and easily help the transition from uppercase to lowercase letters.
3. Uppercase letters help to know that the sentence is beginning. Therefore, there is capitalised letter at the beginning of a sentence.
4. Uppercase letters help to identify the essential words in a title.

Why You Should Teach Capital Letters First?

Learning to write letters is one of the important things that children learn when they first start schooling. In the English language, there are two sets of letters – uppercase and lowercase, which can be difficult to learn as they might get confused about which one to use. Although, uppercase letters are easier to write than lowercase letters as the latter have more curves and rounded edges in their formation. Therefore, children are better suited to learn uppercase letters first that are easier to write.

Let’s take a look at some more reasons why we must teach capital letters first to kids.

1. It is easy to write uppercase letters as they mainly contain straight lines and circles.
2. The uppercase letters, in their simplest form, don’t have to cross back over their own line.
3. Similar-looking lowercase letters like b, d and p, q might confuse the kids. Therefore, it is better to teach uppercase letters first.
4. Uppercase letters are visually less confusing than lowercase letters, allowing a greater chance of success.
5. Children generally learn to write their names first, and the name always starts with a capital letter.
6. While learning how to write letters, children are taught to write between the ruled lines. All the capital letters are written between the ruled lines, but some small case letters go below the bottom line of the ruled line, such as g, p, y, q and j. This might be confusing for the kids.

Rules Of Capitalisation With Examples

When we start writing, we are told to always start our name with a capital letter. But like everything else in English grammar, there are certain rules that go behind the usage of all capital letters. In this section, we will learn all about the rules of capitalisation. These rules are quite easy to learn and remember. Let’s take a look at these rules:

When & Where To Use Uppercase Letter?

This table will help kids understand where and when to use capital letters:

Sentences Using Capital Letters

Let’s take a look at examples of uppercase letters for kids.

• What are you doing?
• I’m going to my favourite café on Sunday.
• My favourite author is Agata Christe.
• There is only one place I want to visit: Dubai.
• My birthday is in December.
• My mother is Punjabi and my father is Marathi.

How To Teach Capital Letters To Your Kids?

In this section, we have covered some fun and entertaining ways to teach kids capital letters. These games and activities will help keep your child engaged while learning some essential English language skills. Let’s take a look at these activities.

1. Trace The Letters

On a sheet, write down the capital letters using dots. Ask your child to trace these dots and learn to write capital letters.

2. Write The Words Properly

Give your child a list of proper nouns (include names of people, places and days of the week). Ask your child to write the words correctly, adding capital letters to the ones which need it.

3. Circle The Words

Give your child a section of the newspaper to read. Ask them to spot the words having capital letters and circle them. This activity will help the kids to know what words should be capitalised even if they can’t understand what’s written in the newspaper.

4. Make The Letter

Another fun trick to teach your child to write capital letters! Take a transparent zip lock bag and add some shaving foam to it. Guide your child to use their finger to create the capital letters in the shaving foam. Your child will love this activity and will learn to quickly write the capital letters.

5. Teach The Tricks

Here are easy ways to remember the shape of some capital letters:

D : Make a vertical line with one big belly.
B : Make a vertical line. Add two bellies, one below the other.
E : Make a vertical line with three horizontal arms that can’t hug each other.
I : Make a vertical line standing alone 🙁.
T : Make a vertical line. Add one small horizontal line at the top, as if it’s wearing a hat!
H : Make two vertical lines with a horizontal bridge in between.
Q : Make a giant wheel. Add a kickstand to it.

Question And Answers For Understanding Capital Letter Rules

1. What are the basic rules of capitalisation?

Answer: The three basic rules of capitalization are:

1. Capitalise the first word in the sentence.
2. Capitalise the pronoun “I”.
3. Capitalise all proper nouns.

2. Which sentence is written correctly?

1. This is My dog.
2. this is my Dog.
3. This is my dog.

Answer: 3. This is my dog.

3. Which one is written in all capital letters?

1. GOOD
2. good
3. Good

Answer: 1. GOOD

4. The _______ word in a sentence begins with a capital letter.

1. first
2. most important
3. last

Answer: 1. first

5. Which word is always capitalised?

1. We
2. I
3. Me

Answer: 2. I

6. Which of the following are not capitalised?

1. Days of the week
2. Months
3. Names of the seasons

Answer: 3. Names of the seasons

7. Which of the following words should not be capitalised when used in the middle of a sentence?

1. Book
2. January
3. Bag

Answer: 2. January

8. Acronyms should not be capitalised. True or false?

Answer: False. Acronyms should always be capitalised.

9. Find the capitalisation errors in the following sentence.

It was raining at seema’s place yesterday. She lives in dheradun.

Answer: It was raining at Seema’s place yesterday. She lives in Dehradun.

10. Should we capitalise the name of organisations?

Answer: Yes. We should capitalise the name of organisations.

We hope this article will help you to teach your little one about capital letters. The engaging activities mentioned above will teach your little one how to write letters and remember the shape of these letters.

Also Read:

English Alphabet for Children
Fun Alphabet Games for Kids to Learn
Teaching about Lowercase Letters to Kindergarten