Teaching children the alphabet is the first step towards helping them build their English language skills. This includes teaching them both upper case and lower case alphabet. But do you know what the right time to introduce these big and small letters to your children is? Should this be taught at the same time, or should we first teach one letter case and then the other?
If you are also a parent who is looking for the answer to all the questions mentioned above, you have landed on the right page. Parents often debate whether to teach lower case or upper case first letters to their children. Although there are pros and cons to both approaches, introducing the upper case letters first is recommended as it is easier to identify and write uppercase letters as these letters are generally written with straight strokes. But the small letters are curvy and can take a little time and practice to grasp.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!
In this article, we have talked about lower case letters, their examples and some activities to teach your little one the lower case letters. Let’s take a look.
What Are Lower Case Letters?
We all know how and when to use lower case letters. But have you ever wondered what small letters are? If yes, here is the meaning of the same that you can teach your child while teaching the alphabet.
Lower case letters are the smaller version of capital letters. Not all lower case letters look the same as their upper case counterparts.
Here are all the lower case letters of the alphabet:
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 and z.
Here, only the letters c, k, o, p, s, v, w, x, and z looks similar to their upper case counterparts, which are C, K, O, P, S, V, W, X, and Z.
At What Age Should Your Child Learn To Write Lower Case Letters?
We generally teach children the upper case letters before teaching lower case letters. We do this because writing big case letters is easier than learning to write lower case letters. But once your little one can hold a pencil and learn to write upper case letters, you can teach them the lower case letters as well.
Do not force your child to learn the lower case letters, as this might discourage them from learning. Let the motivation come from their side, and they will show interest in learning about lower case letters.
History Of Lower Case Alphabets
While teaching lower case letters for kindergarten kids, you must tell them the history of these letters as well. Below we have covered the history of lower case alphabets for you.
According to historians, majuscule or upper case letters came first and then came the miniscule or small letters. The smaller versions of each letter developed probably because letters were written quickly. In order to save time and space, the writing of letters became smaller and rounded as scribes hurried to finish their writing work. Therefore, the lower case letters evolved into an entire miniscule set of letters. Compared to upper case versions, the lower case versions offered better and faster writing.
Initially, the scribes used majuscule or miniscule letters, but not a mix of both. But this changed over time. Today, lower case letters are most frequently used, and uppercase letters are reserved for special purposes, like capitalising proper nouns or the first letter of a sentence.
Examples Of Lower Case Letters
At some point in time, children will have to learn the use of lower case letters. Therefore, we must teach them about lower case letters at every given opportunity. So, whether you are teaching them with the help of a book, reading hoardings on the road, or pointing to labels on food cans, look for every opportunity to teach your child. Below are some examples of lower case letters for children:
- brown
- fries
- dairy
- chocolate
- drums
- apple
Use Of Lower Case Letters
It is very important to teach children the use of lower case letters. You can teach your little one that we use lower case letters when the word is a proper noun or when we begin a sentence.For example,
- Every word in this sentence, excluding the first word, is written in lower case.
- Only the proper nouns in this sentence are written in upper case, which are England and Paris.
Children sometimes make the mistake of writing common nouns in lower case. Common nouns are written in upper case only if they are the first word of the sentence. For example,
- Dog! Shoo. Go away.
- The girl gave a loaf of bread to the dog.
In the above sentences, the dog is a common noun. In the first sentence, we have written dog in upper case only because the word is at the beginning of the sentence. But in the second sentence, we have written dog in lower case as it’s a common noun that comes between the sentence.
How To Teach Your Preschooler About Lower Case Letters
Teaching kids about lower case letters will help to strengthen the language and communication skills of your little one. Let’s look at some activities to teach your little one lower case letters.
1. Trace The Letters
Take a big tray and spread sand, flour or shaving cream on it. Trace the shape of a few lower-case letters in the tray using your finger. Now, ask your kid to copy the shape you have made in the tray with their finger.
2. Join The Letter
Take plain paper and write the lower case letters in the dotted form. Give this sheet to your child and ask them to trace along the letters to learn the shape of lower case letters.
3. Play Dough Shapes
Ask your child to make the shape of lower case letters using their play dough. They’ll have fun learning how to shape the letters.
Also Read:
English Alphabet for Kids
Fun Alphabet Games for Children to Learn
Number Sentences for Preschoolers and Kids
