How to Make Preschool Alphabet Books

PreKindergarten teachers have the joy of teaching young students the alphabet. For some students, this will be their first active involvement in learning the letters of the alphabet. Making an alphabet book such as the one that follows, is a year-long, hands-on project to do while teaching student's the ABCs.

• White unlined paper (14 sheets of paper per student). Paper size is dependent on teacher preference.
• Stapler
• Computer printed alphabet letters (see image below- a printable image can be downloaded from Bright Hub's media gallery in the Early Education Channel.)
• Scissors and glue stick

Image: Laurie Patsalides, for personal or classroom use only

Fold 14 sheets of paper in half.

Staple the edges of the folded paper

Create a cover for the book or allow students to decorate the cover. The title of the book should be, _________'s Alphabet Book.

Cut each letter of the alphabet out and glue in order onto each page of the book. For example, the first page of the book will be letter A, the second page letter B, and so on through the letter Z. If desired, number each page of the book as well to reinforce that there are twenty-six letters in the alphabet. Although this is a quite lengthy project to prepare, it really is worth the time as students will love having and using their own alphabet book.

It is recommended to read several published alphabet books with the students and let them enjoy independently reading them. Excellent resources for alphabet books are outlined by Bright Hub author, Tracey Bleakley. Miss Spider's ABC book is another great resource to teach the alphabet, colors and animals.  

Whichever books are chosen for teaching the alphabet, notice aloud while reading that each page of the alphabet book is devoted to one letter. Tell students that this is how we will make our alphabet books.

As you introduce each letter of the alphabet throughout the school year, student will draw pictures of the objects they learned from the alphabet books onto the corresponding alphabet page. For example, after reading Miss Spider's ABC book, students will add a picture of ants to their A page. In addition, to label the pictures they draw, students will print the capital and lower case A above their pictures. Whenever possible, students should learn a classmate's name who begins with the letter A and add it to the A page. So, the name Andrew would be written on the A page as well as a picture drawn of their friend Andrew. For manageability, this activity can be done in small groups.

This process should be exploratory in nature. If students happen to learn a new word that begins with the letter A later in the school year, then they should be encouraged to go back and write the word or draw the picture on the correct page. At the end of the school year, students will have a take-home alphabet book that was developed throughout the year, providing them with the joy of seeing their own learning and work evolve on paper.

Image: Ms. Spider's ABC courtesy of Amazon